May 20, 2011 – UC Davis
The 1st UC Davis C-STEM Day was held on Saturday April 30, 2011. The 2011 C-STEM Day was organized by the UC Davis K-14 Outreach Center for Computing and STEM Education (C-STEM) and College of Engineering with help from the UC Davis Robotics Club and assistance from the California Scholarship Federation at Davis Senior High School.
The 2011 C-STEM Day included four distinct events: UC Davis Secondary School Programming Competition, Symposium on Computing and STEM Education in the 21st Century, C-STEM Awards for K-12 teachers and students, and demos of robots developed by UC Davis faculty and students. The overall focus of the C-STEM Day was the integration of computing with STEM education. Detailed information about the 2011 C-STEM Day and pictures can be found at the 2011 C-STEM Day web page.
UC Davis Secondary School Programming Competition
The Secondary School Programming Competition and Symposium on Computing and STEM Education in the 21st Century were held in parallel in the morning. The programming competition was designed for K-12 students to showcase their skills at computing and computer programming for problem solving.
Symposium on Computing and STEM Education in the 21st Century
About 70 K-12 educators attended the symposium. Speakers at the symposium included Professor Enrique J. Lavernia, Dean of the College of Engineering, Professor Jean VanderGheynst, Associate Dean of the College of Engineering on Undergraduate Studies, Professor Harry H. Cheng, Director of the C-STEM Center, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Professor Richard T. Scalettar, Department of Physics, Kevin Gucwa, Director Assistant of the C-STEM Center, Dr. Ronda Adams, Associate Superintendent of Yolo County Office of Education, Tim Taylor, Assistant Superintendent of Sacramento County Office of Education, Sue Brothers, Assistant Superintendent of Washington Unified School District, a large number of STEM Teachers, and a parent. The symposium provided an overview of the challenges of teaching STEM subjects to K-12 students, offered insight into successful approaches to STEM instruction, and provided an opportunity for local K-12 educators to share their needs for instructional support. It also provided a forum for our partner K-12 teachers to share their successful experiences on C-STEM education and innovative teaching of STEM subjects with integration of interactive computing and programming using the strategies developed by the C-STEM Center.
Lunch at the Tercero Dining Commons
After the morning activities, most participants had a luncheon at the Tercero Dining commons. K-12 students enjoyed the opportunity to eat at a college dining hall. Other participants had the opportunity to discuss the talks from the morning and network with each other. Interaction between the students, teachers, and UC Davis volunteers was beneficial to all who attended.
Demos of the Robots Developed by UC Davis Faculty and Students
The first agenda in the afternoon was the demos of robots designed by UC Davis faculty and students. The participants saw a demo of iMobot, an intelligent modular robot, developed by the C-STEM Center Director Harry Cheng and his research group. The iMobot has recently received great publicity, including a segment on ABC Channel 7. The participants also saw a demo of the Sumo robot, designed and built by the UC Davis Robotics Club for the regional sumo competition. The robots competed in an autonomous sumo wrestling match. The last demo was of the newly formed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) team from the UC Davis Robotics Club. The UAV team is designing an aerial vision system to provide a bird’s eye view to the iMobot for advanced teamwork actions.
Awards Ceremony
The C-STEM Day was concluded with the awards ceremony for both students and teachers. Professor Enrique J. Lavernia, Dean of the College of Engineering and Professor Harry H. Cheng, Director of the C-STEM Center presented the UC Davis C-STEM Awards to K-12 teachers and students for their exceptional work in C-STEM education. The C-STEM Awards recipients, in the northern California region, were nominated by their teachers or school administrators and selected by the C-STEM Awards Committee consisting of UC Davis faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students. Three types of C-STEM awards were presented at the ceremony.
This year’s C-STEM Award of Achievement was awarded to Pierce Stegman, Westmore Oaks Elementary School, West Sacramento.
In picture from left to right, Harry H. Cheng, Pierce Stegman, Francesca DeFazio, Enrique J. Lavernia
In picture from left to right, Enrique J. Lavernia, Dubarrie Fagout, Jaden Adler, Atish Kumar, Harry H. Cheng
In picture from left to right, Enrique J. Lavernia, Krista Purdom, Dannielle Parker, Harry H. Cheng
In picture from left to right, Enrique J. Lavernia, Sue Brothers, Dubarrie Fagout, Francesca DeFazio, Harry H. Cheng
In picture from left to right, Enrique J. Lavernia, Louise Stymeist, Robert Greene, Harry H. Cheng
In picture from left to right, Enrique J. Lavernia, Ronda Adams, Krista Purdom, Harry H. Cheng
1st place, in picture from left to right, Enrique J. Lavernia, Eric Ranstrom, Michael Schirle, Sebastian Xu, Brandon Lin, Deanna Cheng, Ryan Carr, Harry H. Cheng
2nd place, in picture from left to right, Enrique J. Lavernia, Michael Schirle, Pierce Stegman , Dominic Herrera, Diana Olivan, Francesca DeFazio, Eric Ranstrom, Harry H. Cheng
3rd place, in picture from left to right, Enrique J. Lavernia, Michael Schirle, Jaden Adler, Atish Kumar, Denis Slobodyanyuk, Dubarrie Fagout, Harry H. Cheng, Eric Ranstrom
