Last week Nancy and Tom took the NWESI business to a whole new level! They, alongside other industry professionals, are volunteering with the In4All program that aims to give students stronger connections to STEM fields via partnerships with businesses.
The lessons they give align with school curriculum and build a positive foundation for STEM subjects in fun and engaging ways. The first visit NWESI went on was a visit to an elementary school in the Tigard-Tualatin School District, and involved a short presentation followed by a practical applications experiment. It involved building a suspension bridge with a single piece of paper and slowly loading marbles onto it to see how much it could hold.
The winning student groups had a bridge that supported more than 160 marbles!
Nancy, pictured below, said the bridges that won were surprisingly strong, and beyond this, working with the kids as they thought through these problems led to fun and intriguing ideas on this bridge.
Upcoming visits will include experimenting with physics and handling a variety of materials and conundrums.
One of their visits will be a STEAM Night and will have examples of the activities so parents can see what their kids worked on during these visits.
Published January 23, 2020
