More than 130 fourth-grade students at Cedar Lane Elementary School in Middletown took a break from their normal classroom routine Jan. 7 to check out ‘what in the world’ science and math has to offer them.
While students moved from station to station, examining solar panels, hydrogen-powered toy cars, horseshoe models and other fun technological items, they were learning all about possible career paths in store for them.
What in the World?, a career-awareness program introducing students to careers that utilize math, science or technology, provides students with knowledge on specific careers and the education or training that goes along with them.
“There’s so much out there,” said Andrea Majewski, program coordinator for the Delaware Business Industry Education Alliance, which sponsors the program. “It exposes the kids to things they might not have heard of.”
Majewski said the program, which has been running for three years, travels to schools throughout Delaware and engages students from grades three though 12.
“The experience is different for each kid,” she said. “There’s always something that interests them.”
University of Delaware graduate students in the university’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship entertained students with a solar panel and solar powered cricket that vibrated and jumped in the students’ hands as it was exposed to a lamp.
University of Delaware graduate student Cory Budischak, an electrical engineering major, said elementary school-aged students are often the most engaged and fascinated by the technology they see in the presentations.
“This is the age when you get interested,” he said. “When you say it can power your house, it’s powerful to them.”
The students also watched as hydrogen and water mixed inside a toy car and propelled it forward.
While the fourth-graders learned all about the technology that made what they saw possible, the graduate students got a lesson as well, as they learned how to present the science.
“It’s so important to be able to communicate really complex scientific ideas in a simple way,” Budischak said. “You don’t get exposed to it unless you do stuff like this.”
Guidance Counselor Linda Baker said she loves bringing programs like this to CLE because it bridges connections between academics and the world of work.
“It’s their first exposure to inquire about why people are doing the jobs they’re doing,” she said. “They can make a connection between the skills they’re learning in fourth grade and how they can lead to different careers.”
Baker said it is important to offer students with information on careers related to science and technology because the fields are growing so quickly. This gives the children a jump-start.
“Green technology is apart of the world of science now,” she said. “It’s going to be common place for them in 10 years.”
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More than 130 fourth-grade students at Cedar Lane Elementary School in Middletown took a break from their normal classroom routine Jan. 7 to check out ‘what in the world’ science and math has to offer them.
While students moved from station to station, examining solar panels, hydrogen-powered toy cars, horseshoe models and other fun technological items, they were learning all about possible career paths in store for them.
What in the World?, a career-awareness program introducing students to careers that utilize math, science or technology, provides students with knowledge on specific careers and the education or training that goes along with them.
“There’s so much out there,” said Andrea Majewski, program coordinator for the Delaware Business Industry Education Alliance, which sponsors the program. “It exposes the kids to things they might not have heard of.”
Majewski said the program, which has been running for three years, travels to schools throughout Delaware and engages students from grades three though 12.
“The experience is different for each kid,” she said. “There’s always something that interests them.”
University of Delaware graduate students in the university’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship entertained students with a solar panel and solar powered cricket that vibrated and jumped in the students’ hands as it was exposed to a lamp.
University of Delaware graduate student Cory Budischak, an electrical engineering major, said elementary school-aged students are often the most engaged and fascinated by the technology they see in the presentations.
“This is the age when you get interested,” he said. “When you say it can power your house, it’s powerful to them.”
The students also watched as hydrogen and water mixed inside a toy car and propelled it forward.
While the fourth-graders learned all about the technology that made what they saw possible, the graduate students got a lesson as well, as they learned how to present the science.
“It’s so important to be able to communicate really complex scientific ideas in a simple way,” Budischak said. “You don’t get exposed to it unless you do stuff like this.”
Guidance Counselor Linda Baker said she loves bringing programs like this to CLE because it bridges connections between academics and the world of work.
“It’s their first exposure to inquire about why people are doing the jobs they’re doing,” she said. “They can make a connection between the skills they’re learning in fourth grade and how they can lead to different careers.”
Baker said it is important to offer students with information on careers related to science and technology because the fields are growing so quickly. This gives the children a jump-start.
“Green technology is apart of the world of science now,” she said. “It’s going to be common place for them in 10 years.”
