Scientists, technicians, engineers and mathematicians explore and shape the world around us. Their work creates artificial limbs and computer games, green technology and smart phones, DNA tests and the newest vaccines.

 

A new generation of students, researchers, scientists and engineers are needed to fulfill the diversity and potential of the STEM fields.

 

Taught by UW-L professors, STEM Saturdays are designed to fuel children’s interest in science and math. More...

 

Computers are used to power cell phones, assist surgeons and nurses, keep cars running, send email and create movies. In this workshop we will learn the basics of computer programming by writing, directing and filming a movie script. We will construct a virtual 3D world involving dancing figure skaters, singing frogs, and polar penguins and direct these objects by creating a programming script and then record it all using a virtual camera that follows our every instruction.

Plankton is much more than a regular character on SpongeBob SquarePants. In fact, it is a very abundant and diverse group of organisms living beneath the surface of the water of our oceans, lakes, and rivers. We will explore this amazing diversity of organisms in the laboratory using microscopes to view many different kinds of plant and animal plankton and to learn some basic identification skills. We will also perform a few experiments to examine their behavior to see how they respond to different environmental situations. Finally, we will take some measurements to see how plankton affect their environment and we will gain some real insight on why this group of organisms is important to the health of our planet.

Explore the fascinating world of physics! Mechanics, electricity and magnetism, engineering design principles are investigated. Included are hands-on experiments and demonstrations involving (1) roller coasters, (2) electric motors and magnets, and (3) computer-assisted bridge design.

The weird, intricate, beautiful shapes called fractals are everywhere. Many natural objects, snowflakes, trees, coastlines, etc. are fractals. Their study is a new and exciting area in mathematical physics. In this session have some fun exploring a few famous geometric fractals with paper and pencil as well as computers, plus learn about some of the properties of fractals that make them so amazing, like self-similarity and fractal dimension. Finally, we will look at some examples of random fractals like forest fire patterns and stock market fluctuations.

 

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