Photo By Charlie Maib | JED representatives Dr. Rex Mols, OAO’s Host Nation Branch Chief, and Brian...... read more read more
It’s not uncommon to find members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) interacting with students in a school setting. This is part of the USACE science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) initiative, worldwide.
Overseas in Japan, one would think you could find America’s Engineers working together with children at any number of Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools as well, and they are. Engineers from the USACE’s Japan Engineer District work directly with DoDEA students and classes, promoting STEM and engineering in general.
What is unusual, is to find USACE Engineers working with Japanese children at a Japanese school far outside the base gate - but that’s exactly where we’re finding them today, in the mix with incredibly kinetic mobs of children at the AmerAsian school in Okinawa, Japan. They are judging a science fair for grades 4 through 9.
“I don’t remember exactly how it started,” said Kathrine Mansfield, head science teacher for AmeriAsian, wracking her brain to recall how the impetus of the partnership began. The joyful chaos of the classroom tests her memory as children of all ages scurry around her, pridefully showing off the projects their science has brought to fruition.
“I think the [JED’s Okinawa Area Office] had approached us about volunteering with our school in general and basically helping out in any way that they could,” she explained.
And help they did - It’s been about 6 months since the science fair idea was initially floated to the District by Ms. Mansfield. JED representatives Dr. Rex Mols, OAO’s Host Nation Branch Chief, and Brian Ciccocioppo, Resident Engineer of Okinawa’s Torii Office, have been knees-deep in ankle biters ever since, sometimes deeper.
They’ve been by the kids’ sides every step of the way from inception to failure, re-origination to success.
“I thought that it would be a really good opportunity for the kids to explore science while being really excited about it,” explained Mansfield. “Because sometimes when they’re just learning in a textbook, it really doesn’t pop off the page so much.”
One of the biggest hurdles, according to Dr. Mols, was getting the kids to decide on a project.
“We had a big hand in helping them develop their ideas. Making sure they had the materials and understand the processes and kind of coax them through each individual step,” he said.
Volcanos are close to the good doctor’s heart, so Dr. Mols worked up an example of what a science fair project might look like for the kids.
His project was a diorama that explained how geothermal energy worked, and his hope was the presentation would inspire someone to invest their time in creating the classic paper-mache erupting volcano project that we in the west associate so closely with science fairs. Alas, no one took the bait.
Instead, there were experiments involving miniature solar cars. One child built a claw machine that operated via hydraulics. Another did a social experiment that pushed the hard boundaries of how science is normally perceived at such an age.
“Some of these things are things that I wouldn’t have thought about back in junior high or elementary school, these are very interesting,” mused Ciccocioppo as he examined the projects.
Ideas of all shapes and sizes, and colors and themes had come to fruition filling the room with a level of chaos most inventors would be proud of. The children glowed with pride as they had a chance to showcase their new findings.
“You take the cores of highlighters and drip them into a plastic bottle filled with water. Then at night it glows!” Explained Sophia, as she showed off her project. “I wanted to make something that encouraged people to not waste electricity.”
Another student, whose project was focused on insects and their eating habits integrated candy in their scientific process.
“My purpose was to see what kind of substance ants were attracted to the most,” said young Will as he stood behind his poster-board display filled with pictures of various food substances, candies, and ants.
Will explained his initial hypothesis of ants being attracted to standard granulized sugar, but through exploring various tests and conclusions, realized processed sugar was more to their liking.
“I thought ants would be attracted to plain sugar the most. But my hypothesis was wrong! Ants liked candies. I think it’s because the sugar is 3 grams, but the candy is 4 grams. So, they get more,” Will theorized.
When pressed on what had driven him to explore such an idea, he confessed “I actually did this project when I was in 3rd grade, so I just reused it.” A wrinkle that was not lost on his 3rd grade teacher who was also in attendance.
Sometimes honesty is also a science.
As the fair wound down, it came time for judging, which is where our expert OAO Engineers’ scientifically trained eyes came into play.
“I think they learned a lot, and it was interesting to see the different conclusions they came to,” Ciccocioppo said as the event wrapped. “You could see a lot of them when they came up with their hypothesis, they come up with their conclusion, you could also see what they learned from the things that didn’t work. They had things they could have done better, and they put that on their displays, and it was fascinating.”
OAO’s Chief echoed Ciccocioppo’s sentiments, noting the progress made on both the students own science goals, as well as how positive of an impact USACE JED has had on the AmeriAsian school.
“I think it’s gone really well,” said Dr. Mols. “[They’ve] gone from not having a science fair program to their very first [post-COVID] event, and you can really see the kids getting excited about conducting their science experiments and then presenting them to us throughout the entire process. Then asking us how they can tweak it and make it better, so they’re learning. Over and over after each visit we saw tweaks to their design.”
Once the presentation space was clean, the children and their teachers gathered outside for an awards presentation. The awards were decided upon age groups with prizes given for first, second, and third places, as well as honorable mention.
A special prize was also given to the student who the Engineers and teachers felt worked hardest on their project. All prized were scientific in nature, designed to kindle the spark lit by the day’s contest.
A spark reflected not only in the smiles on the kids’ faces but also in the grins on the equally proud Engineers.
“We were all kids once, you know. We learned this stuff on our own. Sometimes we need help and it’s nice to be able to give back,” Ciccocioppo said, once the students had cleared the area returning to their various classrooms. “I’ve got the time, I’ve got the energy…it’s just good to help out. I like the Okinawa community, I always want to do a little bit more for them, Okinawans in general have been very good to me and this is me being good back.”
| Date Taken: | 02.24.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 03.06.2023 02:15 |
| Story ID: | 439743 |
| Location: | OKINAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 54 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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