Great American Engineering Challenge
Explorers in this project will compete in teams against one another in a series of hands-on engineering contests that involve skills that engineers use every day. Contests include an egg-drop, ping-pong ball launcher, iron shuttle landing pad, and many more! Winners of each weekly competition will receive a small prize, as well as overall team grand prizes at the end of the program.
DIY-Hovercraft
Explorers follow the Engineering process to plan out and design a hovercraft capable of holding one adult person. Using the design planned in the Engineering process, explorers will then build and test their design over the course of several weeks, until a complete working hovercraft is created and demonstrated on indoors and outdoors surfaces!
Rube Goldberg Machine
Sometimes doing things the difficult way is more fun… in this project, explorers will assemble a series of daily items into a large contraption that turns an everyday task into a complex series of smaller tasks! Explorers will work to develop a complex assembly from scrap items and compete against other teams for who has the most complex and functional machine!
Introduction to Arduino Microcontrollers
Have you ever wondered how your computer works? Have you ever wanted to know how to program a computer to do something cool? This project will provide Explorers with the opportunity learn how to program Arduino microcontrollers. Explorers will learn the basics of Arduino programming, breadboards, sensors, and will work to build a functional radar system.
