On Saturday, April 13, YWiC had the wonderful opportunity to host its second Expanding Your Horizons conference for middle school and high school girls at NMSU. The goal of the conference is to motivate girls to become innovative and creative thinkers ready to meet 21st century challenges.
Workshops
The conference witnessed the growth of 76 bright, young, technical women at the New Mexico State University campus. Each student participated in 3 of 13 diverse hands-on classroom activities of their choice. Workshops included:
 |
| CS Forensics |
- An Engineered Decision: Students learned from industrial engineers how to make the best decision in any situation.
- Be a Scratcher!: Students were introduced to Scratch, a drag and drop 2D animation program, and learned how to program a simple game. The goal was to give students insight about the field of computer science and teach them basic programming concepts (i.e. loops and user input).
- CS Forensics: This workshop was a student favorite. It taught students how a crime could be solved by evaluating blood spatter patterns or using a computer software program.
- DNA Discovery: This workshop involved chemically extracting the DNA of a strawberry! Students learned how to extract DNA using basic kitchen equipment, and about the chemistry behind DNA and applications of genetics.
 |
| DNA Discovery |
- Engineer Your Future: This workshop focused on how engineers impact our world. NMSU Chemical Engineering students conducted hands-on demonstrations and discussed their career plans and how they chose engineering.
- Google SketchUp!: SketchUp is a free modeling tool that can be used to model a city, or even invent a new piece of furniture. By the end of this session students understood the basic tools in SketchUp and were able to design and create a 3D house and robot!
 |
| Google SketchUp |
- Innoventure, STEM+Biz Together: The workshop included activities to spur innovative thinking, build prototypes, and gave some basic information about what it means to start and run your own business.
- Movies & Animation on a Ti83: Can movies and math on a calculator really be combined? In this session they were!
- PicoCricket Robotics: Students programmed their own robot to light up and spin depending on the value from a light sensor. A craft aspect was included into the session so that students could use their creativity to customize their robot with crafts or legos.
- Programming with Alice: In this workshop, students developed their own 3-D animations in a fun and interactive environment - Alice.
 |
| Slime |
 |
| Penny Bridges |
- Slime & Penny Bridges: Students were given an overview of the programs available at NMSU's College of Engineering. Activities included making their own slime and putting on their Civil Engineering hats to build bridges out of pennies.
- Sustainability and Engineering: This workshop was all about introducing students to sustainability concepts and their relationship to engineering. Students participated in hands-on activities and made bioplastics into different shapes and tested them.
- Website Delight: Students learned how easy it is to create their own website!
Keynote
The conference also featured a keynote speaker. Dr. Abbey Train, a professor at NMSU and author of "Forbidden Math", gave an awesome speech about overcoming challenges when entering male-dominated fields, especially Math.
 |
| Dr. Abbey Train |
Until next year...
The conference was a roaring success. Both attendees and instructors were able to effectively learn from each other, and most importantly: have a great time!
For more EYH photos from the conference visit our
Google+ page.
