Revamped Rahway STEM Summer Camp Cultivates Learning, Curiosity, and Fun

RAHWAY, NJ — The newly revamped Rahway STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Summer Camp has been a big success. Students entering grades 5-8 have been engaged in different experiments and design challenges related to varying STEM fields. One week was devoted to mini-camps related to science, specifically physics, biology, and chemistry.

Students learned about drag force and air resistance as they built, tested, and refined a device that would keep an egg from cracking as it was dropped from a certain height.

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Students explored how germs are spread through the air and through contact, the different types of microbes and contaminants in water, and how to separate and filter out those microbes and contaminants. To assist with better understanding the microbes and germs, the students were introduced to microscopes and their powerful ability to see such small organisms.

Students tested their knowledge of adhesion and cohesion by creating two different types of glue: casein and flour/water. The students glued paper and other materials together with their created glue and then tested the glue's strength by analyzing how many pennies or marbles the glued paper could hold in a cup.

The final mini-camp day centered around endothermic and exothermic processes where the students created simple hot packs and cold packs, discovered what types of materials are better at conducting and transferring heat, and made their own ice cream using salt and ice to turn the cream and milk into a solid.

The second week of the STEM Summer Camp was focused on engineering and the engineering design process. Groups of students were provided with kits to build water screws, rocket launchers, scooters, bikes, go-karts, and a variety of other devices.

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Throughout the week, the students worked together to follow a set of directions, modify them to fit their needs, work collaboratively as a team, and learn the basics of building simple devices and machines. Many of the groups built bikes, scooters, and go-karts, testing them out and modifying them for improvements.

Overall, the Rahway STEM Summer Camp was a great time and an educational experience. The students truly enjoyed the activities, collaboration, and learning over the summer.

Thank you to all the families for sending their children, the teachers for planning and implementing lessons, and the Rahway Public School District for allowing this great summer program to continue to pique students' curiosity in STEM-related fields and activities.

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