IBM TechKnow Camp Exposes Ossining Students to STEM Careers

At the IBM TechKnow Camp this summer, 16 Anne M. Dorner Middle School students delved into robotics, polymers, web design, wearable electronic hardware and other topics at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights.

The Girls Go TechKnow Camp was July 23-26. The Boys Go TechKnow Camp was July 30-Aug. 2. In one unit, children participated in hands-on activities to learn about the three common states of matter. They used balloons, candles, dry ice, liquid nitrogen and other materials to explore the properties of states of matter and how one changes into another.

“IBM TechKnow is a great summer enrichment experience for our boys and girls,” Ossining Superintendent Raymond Sanchez said. “The district thanks IBM for providing exciting learning opportunities for our students and encouraging them to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and math.”

Camp participants also tackled HTML programming and how to create a web page, with an emphasis on teamwork, communication and problem-solving. They used computer-aided design to design objects, which they printed and took home.

For the robotics unit, the students worked with LEGO MINDSTORMS programmable kits and software. They learned how to program them to move in a prescribed manner, and they built and programmed additional parts for the robots.

In another hands-on lesson, students learned about environmental threats to cacao. They worked in teams to build a rain forest canopy walkway. The TechKnow Camp also included tours of the different laboratories at the Yorktown facility.