Engineering

Make your own colorful lava lamps to take home. The test tubes from Steve Spangler Science can be used to do 15 more experiments at home.

College of Engineering at California Baptist University We will be showing engineering related projects at our booth

Demos planned for this year’s festivities include DNA Extrac, Snap Circuits, Diaper Polymers, Silly Putty and Oobleck. All demos at the booth will be hands-on and are designed to maximize interaction with attendees. Through these activities we hope to engage with the children while introducing key science and engineering fundamentals. DNA Extrac allows attendees to extract DNA from strawberries.

With the recent surge of interest in space with New Horizons (NASA's mission to Pluto) and hobbyists enthusiasm for launching their own balloons for increased observation and experiment runs, the CaSGC in conjunction with the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), will be exhibiting Near Space Ballooning, unmanned balloons involving using a latex weather balloon, usually filled with Helium, to carry payloads through the Earth's atmosphere to very high altitudes, up to 100,000 feet.

Visitors to the booth can participate in a walkthrough illustrating the basics of genetics and how DNA can affect our physical beings. Following the walkthrough, visitors can enjoy three hands on activity stations. The first is a Build your own DNA station, where visitors can build a base or practice pairing them. The second is a genetic engineering station, where student can manipulate circuits or help insert a plasmid (glow bracelet) into a bacteria (balloon). At the final station, a robot can be build based on the selection of dominate or recessive genes from two parent robots.

Enrichment program for elementary and middle school

Informational materials and free giveaways regarding the City's Pure Water San Diego and water conservation programs will be distributed. We will either have an interactive activity that engages festival attendees to guess the difference between tap, recycled and purified water samples, or we will bring our "'Water' You Know?" jeopardy quiz board that asks fun questions that educate festival attendees of all ages about water.

A showcase of FIRST robotics at the Francis Parker Upper School, presented by Team 2485, W.A.R. Lords (We Are Robot Lords). Throughout the day students and mentors will be available to answer questions and share their experiences. Of course, there will also be a 120 pounds robot roaming about too. Come see what it means to be part of FIRST robotics team.

Students will build origami boats of varying levels of complexity and attempt to make the boats float in a tub of water. We will provide additional materials (e.g. Popsicle sticks, rubber bands, etc.) to challenge kids to propel their boats from one end of the tub to the other. Participants can also choose to race against one another.

Air Vortex Cannon is a device that fires doughnut-shaped air vortexes, which called, toroidal vortexes. These vortices are completed transparent, because they are air; and can travel several meters before falling apart. We plan to make vortex cannon by using solo cups and water bottles. The materials we are going to use are solo cups, water bottles, balloons and rubber bands. This is a video that demonstrates the activity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpscMWoompw The video shows how to make vortex cannons. However, instead of using tapes, we plan to use balloons and rubber bands.