Orange County Branch Newsletter

March 2016

K-12 Outreach Committee

Participates in Science Night


By: Isamar Escobar

On Friday, February 19th, K-12 Committee members attended a Science Night at Rancho Canada Elementary in Lake Forest. The event consisted of various stations each with an activity, ranging from planetariums to extracting DNA. 2nd and 3rd graders walked around joining the activities and every time they completed an activity, they would get a stamp on their passport. ASCE had a station in which we conducted a Lego Structure Shake Table activity. The objective was for students to build the tallest structure they could out of Legos, given some restraints. The structures where then tested on a simple shake table for seismic resistance. I’m proud to say that 99% of the structures stood. It was quite fascinating to see the creativity of the students and their thought process while building. As the students built their structures we briefly explained Civil Engineering and its various roles in their day to day life. While we tested the structures, we also explained earthquakes and how they affect the structures around us. It was a great experience and unsurprisingly everyone liked playing with Legos!

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