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Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

  • 1.  Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-19-2018 01:13 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-20-2018 09:09 AM
    ​I am helping a friend who is a Girl Scouts Troupe Leader.
    It turns out there is no Girl Scout badge for Civil Engineering, though there is one for Mechanical Engineering.
    Typically, the girls have to complete 5 activities to earn a badge and I'd like to do an activity for different CE disciplines.
    I am a Water Resource Civil Engineer.
    Any suggestions, ideas, resources for other disciplines?

    Thank you!
    Lily​

    ------------------------------
    Lily S Baldwin
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-20-2018 09:01 AM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-20-2018 09:09 AM
    Here are a couple of ideas in the transportation arena.

    You could work with a local traffic engineer and have the girls do turning movement counts and pedestrian counts at an intersection.  They could then learn how to determine the level of service and even how to determine the signal timing that is programmed into the signal.

    You could draw from the boy scout traffic safety merit badge requirements  and come up with some activities.
    Traffic Safety - MeritBadgeDotOrg
    Meritbadge remove preview
    Traffic Safety - MeritBadgeDotOrg
    Staying safe in traffic wherever you live is getting more difficult all the time, as more and more people take to the road. Earning the Traffic Safety merit badge and will give Scouts some crucial tools to stay safer, when driving a car on a highway, riding a bike across town, or jogging across a busy street.
    View this on Meritbadge >


    Find a local expert to come and talk with them about autonomous and connected vehicles.  If there is a local person with a vehicle that has a lot of the driver assist features, perhaps they could offer rides to show the girls how they work.  

    Hope these ideas help.






    ------------------------------
    Marsha Anderson Bomar AICP, F.ASCE
    Duluth GA
    (770)449-6542 EXT 104
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-20-2018 09:02 AM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-20-2018 09:09 AM
    Lily:
    How about if she were to do a comparison between bottled water and municipal water in terms of water quality regs each has to meet, cost, etc. Maybe she could even visit her local water treatment/supply plant?
    Morris
    =============================
      Morris L. Maslia, PE, D.WRE, DEE
      M. L. Maslia Consulting Engineer
      3360 Norfolk Chase Drive
      Peachtree Corners, GA, USA 30092
      Email: H2OBoy54@...
      Mobile (US): +1 404-431-0035
    =============================




    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-20-2018 09:02 AM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-20-2018 09:09 AM
    Another idea would be to have her investigate the history of water supply and disease over the past several centuries for different parts of the world (US/Canada, Africa, Europe, England, India, Middle East, Asia, etc.)
    Morris
    =============================
      Morris L. Maslia, PE, D.WRE, DEE
      M. L. Maslia Consulting Engineer
      3360 Norfolk Chase Drive
      Peachtree Corners, GA, USA 30092
      Email: H2OBoy54@...
      Mobile (US): +1 404-431-0035
    =============================




    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-21-2018 05:03 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-21-2018 05:03 PM
    All good ideas.  Morris, "The Chlorine Revolution" by Mike McGuire would be a good resource for the activity you suggested.

    ------------------------------
    Bevin Beaudet P.E., M.ASCE
    President/Owner
    Bevin A. Beaudet, P.E., LLC.
    West Palm Beach FL
    (561)225-1214
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-20-2018 09:02 AM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-20-2018 09:09 AM
    Sounds like a great idea!  Here are two links that might help:

    1) From work I did long ago, but the experiments are still good!

    Civil Engineering Freshman "Hand-On" Activities

    2) Check out the Dream Big activities

    Dream Big > Activities

    Hope some of this helps
    Marc
    DiscoverE remove preview
    Dream Big > Activities
    A resource for volunteers to celebrate engineering and engage students.
    View this on DiscoverE >
    http://discovere.org/dreambig/activities
    Google remove preview
    Civil Engineering Freshman "Hand-On" Activities
    SUCCEED was an NSF funded Educational Coalition charged to improve engineering education. There were 4 other such coalitions. SUCCEED was a partnership with NC State, University of Florida, GA Tech, Va Tech, Florida State, NC A&T.
    View this on Google >



    ------------------------------
    Marc Hoit Ph.D., F.ASCE, F.SEI
    Vice Chancellor for IT & Professor
    NC State University
    Raleigh NC
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-20-2018 09:03 AM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-20-2018 09:09 AM
    I would recommend that you check out www.TeachEngineering.org
    There are lots of hands-on activities, and searchable for
    civil engineering, age range, etc. 

    Browse K-12 STEM Curriculum - TeachEngineering
    Teachengineering remove preview
    Browse K-12 STEM Curriculum - TeachEngineering
    Browse and search for NGSS-aligned K-12 STEM curricular materials. Narrow your search by choosing from filters such as curriculum type, grade level, subject area, engineering category, and time required.
    View this on Teachengineering >



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    Angela Bielefeldt Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE
    Professor, University of Colorado Boulder
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-21-2018 11:26 AM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-21-2018 11:26 AM
    ​Lily,
    I've done projects with elementary school kids before for structural where we explained basic concepts like the advantage of a broad base vs a narrow base for stability and then challenged the kids to build towers out of straws and marshmallows. There are also lots of great hands-on activities and lesson materials available for free at websites like this one: Most Popular Curriculum - TeachEngineering  
    Teachengineering remove preview
    Most Popular Curriculum - TeachEngineering
    Peruse this continuously updated list of the most popular K-12 STEM lessons and activities your peer teachers are searching, finding and downloading, by grade band and curricular type (lesson, activity, unit, maker challenge).
    View this on Teachengineering >

    -Jeannette



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    Jeannette Torrents P.E., S.E., EI, M.ASCE
    Senior Project Manager
    JVA, Inc.
    Boulder CO
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-21-2018 11:28 AM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-21-2018 11:28 AM
    I see you have gotten several great suggestions already. A few years ago we provided an activity at a girl scout jamboree. We built towers using spagetti, tape and imagination. Google spagetti tower challenge will give quite a few suggestions.
    A good idea could also be to get your closest student chapter or ymf group to help you. 
    You can also find many good ideas at Ready Set Create clearinghouse.starnetlibraries.org/138-ready-set-create. Good luck!

    ------------------------------
    Tor Anderzen P.E., M.ASCE
    Senior Aviation Engineer
    HDL
    Palmer AK
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-21-2018 05:02 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-21-2018 05:01 PM
    For those with a particular interest in water, there is a Girl Scout water badge. They could do outreach and experiments at a local craft fair. Those local fairs often are looking for new displays. As a university, we have a stream table that we have taken to various outreach events and often we have the children of our graduate students helping, including some in that age range. Kids playing with water attracts other kids.

    ------------------------------
    Shirley Clark P.E., D.WRE, M.ASCE
    Professor
    Penn State Harrisburg
    Middletown PA
    (717) 948-6127
    Penn State HarrisburgProfessor
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-22-2018 09:54 AM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-22-2018 09:54 AM
    ​Water and Wastewater, and site development. So many people, engineers included, do not fully understand what it takes to treat raw water to make it potable or make it returnable to the natural environment. Site development encompasses so many things from handling stormwater runoff to building roads and grading.

    ------------------------------
    James Wilson P.E., M.ASCE
    P.E.
    Charleston Water System
    Charleston SC
    (843)727-6878
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-22-2018 01:08 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-22-2018 01:07 PM
    Hi--I'm the Senior Manager of Pre-College Outreach for ASCE. You've received several good ideas already and I'm going to share some additional ones based on the numerous pre-college materials we have available. You can reach me at 703-295-6310 or jfinton@....

    ASCE also has some fun give-aways such as tech tattos (stickers for electronics), mini-poster/postcards, and more. You can find them at https://www.asce.org/pre-college-resources/. 

    You can find numerous hands-on activities that cover a variety of civil engineering topics on www.ASCEville.org, and at the Dream Big site, Dream Big. Tor Anderzen also referenced the lessons created for Ready, Set, Create--an ASCE partnership with the Space Science Institute. 

    Girl Scouts like single day events where they can participate in multiple stations and at the end come out with a patch--not necessarily an official badge. You should be able to create a Civil Engineering Day, where kids can come to participate in activities, talk to engineers, and learn about civil engineering. This is a format that would work well for Boy Scouts as well. 

    As a part of the day they could see the Dream Big film. ASCE will be sending a copy of the film to all Sections and Branches for use in outreach. This distribution will begin in November. 

    Girl Scouts have some thing called a Journey, and in the Journey program there is one called 

    "Engineering: Think Like an Engineer"

    Girls discover how to think like an engineer by participating in hands-on design challenges and completing a Take Action project. "

    I don't see anything in that description that limits it to mechanical engineering. The website link is Journeys - Girl Scouts

    . 

    You're going to get your best information about hosting a Civil Engineering Day/Journey from your local Girl Scout Council. They will have staff on hand to tell what kind of event/activities fit with their local system. Your friend should know the name of your local council and may even know who is handling STEM activities. 

    Good luck and let me know how ASCE can help.


    ------------------------------
    Jeannine Finton Aff.M.ASCE
    Senior Manager of Pre-College Outreach
    ASCE
    Reston VA
    (703)295-6310
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-22-2018 12:20 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-22-2018 12:20 PM
    For reference, here is a link to the current badges available. Award and Badge Explorer - Girl Scouts
    My oldest daughter is 9 (and I think there are also <g class="gr_ gr_850 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling multiReplace" id="850" data-gr-id="850">10 year olds</g> in her Junior troop), so you'd be looking at a Junior-level badge. Juniors covers grades 4 and 5. Those are the badges with the purple circle around them.

    Below is one that is more structural, but you could model items 1 and 3 using a more water-resources oriented approach.

    Junior journeys
    The water badges are a grade level down (Brownies, which is 2nd and 3rd grade). That one is below.



    This gets me to wondering.........do we have any interest (as ASCE) to team up with GS to create a set of civil engineering badges to go with the mechanical, robotics, and code ones for this age group? And a similar set for Boy Scouts if it doesn't already exist? The current head of Girl Scouts, Sylvia Acevedo is an engineer and has a pretty amazing story, it couldn't hurt to ask her.

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    Stephanie Slocum P.E., M.ASCE
    Founder
    Engineers Rising LLC
    www.engineersrising.com
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-22-2018 01:09 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-22-2018 01:09 PM
    ​Lily, 

    A couple items taken from the BSA Engineering Merit badge and/or Webelo badge, you might adjust to get them Civil Specific.

    1.  Visit with an engineer (who may be your counselor or parent) and do the following:
    a. Discuss the work this engineer does and the tools the engineer uses.
    b. Discuss with the engineer a current project and the engineer's particular role in it.
    c. Find out how the engineer's work is done and how results are achieved.
    d. Ask to see the reports that the engineer writes concerning the project.
    e. Discuss with your counselor what you learned about engineering from this visit.
    2.  Select an engineering achievement that has had a major impact on society. Using resources such as the Internet (with your parent's permission), books, and magazines, find out about the engineers who made this engineering feat possible, the special obstacles they had to overcome, and how this achievement has influenced the world today. Tell your counselor what you learned. 

    3.  Explain what it means to be a registered Professional Engineer (PE). Name the types of engineering work for which registration is most important?

    4.  Study the Engineer's Code of Ethics. Explain how it is like the Scout Oath and Scout Law.

    5.  Using materials. Do experiments to show the differences in strength and heat conductivity in wood, metal, and plastic. Discuss with your counselor what you have learned.

    6.  Moving people. Find out the different ways people in your community get to work. Make a study of traffic flow (number of vehicles and relative speed) in both heavy and light traffic periods. Discuss with your counselor what might be improved to make it easier for people in your community to get where they need to go.

    7.  Building an engineering project. Enter a project in a science or engineering fair or similar competition. (This requirement may be met by participation on an engineering competition project team.) Discuss with your counselor what your project demonstrates, the kinds of questions visitors to the fair asked you about it, and how well were you able to answer their questions.

    8.  Draw a floor plan of your house. Include doors, windows, and stairways.

    9.  Visit a construction job. Look at a set of plans used to build the facility or product. Tell your Webelos den leader about these. (Get permission before you visit.)

    10.  Visit a civil engineer or surveyor to learn how to measure the length of a property line. Explain how property lines are determined.

    11.  Make drawings of three kinds of bridges and explain their differences. Construct a model bridge of your choice.

    12.  Make a simple crane using a block and tackle and explain how the block and tackle is used in everyday life.

    Also a website I have used for outreach with boys and girls.
    https://www.asceville.org/resources.html

    And a book.
    https://www.amazon.com/Bridges-Amazing-Structures-Design-Kaleidoscope/dp/1885593309

    And don't forget all the Dream Big stuff, I have used that more with high school kids.
    https://news.asce.org/dream-big-educational-toolkits-sweeping-the-nation/







    ------------------------------
    Michael Buechter P.E., D.WRE, M.ASCE
    Program Manager
    Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District
    Webster Grvs MO
    (314) 968-9723
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 15.  RE: Activities for 10-year-olds for Girl Scouts

    Posted 10-23-2018 02:54 PM
    Edited by Tirza Austin 10-23-2018 02:53 PM
    Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions. I am taking note of them all. Please keep them coming if you think of any more.

    ------------------------------
    Lily Baldwin
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    Original Message


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