This year at Middle School Challenge Weekend SMILE students designed and built a crane and magnetic levitation (maglev) train car. 135 students from Central Falls, Pawtucket, Newport, South Kingstown, Westerly, West Warwick, and Woonsocket came to the University of Rhode Island campus to experience what it is to be an engineer. To build the cranes students needed to work with a set of specifications, work within the limits of a budget, test their design, redesign, and make changes. Finally, they completed three time trials working with the crane and maglev train car together. The construction and testing of crane and maglev train car promoted the study and application of some fundamental principles in mathematics and physics. The activity also helped students develop teamwork and problem solving skills. They worked with students from other school districts and volunteer mentors that included URI engineering students and professionals from Amgen, Schneider Electric, and NUWC. Very quickly SMILE students learned that the collaborative synergy of the group often produces the best results.

Students arrived early Friday morning at the URI Memorial Union Ballroom, were greeted by URI SMILE staff and organized into teams. SMILE Director, Carol Englander welcomed the students to URI. David Koziol from the Rhode Island Department of Transportation discussed evolution of transport via train in the Rhode Island area and how the RIDOT makes decisions about paths to expansion of the existing system. Then Middle School Program Coordinator, Claire Steggall-Murphy outlined the engineering challenge to the students.  Students first had to examine the contents of their material boxes. In each box was a collection of building materials and paperwork with details about specifications, budgeting, and design. The teams first had to design their cranes and maglev train cars and reach agreement amongst all team members on the intended design.  The crane had to be able to lift the maglev train car about 12” in the air to a box at the end of a magnetic track. A budget limitation was given for the entire project. Students had access to a set of tools that they could “rent” to complete their projects. In addition, they could trade in unused materials or buy additional materials with their budget. The crane had to include the use of a hydraulic system consisting of two syringes and tubing. The crane also had to have a crank winding device to raise and lower the cable connected to the maglev train car.

All afternoon, students worked on their cranes and maglev train cars, with a short break to catch some fresh air. After dinner the testing commenced. Tracks were set up in the Ram’s Den food court with mentors to time the trials at each station. Data was collected by the students after each run. Two points of interest were the overall time to lift the car to the box, remove it, and send it down the track and the time for the track run alone. At the end of the Challenge, teams put their cranes and train cars on their team tables with average time trial results for all to see.

The Challenge Weekend is a fun way to visit a college campus and provides an opportunity to get young people interested in science, math and engineering fields of study and careers. SMILE students learned a lot about student life on a college campus, toured the new science buildings: chemistry & forensic science, pharmacy and CBLS (College of Biology and Life Sciences), ate meals in a dining hall, and enjoyed recreation at Tootell Gym.  Saturday morning activities included talks by URI tour guides and an “Introduction to preparing for College” presented by Coral Maack, a URI Admissions officer. The students also had the chance to speak to four URI alumni who currently work in a STEM field- Mandy Alberg from AMGEN, BS Microbiology ’03, LCDR Kellye Donovan, PharmD ‘08, PhD ’18 from the US Navy, Jason Lavigne from Lavigne Manufacturing, BS Mechanical Engineering/BA German Language ’05, and Matthew Coolidge from Far Sounder, BS Electrical Engineering ’02. The students learned about each panelist’s path to pursuing a STEM degree and what their careers have been like since graduating from URI.

Our SMILE Middle School students have put themselves on a path to college and have high expectations for themselves. A huge “THANK YOU” to all our teachers, URI faculty and student mentors, SMILE staff, and sponsors who helped to make this challenge a wonderful experience.