The Enterprise Rotary Club heard from Dr. Amy Baker at its March 23 meeting and learned about Fort Rucker’s Gains in the Education of Mathematics and Science (GEMS) Program that takes place in the summer.
GEMS is going into its 11th year at Fort Rucker and is a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education program that engages school-age students with hands-on experiments and broadens their knowledge about STEM careers.
“I talk to teachers all the time and they talk about there being a small timeline for kids dipping their toes in the bucket of science or in the bucket of math,” Baker said. “Our hope is that we could help provide opportunities to insure these students take their blinders off and think a little outside the box about math and science.”
GEMS runs Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. with four different sessions during the summer. Session one will take place June 21-25, session two from June 28-July 2, session three July 12-16 and session four July 19-23. All students that are rising fourth graders through 11th graders can take part in the program as students.
Each age group has the opportunity to take part in a different program with fourth and fifth graders taking part in Simple Machines. Simple Machines explores basic engineering techniques to build, test and evaluate simple machines. Forensics is available for sixth and seventh graders where they learn about problem solving, engineering, physics and force of motion and forensic techniques.
For eighth and ninth graders, robotics is available where students learn to build, code and program robots to maneuver and conquer different tasks. Finally, 10th and 11th graders get a chance to take part in the medical program where they investigate physiology of various human organ systems and explore various health professions.
Also, seniors and college-age students can also take part in GEMS by being “near peers.”
“Rising seniors and college age students come in and teach the material to the students,” Baker said. “They are nearer in their age but they are also interested in pouring into those children to help them get to where they are and help prepare them for college.”
Like last year, GEMS will be virtual this year with students using Google Classroom to take part in the program. While Baker said there is nothing like having the students on base at Fort Rucker for the program, it actually is helping the GEMS Program because they will be expanding it to be available for anyone outside of the area in the future, where those in other states can log on and take part in the program virtually.
Still, students will be able to go hands-on with experiments as they pick up kits at Fort Rucker’s U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Lab to take part in the program.
“We prepare little goody bags – or kits – with supplies and equipment and everything students need,” Baker said. “That gives us that opportunity to briefly get to interact when they come to pick up their kits. That’s what gives us that little ‘umph’ to keep going, when we see the kids’ eyes light up, even just picking up their kits.”
Applications are being accepted for the program through April 30 and applications can be found at http://www.usaarl.army.mil/stem. Questions can also be asked by E-mailing [email protected].
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.