HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- Sixth graders from the Hill Air Force Base area culminated the end of their week-long STARBASE Summer Camp with a CO2 (carbon dioxide) dragster race in a round-robin tournament here June 3.
STARBASE stands for Science and Technology Academies Reinforcing Basic Aviation and Space Exploration, and provides students with activities based heavily on engineering and physics with the assistance of computer-aided design.
This summer the sixth graders engineered a CO2 dragster using a computer-aided design that utilized interactive instruction on Newton’s Laws of Motion and Aerodynamics. They then printed a template of their designs to whittle, chisel and sand out of blocks of wood.
A coat of paint and a set of wheels added the final polish to their dragsters.
“STARBASE Hill hoped to raise a better understanding of how and why these vehicles can race so much faster than just some block of wood with wheels,” said Dave Amparan, STARBASE Hill director. “However, our bigger focus is to build enthusiasm toward STEM education and opportunities.”
The STARBASE program is part of a nationwide Department of Defense effort to excite elementary school children in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Amparan said having these camps on a military base also shows the students a side of the Air Force most of them didn’t know existed and reveal the type of STEM careers that can be found with the Air Force.
“Many students do not understand how STEM knowledge takes an individual through great experiences and successes,” said Amparan. “We hope this camp will help them see one snippet within the STEM gamut of possibilities and want for more opportunities through subjects in school or extra-curricular activities.”