Collaboration, Creativity, Communication and Critical Thinking

Thursday, April 25, 2019—Seven 9th-grade girls attended a STEM workshop at SRC, Inc., a nonprofit research and development company involved in the defense, environment and intelligence industries. During the workshop, students witnessed an inspiring Syracuse Stage performance about Annie Easley, an African American woman who worked for NASA in the early 1960's. A mathematician, Annie figured out the math needed to send a NASA rocket into orbit, which led to the success of the space program. The girls took a tour of the SRC facilities and learned about the company’s various programs, primarily developing technologies for the military. They experienced hands-on team-building exercises in which they had to create something out of two paper bowls, two paper cups, four toothpicks, and ten gummy bears, and then explain to their partners how to reconstruct it. The girls also learned some basic coding. All the activities required them to use the four C's of STEM, Collaboration, Creativity, Communication and Critical Thinking.