ESTE is the Engineering Science Technology Extraveganza

Engaging Students and Families in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

On Saturday, April 18, 2015, from 8:00am - 2:00pm, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Ventura County Chapter, hosted the Engineer Science Technology Extravaganza (ESTE) event at R.J. Frank Middle School, Academy of Marine Science and Engineering in Oxnard. During the event a series of activities were presented to students and families to promote knowledge, awareness, interest and motivation about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) as well as scholarship and college access information. In addition, Spanish and English workshops for parents on college preparation and financial aid were presented.

Fred Paredes, President of the, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Ventura County Chapter, is welcoming local engineers, RJ Frank students and their families to this wonderful event.

Students are learning the basics of genetic engineering.

Genetics modeling in the heredity workshop.

Robotics arms are being built in one of the workshops.

Students begin to create their robotic arms.

The design process at work.

Success, the robotic arm has achieved its goal.

The winning team members each received a gift card for Starbucks.  Thank you to the Society of Hispanic Engineers.

In the third workshop students are engineering a interesting material called a polymer.

These polymers behave like a liquid, and like a solid.

There were two parent workshops.  One of the workshops discussed options for education after high school, everything from two-year degrees and vocational programs to the four-year university degree.  The other workshop explored options for financial aid and scholarships.

We are a marine science and engineering academy!

Underwater remote operated vehicles are at RJ Frank. Students learned to modify the ROVs so they are neutrally  buoyant.  This means that the ROV doesn't sink to the bottom, or float on the surface.  The oceanography students then learn to operate the control's three switches that turn the three propellors in a forward or reverse direction.

Ms. Corcoran's  art class is creating art projects for the "OceanWare Exhibit" that will be displayed at RJ Frank on World Ocean Day, June 8, 2015

The class is watching a video on the perils of plastic pollution in our Ocean.

The class is doing research in the computer lab for the written component of their project.

Academy Posters

Robot Race Cars

These are the top competitors from our robot race car competition.  The semi-final races were held in the classroom and the finals were raced during nutrition

 Students practicing their mechanical and computer engineering to build and program race cars. The Goal was to have the fastest car that would also stop within the guidelines.  The robots are constructed from VEX Robotic parts.  All coding is done in a language called RobotC.  It is amazing to see students learn to become mechanical and learn the properties of various mechanisms, while learning to code as well.  The students truly enjoy these activities.

Mouse trap car building in our after school MESA program.

MESA and the Mouse Trap Cars

WEB Leaders Study Marine Science at The Aquarium of the Pacific

RJ Frank and our WEB leaders would like to thank Target for the Field Trip Grant.  

We actually touched sharks.

WEB Leaders are exploring submerged landscapes.

Oceanography Class Goes Kayaking!

RJ Frank Middle School, Academy of Marine Sciences and Engineering, would like to thank our partners at Cal State University Channel Islands for the use of the Boating Center and their kayaks.  

Frank students played a warm-up game before paddling at the CUSCI boating center.  They would balance their paddles and when given the signal they would run to the next paddle and try to catch it before it fell.  Like musical chairs, you were "out" if you couldn't make it to the paddle before it fell.

The students were trained on kayak safety and fitted in personal flotation devices.

Three teams of kayaks were created.  Each team of kayaks were tied together from bow to stern with the adult leader in front and then they raced across the harbor!

RJ Frank Students at the Camarillo Bird Museum (Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology)

The first Ocean Literacy concept explained

Let it Glow, Let it Glow,This is Let it Glow

Pyrocystis fusiformis photographed on the iPad with one our new microscopes and iPad cameras. 

This is a common algae that live in our ocean.  It glows in the dark with a beautiful blue green light.

Cal State University Channel Islands students came to most of the 7th grade classrooms and presented the students with a small vial of living, gkow-in-the-dark algae.

The college students not only explained how college is beneficial for themselves, but also taught about photosynthesis and this wonderful marine organism.

Student used the mnemonic technique of learning through song, as the sung science lyrics about this algae to the tune of "Let it Snow"

Hour of Code

Almost every student at RJ Frank participated in a computer programming activity called the Hour of Code.   

Students used their iPads and a simple drag and drop programming language to solve various puzzles.  

Students were introduced to computer coding and learned to think like a coder.

Visual Thinking Strategies are an inquiry approach to education that allow student to think about, discuss, and then write about an image they see.  It facilitates students to use  higher level thinking skills while allowing them to be creative in their thought process.  Students then collaborate and communicate with other students about the image they see.

The Magnet School Assistance Program has made possible new technology for microscopy at RJ Frank Middle School.  Here are the new microscopes, microscope video cameras and an iPad app. We are looking at plankton under some microscopes and onion cells on the other microscopes.