Youth Technology Day, where School of Education students share knowledge with middle and high school students through the fun and fascination of hands-on science, will join the roster of Quest activities this year.

The biannual event brings 50 to 80 Syracuse City School District middle and high school students to SUNY Oswego today, where they will learn about technology from future teachers. Attractions will include model hovercrafts and spaghetti bridges, pingpong-ball catapults and a magnetic levitation track.

Mark Springston, founder of Youth Technology Day and assistant professor of technology, said Quest is the perfect setting for the younger students to visit. Quest celebrates research, collaboration of faculty and students, and creativity, and college and city students—some semesters, students come from Oswego County school districts—can see and support Youth Technology Day and Quest at work.

The public is invited to see live teaching demonstrations during Youth Technology Day at 10 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. in Wilber Hall.

“I always wanted to be a part of Quest, just because of the spirit,” said Springston, who founded Youth Technology Day after he saw a void in authentic teaching experiences for his class in “Teaching Methods for Technology Education.”

Youth Technology Day allows technology education majors to learn about organization of the classroom, keeping students’ attention and designing age-appropriate activities.

Increased attendance

Youth Technology Day began in spring 2007 and is in its eighth semester. In the beginning, the program could only host 30 to 50 middle or high school students. With the help of Michael Nehring, assistant professor of technology, and his teaching methods course, the program now can host up to nearly double the students each Youth Technology Day.

The Oswego students plan, organize and teach such units as designing cardboard boats to hold weight and travel across a pool, and using Photoshop to learn about digital photography exposure. The professors mentor the college students and work with coordinators from school districts to bring the younger students to the college.

Elizabeth Woodford, a senior technology education major, looks forward to planning an activity and working one-on-one with students in what will be her first Youth Technology Day experience. She credits the technology department and its faculty with being the best in the state, possibly the country.

The event “just confirms my belief that I chose the right career path, I chose the right field and some of those students could do the same,” Woodford said.

In past semesters, Youth Technology Day organizers have worked with the Liberty Partnership Program, Mexico High School and a BOCES program. This semester they invited students from the Syracuse district as an initiative to expose less advantaged students to college.

Activities galore

The future teachers will work in teams of three and four to assist as many as 20 students. The younger students will participate in two sessions each, which will involve an informational lesson and then an activity incorporating that lesson.

Students today will:

* Make 72-piece puzzles using Photoshop and heat transfer

* Build model wind turbines and test voltage output

* Design, draft and make a model of a video game controller

* Craft model bridges out of spaghetti and hot glue, testing the structure with weight

* Build model hovercrafts and learn about uses for the technology

* Use a magnetic track and wind to learn about magnetic levitation vehicles

* Build models of catapults to shoot pingpong balls into a basket, to learn about trajectory, history and physics

* Build a car that should protect a raw egg while traveling down a ramp

Through Youth Technology Day, middle and high school students will see what it is like to be a student at SUNY Oswego. They will take tours of campus and have a chance to learn in a college classroom setting. In return, the school districts and their students understand this is a chance to improve the quality of teachers-to-be graduating from SUNY Oswego.

The college gives surveys to visiting students about the quality of their experience. Youth Technology Day has always gotten very positive results, Nehring said. The combination of a field-trip experience, exciting activities and interaction with college students makes the day enthralling, he added.

“They’re going back to their school very excited that they’ve had this learning experience, but it’s so outside of the normal classroom day,” Nehring said.

For a schedule and room assignments for all presentations, exhibitions and events at Quest, check out http://www.oswego.edu/quest.

PHOTO CAPTION: Hands-on science—Mexico High School students, foreground, work on an interactive project with technology education majors John Root, left rear, and Brett Bernhard during a recent Youth Technology Day. Youth Technology Day founder Mark Springston, assistant professor of technology, moved the youthful celebration of technology teaching to Quest for the attractions and views of college life it will provide for visiting middle and high school students. The public is invited to see live teaching demonstrations at 10 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. April 13 at Wilber Hall.

(Posted: Apr 07, 2011)

Tags: technology