Working with Stakeholders | Community Engagement: Wilmington, MA STEM Fair

Mar 08, 2023

Breaking NEWS: The MIT Team from SRP were back this year on March 6, 2024 after a very successful first year event in 2023!  

The Wilmington Public Schools, K-8, invited Dr. Kathleen Vandiver to prepare and bring an activity to share at their annual STEM Fair for the school’s students on the evening of March 8^th, 2023.  Dr. Vandiver chose to bring her hands-on tabling activity, “Build LEGO™ Models of Air Pollutants.”  Pollutants in the atmosphere are often invisible, like many other environmental problems, but they may produce significant environmental and public health consequences.

Dr. Vandiver, along with SRP Director, Dr. Bevin Engelward and five SRP Trainees (Barathkumar Baskaran, Aimee Moise, Amanda Armijo, Vandana Singh, and Haosheng Feng) volunteered to be the explainers for this climate change program.  They set up the activity stations for students to construct air molecules, modeling the different elements with colored LEGO™ bricks.  The students first learned to build the common molecules in air by building these chemicals’ molecular structures.   At the next station, the students modeled a chemical reaction with bricks to see how cars burning gasoline as fuel will release molecules of CO₂ which have a negative impact on the planet.  And at the third and fourth stations, the students learned how the combustion reaction can also produce pollutants harmful to human health.  These hands-on learning experiences increase the students’ understanding about how molecules play a role in climate change and how the environment can affect human health.  These activities educate young students by offering them a visual and tactile modeling experience about molecules in air.  Additionally, their accompanying parents benefit from having their understandings refreshed on the importance of limiting CO₂ production and other air pollutants for better health.