Brownie
Days
Leading
Girls to Science and Technology
Sponsored by Girl Scouts of Magic
Empire Council
and
The University of Tulsa
Student Chapter of The Society of Women Engineers
Advisor: Dr. Christi L. Patton
Twice
a year, second and third grade Brownie Girl Scouts are welcomed
into Keplinger Hall at The University of Tulsa for four hours
of science fun! The program has been running for a little
over ten years and has consistently gotten a very positive
response. Although the activities vary each time, a variety
of organizations team up to teach the girls about alternatively
powered cars, bridge building, chemistry, statistics, geology,
polymers and more.
In
the Statistics lab, girls separated colored M & M's and
counted them to check the ratios of the colors. Then they predicted
the next color out of the bag, and ate their research.
In
'Polymers' sponsored by AIChE, the
girls learned to identify objects made of polymers—everything
seems to be made of polymers—and then they made a silly
putty-like goop to take home.
 
The
'Bridges' program divided the girls into teams for a bridge
building competition using legos. The
bridges had to withstand 2.2 lbs to be successful and some
groups had time to rebuild bridges that broke. The SWE
professionals told the girls to consider how to best use their
team, resources, and time limit.
 
In
the 'Cars' program, the Challenge X group explained the experimental
car they built and tested a smaller electrolyte car with the
girls. The girls discovered that of all the liquids put
into the electrolyte car, V8 gave the car the most power.
In
'Chemistry', the girls mixed chemicals to make a luminary liquid,
much like the chemical found in fireflies. Then they
froze a tennis ball in liquid nitrogen and screamed when Dr.
Bob Howard smashed it into the floor. Some of the girls
even got pieces of the ball to take home with them.
 
In
'Robotics', the girls try out a variety of different mini-robots
and other amazing electrical circuits. They even get
to drive a robot that competed in Comedy Central’s “Battlebots”. By
the end of their session, Mr. Doug Jussaume has the girls chanting that “Electrical Engineering
is the best!”
In
'Geology', the girls identified large and microscopically small
fossils and even got to make a mold of one using plaster of paris.
Some
semesters, girls have built boats out of aluminum foil. The
contest is to see whose boat can hold the most pennies.
The
students always have a great time. A few days after the
most recent Brownie Day, one troop leader sent a note of thanks
saying, “we had several parents
tell us that the girls got home Saturday and couldn't quit
talking about it.” One of the volunteers said “I
had so much fun helping girls see the fun side of math and
science.”
It
is little wonder that a program with so much positive impact
will continue to be supported by the hosting groups and attended
by an ever growing number of girls.
Author: Michelle
Whalen |
ChE Tulsa University 
