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HOTEL NAUTILUS
LIVES AGAIN!
Interior restoration begun!
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April 2013
NEWS & EVENTS
CMMC STEM Innovators!
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STEM Family Nights
Exciting Exploration.
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May 11
Hold the date and time:
Two Programs
10-12 Annual Meeting
Chatham Comm. Center
1-4 Open House
Marconi Museum
To Introduce Volunteers to enhanced exhibits and training program.
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2013 Seasons Schedule
Spring Season
Friday - Sunday 1 - 4
Begins May 24
Summer Season
Tuesday-Saturday 10 - 4
Sunday 1 - 4
Begins June 25
Fall Season
Friday - Sunday 1 - 4
Begins Sept. 6
Ends Oct. 13
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Arrange a Group Visit
to CMMC
for up to 40 persons
Call 508.945.8889 or email
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CMMC Member Benefits
Visit as often as you like and attend member-only events.
Visit CMMC website to sign up.
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Docent Training:
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CMMC STEM: Innovator in Communication Education
Educators and volunteers with engineering experience have collaborated on our Verizon project to prepare materials in the fields of Communication Engineering and Design that spark student interest at all levels. The focus of our STEM program to date has been on writing lesson plans, designing demonstrations for the classroom and developing teacher training materials. CMMC's longer term education goal includes after school and evening programs for students and adults. This winter, Cheri Armstrong, the librarian at the Elementary School in Chatham and one of the educators involved with our Verizon Foundation project, proposed a series of "Family STEM Nights." The results exceeded our expectations as the first series of nights was overbooked, and we extended the series to include a second topic. Cheri tells her story below. While it's easy for me to anticipate how children can have fun at events such as these, I was struck by the fact that their parents were engaged and involved with the projects and had just as much fun as their children.
Charles Bartlett,
Director of Education and Board President
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STEM Family Nights
Puffmobile activity enjoyed by kids during a STEM Night.
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The support of the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center in partnering with the Monomoy Regional School District is of critical importance in continuing to expand and refine the Communication Engineering and Design curriculum, developed under the direction of Project Director, Dr. Mary Ann Lanzo, through a grant from the Verizon Foundation.
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Dr. Mary Ann Lanzo,
CMMC STEM
Project Director.
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Beginning in winter of 2013, Family STEM Nights were presented at the CMMC Exhibit Center museum, on selected Wednesday evenings in February, March, and April. The response from families was fantastic. All available tables were filled and additional evenings were planned because of the many requests for reservations.
The evenings began with an introduction to the museum by President Bartlett and a brief PowerPoint highlighting goals
of the evening: Creativity in engineering, critical thinking, and, perhaps most importantly, perseverance. Each program began with an Everyday Math game. These included "Name that Number", providing practice in number sense and operations, and "Race to 100", enhancing concepts of expanded notation and place value.
The first series of Family STEM Nights focused on structural engineering. Participants were challenged to create a paper airplane that could achieve both speed and distance. Everyone had a wonderful time flying the airplanes down the long hallway! The evening concluded with PuffMobile races. (See photo above). Engineers were asked to create vehicles using three plastic straws, four LifeSaver candies, paper, and tape. The vehicle needed to travel the distance of six feet propelled only by puffs of breath. It was amazing to see the creativity and diversity of the vehicles.
The second series showcased electrical engineering. Many thanks to Dick Kraycir, who assembled and constructed a variety of materials to use to create circuits, measure voltage, and demonstrate electromagnetism. These were electrifying evenings, with families experimenting with wire connections and batteries.
Each evening concluded with the children discussing what they learned from their experiences. It was interesting to listen to each explain the thinking process and the rationale for completing an engineering task. Finally, thanks to a very generous donation from the Chatham Candy Manor, each program concluded with young participants receiving a beautifully wrapped package of assorted penny candy.
Please view the fabulous photo taken by Roz Coleman and look in the Cape Cod Chronicle archives for a related story about Family STEM Nights.
Cheri Armstrong, Consultant to STEM
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