A group of 29 girls from Briar Middle School attended the annual Women In Engineering Day at the University of Toledo. The girls, as well as Briar teachers Amy Didion and Heath Hamilton, attended four activity sessions and a question-and-answer session with four women engineers.
Session 1: Marathon Oil
Girls worked in groups to create a pipeline to safely carry a liquid from a starting point to an ending point. They were given a map to show where obstacles and height barriers were located. Teams had to figure out how gravity would assist them to move the liquid through their PVC pipe model. When teams were read, their pipelines were tested by pouring water into them to test if there were leaks and if the flow of the liquids made it to the finish.
Session 2: Pharmacy
During this session girls tested the effects of how quickly medicine can dissolve. They had to agitate the capsule with acids, bases and neutral solutions. They were able to see how having a gel capsule can delay when medicine is released. A second part of this session dealt with compounding materials not only with medicine but also with cosmetics. The girls were able to compound their own lip mask to take home with them.
Session 3: Architecture
In this session the girls were challenged to work in teams to build a high dive structure and competed to create the longest board or the strongest board. The materials that could be used were straws and tape. Once they were done their structures were measured for length and a cup was dangled from their dive while pennies were added to test its strength.
Session 4: Water filtration
While working in pairs, the girls had to create a filter to clean dirty water. Each team was given the options of small and large rocks, sponges, coffee filters, and dyed pasta. Their filters were tested. Following their testing, the girls were shown how portable water filters are made and then taken to third world countries to help provide healthy drinking water.