Eight students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology student-led, nonprofit Spokes hosted a STEAM learning festival Monday as a way to rethink science, technology, engineering, arts and maths for the younger generation.
Starting in Washington, D.C., and ending in San Francisco, Bowling Green is the fourth stop of the MIT Spokes’ cross-country bike ride. The group will have hosted 11 learning festivals throughout the United States and traveled 4,000 miles over 80 days by the end of their trip.
The learning festival, sponsored by AccelerateKY and WKU’s Innovation Campus, introduced about 75 5th-10th graders to four different activities led by the MIT students including:
- The Power of Machine Learning: How computers learn from data.
- The Science of Secrets: The craft behind hiding and encrypting information.
- Blast Off! DIY Bottle Rockets: Using chemistry and physics to launch projectiles.
- From 2D Design to 3D Printing: Designing and making your own small creations.
Each station showcased a different aspect of STEAM education, with hopes to inspire an interest in one of the fields.
Ishaq Balogun, a computer science and molecular biology major and a recent graduate of MIT, said he joined the MIT Spokes because of his love for STEM and teaching.
Balogun led the Power of Machine Learning lab, where students learned about coding and how Artificial Intelligence works.
“It’s cool when they (students) have this realization that all this fundamental stuff that we’re teaching them is linked to all these super complex things,” Balogun said. “I think having that sort of translational understanding and seeing when they get excited about it has been my favorite part of teaching.”
Sam Ford, the executive director of AccelerateKY and a founding partner of InnoEngine housed in WKU’s Innovation Campus, said the MIT Spokes’ learning festival helps to inspire middle-school aged kids about career pathways.
“We’re getting more and more people in the community familiar with the Innovation Campus, with the diversification of our economy and all the range of jobs and the tech skills required,” Ford said. “Each year having a whole set of students come here, we are certainly seeing that more and more people know about the innovation ecosystem.”
Ford said since first hosting the MIT Spokes learning festival in 2022, AccelerateKY has seen a significant increase in attendance in the following years.
“AccelerateKY’s mission is to connect institutions in Kentucky who are working on innovation projects to inform young folks and adults alike about the innovative career pathways that are possible,” Ford said. “We’re looking as we have more partners, more funding, more and more projects that really help people to imagine what’s possible.
The MIT Spokes’ next learning festival will be in Newton, Kan. on July 7 and plan to end their journey in San Francisco on Aug. 20.
