Orchard Valley Middle School science class crafted handmade lip-gloss.
Hoping to break the stigma that her sixth-grade students communicated to her when questioned about their interest in engineering, Orchard Valley Middle School science teacher Kristen Eichinger reached out to the Rowan University Engineers on Wheels. Enter a group of interesting and engaging college students, all of who are working towards degrees that will put them on track be the engineers of tomorrow.
“When I surveyed my students about what they knew about engineering, what engineers do and their interest in the profession, the majority of them responded that they didn’t know much about the field and that engineering was ‘too hard’ and ‘too boring,’” Eichinger said. “I think this program with Rowan provides a great opportunity for my students to see all of the options that engineering has to offer. They get to see that girls can grow into women engineers, which wipes out the stereotype that it’s a profession for men only. It also gives them an opportunity to work with people in the community and to participate in interesting, hands-on activities that I wouldn’t be able to provide to them on my own.”
The Rowan students will be making a series of visits to Eichinger’s classroom over the coming weeks, providing overviews of all six engineering options (biomedical, chemical, civil, electrical, environmental and mechanical) and organizing activities to simulate something that an engineer with a particular specialization may work on.
The Oct. 5 lesson centered on chemical engineering, specifically, crafting lip-gloss.
Before launching them into the activity, Rowan senior Angelique Tucker reviewed some startling facts about cosmetics, an industry that employs countless chemical engineers. Among the facts she shared: There are 12,500 unique chemical ingredients approved for use in personal care products. The average adult woman typically uses between 9 and 15 personal products per day. When combined with perfume, women place approximately 515 chemicals on their skin each day through cosmetic use.
The group then proceeded to concoct colored and flavored lip-gloss using canola oil and beeswax, scented liquids and powdered pigments.
Other interesting activities are planned for the coming weeks when the class touches on the other areas of engineering including: an egg drop (civil engineering); Lego design (mechanical engineering); circuit building (electrical engineering); water filtration (environmental engineering); and the design of a prosthetic leg (biomedical engineering).
