MANUFACTURING THROUGH PAPER AIRPLANES
​The Paper Airplane Folding Exercise demonstrates the push vs. pull aspect of lean manufacturing. The activity will illustrate the significant reduction in work-in-progress (WIP) and throughput time using the pull system, to explain and illustrate the concepts of push, pull, kanban, bottleneck, cycle time, idle time, line balance, and to illustrate worker behavior in an operational setting.  This will teach students how to holistically look at a process, identify problem areas and improve the process. This type of skill can be used in any life situations and will also demonstrate the importance of communication, teamwork and that there are multiple ways to solve a problem. 
​Organization: Baxter Healthcare Corporation
STEM Field: Physics / Engineering
CANDY SHOP PHARMACY
​Repackaging of Faux Medication: Using unit dose labeling and packaging, students will get the opportunity to repackage faux medication (ie., M & Ms and Skittles) and properly label these items as a reflection of what large pharmacy manufacturers do to prepare medication for patient use. Medication is the foundation for good healthcare today. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are essential to have patients take medication as the prescriber instructed them to do. This activity will allow students to see how medications are developed and packaged as the first step in a patient's care.
Organization: Talent First, PBC
STEM Field: Manufacturing
"MOCKUP" PRODUCT DESIGN
​​We will be running an engineering design game called "Mockups" with students. Students are placed into teams and then asked to brainstorm a product based on design constraints that they draw from a deck of cards. For example, students may draw cards that ask them to design a vacuum cleaner for superheroes that doesn't contain any plastic. They then come up with their ideas, build simple models out of office supplies (if there is time), and share their ideas with the audience for feedback. ​
Organization: The Baxter Center for Science Education / Northwestern University
STEM Field: Engineering
DOCTOR FOR THE DAY
Participants will be involved in a hands on clinician experience where they learn about diagnosing a "patient" through a series of activities. Once the "patient" has been thoroughly analyzed, the students will then learn how to provide proper treatment with the use of infusion pumps. During this time they will learn how to assess and analyze a patient profile, ask critical questions, and program an infusion pump for treatment/therapy. By the end of the session, participants should have a general understanding of Baxter products and how they are used in the field. 
Organization: Baxter Healthcare Corporation
STEM Field: Medical
NEUROSCIENCE GONE WILD!
We will have four hands-on activities teaching different neuroscience concepts. Neuroanatomy: Hold actual brains and compare the anatomy across different animal species--including human! Prism goggles: ​Experience cerebellar learning by tossing bean bags while wearing special goggles that shift your vision. Mirror drawing: Experience implicit learning by altering visual feedback to a simple drawing task. Chemical senses: Learn how we smell and taste with our collection of odd scents and our tests of your tasting abilities
Organization: Northwestern University Brain Awareness Outreach
STEM Field: Medical
WHY BUGS ARE AWESOME
​Experience the excitement of hands-on learning with a variety of fascinating insect species. Learn about the science of entomology and why bugs are awesome! You will learn and understand the vast career possibilities available to entomologists and how your contributions to science can change the world. After this session, you will understand how chemistry, biology and physics come together in a discipline that directly impacts human life and health.
Organization: Valent BioSciences
STEM Field: Life
BATH BOMBS SAVE LIVES!
Students will make bath bombs and learn about the science behind the bath bombs! Students will also learn about how the science of bath bombs relates to how we Save and Sustain Lives at Baxter.
Organization: Baxter Healthcare Corporation
STEM Field: Chemistry
LED GREETING CARDS
Students will have a chance to design and create a light-up greeting card in a blend of design and arts. In order for the card to work students will have to successfully create an LED circuit. Students will be able to take their art home with them along with their new electrical engineering skills! ​
Organization: The Baxter Center for Science Education / Northwestern University
STEM Field: Electrical Engineering
PROBLEM SOLVING TO PROGAMMING
​Ever wonder what it takes to create exciting games, super helpful apps or amazing websites? Can I learn to do that? Of course you can! It all starts with logical thinking and problem solving. Working in teams, you'll learn how to breakdown a problem into manageable parts. You know the saying, "How do you eat an elephant!" We'll work on methods for finding patterns, logically analyzing the issue and coming up with a solution. We'll even look at programming you can try on your own. Come learn how to make a box of parts do what you want it to do.
Organization: Alzheimer's Association
STEM Field: Technology
BRIDGE BUILDING CHALLENGE
Learn about being a Systems Engineer by designing a bridge! Students will learn about the different phases of system design through a hands-on bridge building activity. We'll start with a set of requirements for the bridge, and students will have time to come up with a design and make some predictions about how much weight their bridge will hold. We will then build and test the bridges! These 4 phases (requirements, design, build, and test) are exactly what systems engineers do every day.
Organization: Northrop Grumman
STEM Field: Physics / Engineering
INTERACTIVE CANCER SHOWDOWN
​CTCA will have 3 interactive sessions--Nolan the Colon, Healthy v. Smoker Lungs and a Skin Cancer display. Nolan the colon is a giant walk through colon cancer educational experience. The lung display shows students how healthy and unhealthy lungs "inflate." The Skin cancer display shows what to look for in recognizing skin cancer. Each station will have representatives from CTCA--including Doctors, Nurses, Physicists, Technicians, etc. to talk about the types of cancer as well as how they incorporate math, science and technology in the detection and treatment of cancer.
Organization: Cancer Treatment Centers of America
STEM Field: Medical
TRANSMISSION FILTER EXPLORATION
​Every product needs strong analysis and intentional design. This session provides the opportunity to learn about computation fluid dynamic analysis tools and how they interact with functional design to show how fluid travels through transmission filters. Each student will have the opportunity to inspect various filters - did you know filters have ribs? Do you know why? Learn how transmission filters are designed to work with individual customer needs in order to bring the best product from computer to real life. ​
Organization: ITW PowerTrain Components
STEM Field: Engineering
SCIENCE, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE
So much Science, so little time: Learn the many different things you can do with a science background. Explore biology, medicine, health care, viruses, the immune system, proteins, biochemistry, molecular biology, genes and DNA, diagnostic tests, pharmaceutical drugs, patent law, contracts, exercise and dance.
Organization: Abbott Laboratories
STEM Field: Life / Medical
MICROBES ARE EVERYWHERE!
Microbes are everywhere! The fascinating world of microbes (bacteria, viruses, fungi, protists) will be explored. Students will examine various live protists often found in ponds and lakes and learn microscopy skills. They will also stain cheek cells to look for associated bacteria, and we will discuss the human microbiome. ​
Organization: Carthage College
STEM Field: Life
CHROMEBOOKS DISSECTED
Abracadabra! I Fixed My Chromebook and Seconds Later...I’m Ready to Compute! Does your school use Chromebooks to complete classwork? Have you ever wondered what the device looks like on the inside? Learn about the different components inside a Chromebook, how they work together to allow a quick boot-up and how to repair the device if something is not working properly. You will have the opportunity to open a Chromebook, identify and remove some of the basic components and then reassemble to create the “magic” that happens when any computer is booted up!
Organization: Grayslake High School
STEM Field: Technology
POWER, HALF-LIFES, AND SO MUCH MORE!
​What do engineers do at nuclear power plants? How do radioactive elements behave? What is a half-life? What does this have to do with generating electricity and turning on your lights? Activity about half-life of an element: The forensics team at your laboratory has stumbled upon a new radioactive element, Chocolatesium (better known as M&Ms). Your lab team must investigate the decay behavior of the new element over a period of time. To accomplish this, you will plot the number of atoms remaining versus time interval. Complete the proposed experiment with the given materials.
Organization: Jensen Hughes: Women in Nuclear
STEM Field: Physics
BUILD YOUR OWN BATTERY
In this activity, students will work in groups of 4-5 to learn the basics of building a battery using everyday materials. Student groups will then conduct a series of small experiments in order to design and create an optimal battery to power a small audio device. ​​
Organization: Argonne National Laboratory
STEM Field: Electrical Engineering
DESIGN YOUR OWN PROSTHETIC HAND
​Attendees will perform a hands-on activity to design and create a prosthetic hand prototype with Pfizer biomedical engineers using household items. Students will learn about the design process and what goes into engineering a prototype (user needs, requirements, constraints, time management). ​
Organization: Pfizer Inc.
STEM Field:​ Medical
FORGING BY FORCE
The activity will demonstrate how Scot Forge pushes the limits of open die and semi closed die forging. By working with a pliable clay with hand size forging dies, students will learn the concept of the movement of material by force. The clay will then be heat treated to demonstrate how temperature can alter the properties of the material, much like steel. And lastly, a quality operation will take place to ensure a perfect final product is produced for each student to take home.  Along with the activity we will discuss how metals can be manipulated and how Scot Forge applies its processes to produce mind blowing products.
Organization: Scot Forge
STEM Field: Metallurgy
​COLLABORATION FOR TECHNICAL TEAMS
​The students will use a variety of hands on exercises to understand why teams in general, and especially teams that are doing technical work prove the concept of "the whole is better than the sum of the parts". These are some of the exercises that are used when training engineering and IT teams to become more effective and productive.
Organization: Trissential
STEM Field: Engineering
ENGINEERS, WHAT DO THEY DO?
Provide answers to "What is an engineer?" and demonstrate problem solving skills through a team building exercise. Dive into different disciplines of engineering with an emphasis on Civil Engineering. Everyone can be an engineer and our goal is to provide as much information needed to help you make that decision.
Organization: Gewalt Hamilton Associates
STEM Field: Civil Engineering