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School of Science

Centers, Institutes and Special Programs

Urban Scholars Program

Urban Scholars Program

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The Siena College Urban Scholars Program is a Program for any student that attends an Elementary, or Middle School in the Albany City School District.

We meet for a total of 14 Saturdays during the school year, typically six of them in the fall semester, and two blocks of four in the spring semester.

Students are bussed to and from Siena with the program starting at 10:00am and ending at 3:00pm.

In the morning, the students participate in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) based class.

Lunch is provided in the Siena College Dining Hall.

After lunch, students participate in their second class, something based on Liberal Arts such as art or photography.

Classes are designed to be challenging for students, and we encourage them to ask for help.

Students will work closely with Siena students in a small mentor to student ratio so every student gets the help that he or she may need.

The program strives to encourage student's critical thinking skills, teamwork with their fellow piers, and persistance to never give up if something seems too hard. We want students to learn that their potential is beyond what they ever thought possible!

We offer a variety of classes:

STEM Based	Arts Based
NXT Robotics Advanced Robotics Rocketry Physics with Egg Drop Physics with Bottle Rockets Astronomy Programming with Scratch, Alice, & Python Duct Tape Circuits Alternative Energy Architecture with Minecraft Patterns with Rubik’s Cube Geography with Mapping GIS Fun with Chemistry	Artistic Design / Painting Cartooning with Science Electronic Music / Dubstep Cooking Internationally Photography Creative Writing Self Discovery Creative Careers Success Strategies for Teens Junior Achievments

Sample Programs

Students will work on real-world scientific challenges where robots are used instead of humans in situations of danger, dirty, or demoralizing activities. Students progressively build their knowledge of engineering, computer programming, and robotics. Students will learn how to build their own robot to best suit the challenge they face. They will also use a graphical programming language called Robolab to program their robot to accomplish their missions. Building instructions and programming instructions are provided for those with little experience. Experienced students are challenged to build their own robot and develop their own program to accomplish their mission. Once students acquire a background with robotics, they will put their skills to the test in fun competitions with their robots.

Students with previous experience in robotics will enjoy the challenge of the Arduino robot called Ardbot. Students must have two years of experience with the NXT robots to be accepted into this class. Students will build their Ardbot from basic components including a chassis, servo motors, arduino controller, etc. Students will learn electronics skills to add sensors and wire the sensors and motors to connect them to the arduino microcontroller. The students will learn a program called Modkit Arduino programming environment in order to program their Ardbots.

Students will get some hands on experience working with our very own Siena College Physics students! With only materials such as popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, cotton balls, peanut butter, fluff, etc. you will be given the challenge to build something that will catch a falling egg from 3 stories high and catch it so it will not break! After students have built their devices they will have a competition to see who's egg can be dropped from the highest height and not break.

Make your own circuits. Don’t buy those robotic buzzer bots, build your own! In this seminar you’ll build blinky bugs and buzzer bots along with LED duct tape wallets, LED night lights, and LED Christmas ornaments. Students will build these electronics projects while learning about electronic circuitry. You’ll learn to solder and take home some interesting interactive devices.

Scratch: Participants will learn about computer programming and design using “Scratch.” Scratch is a programming language that makes it fun and challenging to create interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art. As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. Alice: Alice is a great introduction to the Professional Programming Laguage of Java, which is one of the most powerful, and popular programming languages used today. Students will use click and drag commands to create their own animated world. They will create things from their own greeting card, to their own interactive video game! Python: Participants will learn about computer programming and design using Python, a popular text-based programming language for beginning programmers. Students will learn how to program a Finch robot, dealing with different movements, sounds, and lighting effects.

Student will build their own bottle rockets and other devices. Students will build and test their devices under different conditions to find the optimum design . The students will take measurements and use their data to predict the distance their projectile will travel.

During class time students will learn the physics of how a model rocket motor works and how a rocket flies. The students will also learn the engineering behind rocket design. By the end of class, the students will be able to explain the science behind model rocketry. The students will also have built a functional model rocket, which they will get to launch on the last day!

Dr. Michele McColgan & Dr. Bob Colesante

Siena College 515 Loudon Rd. Loudonville, NY 12211

518-782-6748

Sienaurbanscholars@gmail.com