Mary Pate's Stem Portfolio

Welcome to my STEM portfolio! My name is Mary Pate and I am a member of the 2019 class at Roland Park Country School. My involvement in the STEM institute began in 8th grade. The opportunity to work closely with extremely talented teachers, and other young women who shared similar educational interests was an eye-opening experience. I have always loved and exceled in both Math and Science, and it was an incredible opportunity for me to further develop my love for these two subjects, along with gaining experience and interests in engineering and technology.

During our first year of STEM, we competed in the Morgan State project, Ecybermission, and the Exploravision Toshiba Project. During these projects, we worked in groups to solve self-formulated problems unsing solutions related to the STEM fields.

During STEM IA, I, along with two others, conducted a research project determining the relationship between time and leaf fall. We then created a Scratch program which allowed one to plug in a day of the year, and the program outputted the amount of leaves that would fall on that specific day.

Later in STEM IA, we focused primarily on science and technology. We studied short term memory, and I conducted a research project along with another student that we designed. We used a Scratch program to test how the color of the color's title would affect the human brains' ability to remember and recall the titles displayed. you can find my research paper for this expirament by clicking the link below:

During STEM IB, we focused on engineering and technology. A partner and I created programs for robots that were modeled after mars rover. At the end of the semester, our exam consisted of our robots having to complete a series of tasks on a terrain that was modeled after mars through our programs we created throughout the year. Below are two of the programs we used throughout the year, these programs can be opened with LEGO MINDSTORM:

During STEM IIA, we focused on both math and topology. We learned both Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Geometries, and wrote a research paper comparing the two. You can access this paper by clicking the link below

Later in STEM IIA, we were given the opportunity to choose an aspect of Euclidean or non-Euclidean, geometry that particularly interested us. I along with a partner, choose to do a presentation on Optical Illusions.You can find the link to this presentation below:

Throughout the entire semester of STEM IIB, we focused on Science and Engineering. We did this by being divided into groups of four, and creating a sunscreem. This included testing for the greatest amount of certain chemicals that would provide the most SPF protection, while simultaneously being safe for human usage. We also had to create a packaging for our sunscreen that was affordable while durale. You can view my final stage gate by clicking the links below:

During STEM 11, in small groups we created an invention or innovation to save water that would be applicable in everyday life. My group created a plumbing system that would use the minimum amount of water for every specific flush, depending on the displacement the waste causes in the toilet. You can access my stage gate by clicking the link below:

Sciences:

Biology: for our final project for Biology, we split into groups of three and created our own research project based around soil. You can find my final research paper for this project below:

Physics: For my final physics project, I created a website for a summary of the entire second semester of the class; summarizing and giving examples of motion, Newton’s laws and forces, energy and systems, and bottle rockets. You can access this website by clicking this link below:

Chemistry: For my final project in Chemistry, I, along with 3 group members, conducted an experiment investigating the effects of Sodium Chloride, Magnesium Chloride, and Calcium Chloride on the physical strength of concrete. You can access my final research paper by clicking the link below: