August 1, 2005

College intern, Bobby Simidchieva, led the class today. She started things off with a "get to know you" exercise. The students had to pass around an invisible ball and call out each other's names. Transitioning into the days lesson, Bobby began a discussion on the Latin roots of the words science and engineering.

The students then used Lego's to build structures and learn whether they would stand or fall. After testing several examples the students developed hypotheses to describe which structures will stand and which will fall. They each presented their hypotheses to the class.

After a short break the students continued experimenting with different structures, trying to prove their hypothesis. Using the Cross Beam applet, the students moved their tests into the computational world. Several students ended up proving their assumptions.