Thursday and Friday August 28th & 29th, 2014

Today's Quote: "Concern yourself more with accepting responsibility than with assigning blame. Let the possibilities inspire you more than the obstacles discourage you." Ralph Marston

Today's Lateral Thinking question: There are six eggs in the basket. Six people each take one of the eggs. How can it be that one egg is left in the basket?

Today's Class: Design Challenge 1.

Imagine this scene. You need to copy sections from your textbook into a computer document for a presentation. The job has to be done immediately. You have a computer and the textbook on the low desk. When you sit down and open the book a problem arises. You forgot your glasses, and you can't read the book. In the desk drawer you find some index cards, rubber bands, and paper clips. How can you quickly make a book support that will raise the book closer to your eyes?

You will first discuss the problem with your group.

Then you will try out some solutions using the materials you found in the desk.

Your goal is to support the book at least 7.5 centimeters above the desk.

You MUST be able to read the book and turn the pages while the book stays open on the support.

Your group will have 10 minutes to complete this challenge.

Remember to record your Criteria and Constraints.

Develop an operational hypothesis as an If/Then Statement. Remember that it must be testable. Also record your NULL hypothesis.

Keep

ACCURATE records

How you will be graded

Watch this video over and over. Lab Safety

PM Update:

Update PM: In class today I went over the group grade form and how students will help grade each other and how I will report this back to them. After each project or lab we will debrief. I have created an Excel spreadsheet and will enter their group grades and comments so that they can see areas their classmates believe they are really good at as well as areas they can improve on.I gave a brief demonstration in making detailed observations. I introduced students to the project at hand and explained the rubric I would use to evaluate them. We went over margin of error (MOE) and how it is used when making observations. Students then were given 5 minutes to brainstorm their design ideas as a group and 10 minutes to construct a prototype.