On Friday, October 14th we had our second field trip of the 2022-2023 academic year. On this day, 39 fifth+sixth grade students from the JP Manning School came to learn about engineering. Thank you to NEU students Lauren, Maya, Erika, Munin, and Nigel for helping out today!
We started by learning about engineering and the engineering design process (EDP) and roleplayed the steps of the EDP through brainstorming, designing, and improving an alarm clock pneumatic bed. Next, we did our paper towers activity twice – once designing the tallest possible tower and then designing hurricane-proof towers – designing paper towers to resist simulated storm surge (blue marbles). Each student built their towers, tested it, refined (improved) their designs, and tested again.
Our next activity we did a modification of our paper rockets activity/ Unfortunately, our rocket launcher is on its last legs (we’ll need a new one soon), so instead of launching at full power outside (it was also pouring rain outside), we designed rockets to be shot indoors – testing for accuracy and precision. We needed a target to shoot at and due to a last second classroom change we didn’t have one, so taking a page from our catapults activity, we shot the rockets at me – 1 point for arms/legs, 3 for torso, 5 for head. The rockets are the same design as before, but rather than launching at 45 PSI, we use a stomp rocket kit to shoot the rockets. Lastly, as the rain had stopped, we took a campus tour and visiting various interesting sites, including the site of the first world series (it’s on campus), the various husky statues around campus, and the different artworks on campus.
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- Testing a paper tower to be hurricane (marble)-proof
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- Marbles (storm surge) knock down a paper tower
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- Students design paper rockets to shoot at Nick
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- Students build paper towers to be as tall as possible
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- Shooting stomp rockets at Nick -> testing for accuracy and precision
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- JP Manning students tour campus and visit Ell husky statue
