Our first field trip was on Friday, October 4th: 35 x 5th/6th graders from the Chittick Elementary School came for a visit. Students learned about the engineering design process, then split up and alternated activities. In our Civil Engineering-focused activity [first image], students visited Northeastern’s Earthquake lab (EQL) (thank you CEE Professor Nancy Varney for running this!) – learning about Earthquakes, resonance frequency, and how to design buildings to resist shaking. Using K-NEX and a large-scale shake-table, students discovered – it’s not quite so easy to proof buildings against violent tremors.
In our Environmental Engineering-focused activity, students learned about pollution: how it happens and how we can deal with it. After first polluting the Charles River (not literally!) [second image] – students then designed and built their own water filters -> which, as seen in image 3, we lined up and tested based on water clarity (and smell!). Finally, we wrapped up the day with a quick (20 minute) campus tour after a College 101 student panel during lunch. Thank you to all volunteers who helped this day: Ama, Jamie, Amanda, Heather, Quinn, Quincy, Franklin, Claire, and Abby.
