Field Trip Day...

Today we spent the afternoon on field trips.

We visited the Decision Theater at the Brickyard. It is a very cool seven-screen theater where simulations can be seen in a virtual world. There is a driver of the program who can take the theater through the simulation so that people can see what a scenario would look like prior to spending lots-o-money on the actual pursuit of their project. It is a very cool theater.

After the Decision Theater, we traversed the campus and visited the NMR/Spider Lab. I had visited the lab on opening day, but it was good to see it again and to here the perspective of the graduate student who works there v. the professor in charge. Both were fascinating to listen too. I took some cool pics of the NMRs and the spiders. One of the main purposes of the research taking place in the lab is to identify the structure of spider silk. The goal is to be able to reproduce the silk with a synthetic version. The silk has very attractive properties as it is both very strong and very flexible and elastic. The hope is that some day we will be able to use it to create artificial tendons to be used during reconstructive surgery. The Dept. of Defense is also interested in the research.

Visual C#

This week we are beginning our adventures in becoming familiar with C# (C Sharp) programming. I say familiar because we are shown an example and then we replicate the example for practice. I don't feel like I am really "learning" the programming language. I understand, of course, there is little time to accomplish that task. There was a homework assignment given. This was challenging. All of the tools were not necessarily given or learned to complete the assignment. With some effort and creativity I was able to complete the first two of four assignments. Once you become familiar with the language, the programming seems quite simple and friendly to use.

Reflecting as a student and thinking as if I was a teacher, I wonder how often I send my students off with an assignment with the assumption that they have the prior knowledge necessary to complete the new task. This is what I felt when trying to complete the assignments. It was a powerful experience that will be used to remind myself to consider what it is that I am asking students to do on an independant basis, especially when considering the number of school-dependant students there are in my student population.

The afternoon sessions are frustrating. I am not feeling like it is a constructive use of time. Honestly, it feels like we are being coddled. I'm not sure if the idea of "mentors" is a good one. Some are helpful and only assist when asked, others are a bit overbearing and intrusive.

Yesterday we began working on our PowerPoint presentation. We completed the task in short order because we have been compiling peices of the project as we have gone along. I think we are pretty much ready to role.

Our breakout session with our research group was basically non-productive. I want to start woking on my project, but the group wants to keep trying to define everything. What are the groups, who is in the groups, what are we going to do, how is it going to transfer to our class, etc., etc., etc. The group dynmaics are frustrating, people running over others attempts to have conversation, people attmepting to provide all the answers, many, many frustrated participants. Personally, I have a group and an approved idea that I would like to spend my time developing and producing. I am close to the point that I will not be sitting with my group joust so that I can proceed. We have lots of work to do and lots of wasted time that is enfringing on our efforts. Unfortunatly, this seems to be the norm when woking with groups of teachers. In our group's case there are many particiants who want to move forward, do a good job, and produce something meaningful and worthwhile. There simply seems to be a lack of direction and information. What is made available is vauge, perhaps intentionally. I think back to other programs that I have participated and remind myself to think of a useful phrase: "trust the process." I will trust and will reflect again at the conclusion.

Robotics Competition...

Today is the capstone event for the robotics portion of our program. There are two groups of student competetors and one group of teachers. We have been working on programming our Lego Robots all week. There will be three different tasks that each team will be competing. It has been a fun, but frustrating experience. The instruction was limited. Most of what we accomplished was done independently and with group members.

The tasks that our robots must complete include: manuvering a maze, capturing a ball and delivering it to the finish line; an artificial intelligence course where the robot must be pre-programed to manuever the course independantly; and finally a three-on-three ball capture competition. Each event presents its own challenges and has provided many opportunities to troubleshoot and fine tune our programs.

The students are great to watch. They are so engaged and full of energy. They seem much more comfortable with programming, technology, and the like. It seems that many of the adults reach their frustration point much faster that the students.

Let the games begin...