Two weeks ago, I came in with an updated version of my talk on explosives, and I was very pleased with the response I got in all of the classes. I start out with a short video clip that shows two military vehicles driving on a dirt road, and a land mine detonating between the vehicles, which does a great job in grabbing the students' attention. I then pose the question: what if the humvee had been directly above the explosion? What would happen to the vehicle? What would happen to the occupants? The students are actually very good at coming up with responses - usually at first someone says, "the vehicle will explode," but when I push them harder to be more specific they'll say something about the vehicle being thrown into the air and possibly deform. I then pose a question regarding how we would learn about the effects of explosives on vehicles so that we can design safer vehicles, and get them to say something about physical or virtual testing. Everyone agrees that physical tests are expensive, so we talk about scaled-down testing, which is something that I did as an undergrad while at the University of Maryland. This is also something that ties in directly to their current classwork, which is on proportions and ratios. So, I show them how I scaled down my tests, and what the relevant proportions are, and hopefully everyone is able to see how scaling can be useful in real life. At the end, I ask a question about what other professions might use scaling/proportions, and the students were able to respond really well with examples about architects, rollercoaster designers, maps, etc. Second hour (accelerated) went fairly well, though the morning classes are less responsive since it's so early. Third hour (non-accelerated) was also very attentive and respectful, and we went all the way until the bell rang. Fourth hour (non-accelerated and usually my toughest crowd) actually seemed to really like it. The students actually sat through the dismissal bell while I continued talking, which both Ms. Tran and I were extremely impressed with - that may be my most successful moment so far with this group of students.
Today is the day before the students' Chapter 8 test, and so I came in to help the students with their in-class practice tests. I don't have anything eventful to talk about, but I did get a feeling that many of the students are more comfortable with me than they have been, and asking questions of me wasn't so bad. It seemed like there were enough questions to occupy me throughout the three class periods that I was there for, so I consider that a meaningful three-hours' work.
