The following reports were written by members of Engineers In Training, Session A class during the second day of the program. Some elements may have been removed/edited for various reasons, but the text that remains is in the student's own words.
Otis
I found that today was a very constructive experience that taught me about both bridge design and the actual building of the bridge. My partner and I designed the best bridge on the computer, the one that had the lightest load for both compression and tension. However another group actually built an amazing structure that was 29 cm high and supported 150 marbles!! The only thing that confused me was that we were rewarded for the height of our "bridges" when normally a bridge is made side-to-side not up and down. Other than that I enjoyed the entire class.
Nick
Today in class, we did a lot of fun things. First, we went on the computers and built bridges. We took the largest numbers on the tension, and the compression, and we wrote them down on the board and added them up. Then after break, we built real structures out of straws. We put cups on them, and filled them with marbles. The structure that I helped build was the strongest and highest out of all of them. Class was very fun today! I can't wait for tomorrow.
David
I had fun with bridges. I like the entire class, especially the computer applets. The models were fun. We should, however, be able to choose our groups. I think we should be able to go other places on the internet before and after class.
Ben
I had fun making structures out of straws and pins and putting cups on the structures and seeing how many marbles fit into the cup or until it fell.
Nedra
Today was very interesting and fun because we made structures with straws. The teams talked to each other and thats what made this day better!!!
Brittanie
I enjoyed this session a little bit better. It was ok.
Nimra
Today, we tried to build structures that would hold a bunch of marbles. Our structure came in second place. I had a really great time building it.
Noah
Today was awesome. We used straws to build structures that demonstrated stresses and compression. We also made 2-D models on the computer. That was cool too. My partner and I had the best structure as it held the most and was the highest.
Timmy
Today was really cool. We got to experiment with building bridges and building them on the computer. This was fun because it was like real simulation and it was realy cool. Today was really fun except for the parts when I got stabbed with the pins.
Jasmine
I had a good day today. I had a wonderful group. I have no suggestions!!!
Parv
Today was awesome because I got to participate in a challenging competition and learned about bridges.
Trokon
I really liked today's class. We made structures out of straws.
Evan
Today I had more fun because we got to do something other than click buttons.