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Engineers in Training 2002
Shodor > SUCCEED > Workshops > Archive > Engineers in Training 2002

In the first part of the morning, the students were given a handful of legos and a sheet of paper with designs on it. The students had to make the same designs out of legos and put them together and they had to see if they toppled or stood.

What is a hypothesis?

This was a question that Shilpa asked the students. A hypothesis is a prediction based on a observation. The students then had to make an hypothesis of which legos would topple or stand. After the students made their hypothesis, the students then went to the engineers in training website and went to one of their applets and they drew their lego shapes on their laptops.

What is tension? What is compression?

These were other questions Shilpa had asked the students. Tension is the force of pulling. Compression is pushing things together. The example of tension and copression was when the students had lined up and held their hands together and pushed and pulled each others hands. This example was done so the students could better understand tension and compression.

After that, the students then went to the in straws we trust applet on the engineers in training website. The students then built structures that had to do with tension and compression. They then tried to increase and decrease the tension of the structures. The students then had to make a fix note and a horizontal note. Shilpa then made a triangle out of straws and pulled each straw and the students had to tell her if it had tension or compression. The students then tried their nodes for the triangles and the students had to then figure out their members.