John Burton, a mechanical engineering student from Duke University, taught this two session class centered on physical structures and their associated characteristics. John taught the students about beams, moments, rigidity,, effects of gravity, center of mass, tension, compression, and buckling. He used a pre-fabricated foam beam to demonstrate the concept of tension and compression. The students used a computer applet to further visualize the effects of tension and compression. The students learned what causes a structure to become unstable and how to combat instability. John emphasized to the class that triangular shaped structures or sub-structures provide greater strength and stability than those that are rectangular shaped.