SEP Session 2, Day 2

After taking time yesterday for students to get to know each other and covering introductory material, camp is in full swing and teachers are starting to dive into the core content of their classes!

Students learned about microbes in "Disease Detectives" today. Ms. Spalding asked the students a series of questions about bacteria such as "If you took a 30 minute shower would you still have bacteria on your body" and " Is bacteria good or bad?" All of the students had the opportunity to mark their answer on the board. Each student correctly answered that yes, bacteria would still be present and that bacteria can be good and bad. The students watched the following video to showcase that bacteria exists all over the body. Then, students classified themselves as a type of bacteria using a dichotomous key.

Meanwhile, upstairs in "Through the Physicist’s Looking Glass,” students were introduced to the Momentum Impact Theorem through a game of water balloon toss. After learning the written formula, students solved a word problem to figure out the time of impact of a football helmet during a tackle. Then they saw the theorem in action by simulating car crash tests. Students designed cars, with a bag of baking powder serving as their passenger, to test how effectively various material protected their passenger. Students tried cotton balls, plastic shopping bags, and napkins to determine which material would be the best source of protection. After releasing their car down a ramp, students measured the size of the impact the car made in the bag of baking powder. Click through the slideshow to see the students cars!

Down the hall in "Evolution:The History of an Idea" students watched a video explaining the Greek Mythology creation story. Afterwards, the class discussed variations of the story they have learned. Later, students read a biography of Aristotle.

Students in "Greatness through Game Theory," worked to create a game strategy. Mr. Cepanas created a strategy for playing tic-tac-toe. He numbered each square of a tic-tac-toe board 1-9, moving left to right. His strategy is shown below. A player would follow these steps in order moving to the next step if the previous one is not possible.

1. If possible to win, take the highest number square

2. otherwise, take lowest number, block if necessary

3. otherwise, take center

4. otherwise, take highest number corner

5. otherwise take highest number side

He challenged students to create a written strategy that would bet his! Some students were able to accomplish this task pretty quickly! Can you create your own strategy?