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!

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!

In "Building a Better Board Game," students learned the different types of game mechanics that go into designing and playing a game such as “press your luck,” grid movement, and player elimination. Students played Ticket to Ride, Forbidden Desert, and Bang! to see game mechanics in action!

In Ticket to Ride, players receive train route cards. The objective to accumulate the most points by completing your routes and placing the most trains.

Players are secretly assigned the role of either a sheriff, renegade, outlaw, or deputy in Bang! Each character is assigned an objective for the game, centered around who they should eliminate and who they should protect.

Forbidden Desert is a cooperative game where players work together to explore a desert in order to find an airship, and escape.

While students in "Building a Better Board Game," played games, 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?