Independent Component Part 9

Today was the second day I had spent with the GATE kids. We dove right into the activities today. 

I asked them if they remembered what Engineers do, then proceeded to show them a video of what engineers actually do. We then discussed a bit of what engineers have to do to build a building, and I started them on the process of constructing a building. First, they had to draw up an idea for a tall building. They were instructed to think about what was holding up the building, what kind of structure the building had. The possible safety measures in the case of an earthquake or strong winds. Once they were done, I asked a few of the kids to share their building. Once we were done sharing designs, and structures, I gave them instructions and set them on building their own actual structures  with the goal of constructing the tallest building they could. With then minutes on the clock, the kids ran to get their materials and get started on their group's building. At the end of  he ten minutes, some of the structures stood tall and proud, while some,  ho stood once or twice, lie in a pile of paper and clothespins. We then dove into discussion about what worked, what didn't work, and how what they encountered was very similar to the problems engineers encounter.

After we cleaned up, we dove into science. I asked the students if they knew what a hypothesis was. After calling on a few kids, we found out an answer. I then informed the kids we would be doing the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment. After calming down from the excitement, I asked the kids to develop a hypothesis of what they thought would happen. We then went outside, and the kids, in the same groups as before, were given a bottle of Diet Coke and a few Mentos. One group had only one Mento, another only two, another three, and the last four. I had the groups drop in their Mentos one group at a time so we could all see what would happen; if the number of Mentos affected the height of the explosion. After all of the groups finished, we observed the bottles to see how much soda was left, and they were all pretty similar, except for the bottle which only one Mentos was dropped in (it had more). After discussing what they thought caused the reactions, we watched a video from the Mythbusters, where they tested the experiment themselves, and explained what was happening. The kids exclaimed, "I was right!" or "Wow!" when they found out what, in fact, caused the reactions.