On a Roll!

This week's energy lesson was actually a ton of fun (forgive the pun)!  I really liked starting the lesson with an explanation of how we might calculate and what assumptions might be made. It helped confirm that, while our team seriously lacked experience, we were on the on the right track...oh boy, and another pun. Seriously, they're just rollin' out.../facepalm. Unintentional!!

This week, I started in the roller coaster building group and have to say, being talked through the sign-in and design was great. Once we got rolling, we quickly realized the audio on the game was creating an overlap with our talk, so headphones were quickly plugged in and we were off. I did manage to modify my coaster to achieve a very high score...but I did not manage to stop before crashing through the barrier killing everyone onboard. /sigh I had reports of no survivors and demands for redesign, but was denied opportunity.


Just about the time I've got it down, we got morphed into Colin's Minecraft group and quickly discovered how great a full on belly-laugh sounds when we failed to stop, crashed through the barrier and went down in flames. Literally! hahaha!! I had such a great time problem solving where to start the tracks and someone else, I think Nicole?, just jumped right in and started creating new starting points, conjuring cars, and going for thrill rides in search of a view. Colin's teaser was to stop, just at the top of the platform, so we could enjoy the view...we managed, although we were teetering. Felt a bit like being tipsy on the boardwalk in Mexico? Wait, did I just say that?!

The final group I worked with was Chip's.  His teaser of course was to challenge us all to be able to land on the house top...which we were totally not supposed to do! So, once he got us UNdistracted from the not-challenge, we started learning about the different tools. It's really bizarre to feel so UNsmart in this class. I am the go-to person at my school when it comes to pretty much anything tech...and yet in this class, most of the time I feel like I am lost and stumbling

I will admit...I totally got sucked in to getting that roller coaster to work...so I did go back and finish it. I think I can live with a score of 2,502 where no one crashes and burns!

If STEM wasn't so important, and you guys weren't all so patient and supportive, I would be hopeless in this! In the meantime, I'm having a blast learning about the tools and resources out there and attempting to feel less overwhelmed and shift gears back into being productive. Ok, back to work. I have STEM lessons to write!