Week 1
Session 2
Guiding Question
How can we make sand stand tall?
Subquestions
What is reinforcement?
What is soil reinforcement?
What is the purpose of soil reinforcement?
Outcomes
Students explain what soil reinforcement is.
CT Components
Data Collection
Conducting an experiment with pool noodles and plastic dowels
Abstraction
Reflecting on how the plastic dowels work as a reinforcement
Communication
Discussions/descriptions of soil reinforcement
Entry Event
15 minutes
A facilitator reviews, “In our last session we looked at how we can make sand strong and how sand can create a structure when it is reinforced. Let’s watch a short video reviewing some of the new terms we learned.” Facilitator should proceed to show an eight-minute video highlighting soil-reinforcement and how this applies to engineering: (Please skip the part of the shear stress if needed).
After the video, the facilitator asks “What did you observe about how soil needs to be reinforced?” The facilitator pauses, allowing the students to share observations they made. Facilitator continues, “In our last session we experimented with our own reinforced sand. Today we are going to learn more about reinforcement and the purpose of soil reinforcement.”
Facilitator plays the following video on reinforcement and will lead a discussion
20 minutes
The facilitator will lead a discussion using the following questions:
What is reinforcement?
What is soil reinforcement?
What is the purpose of soil reinforcement?
What are the advantages of soil reinforcement?
10 minute break
Reinforcement
Small-group Hands-on Scientific Inquiry (20 minutes)
Students in small groups (2 students per group) will work together to test the idea of reinforcement. The facilitator asks the following questions to guide student activity:
How does the reinforcement work?
What is the purpose of reinforcement?
Procedures
Students bend the pool noodle. Document the behavior/characteristics of the pool noodle.
Students insert a plastic dowel to the pool noodle. Students bend the reinforced pool noodle. Students document the characteristics of the reinforced pool noodle.
Resources
9 Styrofoam (Pool noodles)
9 Plastic dowels
Whole Group Discussion
10 minutes
The facilitator asks students to share their experiences/observations in the activity. The facilitator leads a discussion on the guiding questions:
What is reinforcement in this activity?
How does the reinforcement work?
What is the purpose of reinforcement?
The facilitator helps students connect this experience with reinforcing soil.
End of Session Reflection and Debriefing
5-10 minutes
Teacher briefly explains the computational thinking (CT) skill embedded in the Problem Solving Process Diagram. Using the problem solving process diagram, the teacher will ask students to identify what kind of problem solving skills/process/computational thinking they used in this session and explain how they used it. The following are some sample questions that can guide the debrief.
What did I learn today?
What problem solving skills/processes or CT components in this diagram did I use today?
How did I use the problem solving skills/processes/CT components?
