Internship Teaching #7

For today’s blog post, I would like to describe how my research topic is going. I have many students who are embracing this project and are really going above and beyond what the assignment is asking them to do. For instance, I have students painting their cars pink and putting a white ribbon symbol for breast cancer awareness month. I also have other cars where students are taking a previous idea learned in the class (air pressure) and are using it to power their cars down the hallway. I also have a student who is using a piston and crank to help keep his car moving further down the hall. All these students are working hard on this project, which is making me think to myself: Are the students learning the key principles in this section? Are the students taking the research they are finding on the internet and in textbooks to help them understand what can be used to power their cars? As the teacher, am i letting things get too far from them to where they are not learning anything? I also think it is important to note that I see many "new" students putting forth effort that I have not seen yet this semester. Could it be because they are doing a project that they have to build instead of only doing research? I suppose only time will tell. I am anxious to meet with each of the students in the next few weeks to interview them to see how they felt about doing this project.