Today we went back to BCA for the second time, and it was such an amazing experience! We did many different activities with the students, and they loved them all.
We demonstrated industrial engineering and cost management with a LEGO house building activity where the students had to minimize the cost of their building while adhering to certain constraints. The students made such creative and amazing designs that were even better than the model, and we were very impressed.
We also used LEGO Mindstorms to teach the students about robotics and coding, and they all had a blast programming and playing with the robots.
The students also learned about circuits through Arduino software. Finally, we gave them an introduction to pre-med and biomedical engineering by monitoring their blood pressure before and after exercising. The students really enjoyed all these activities and we were all so impressed with their creativity and how quickly they learned.
On the students' lunch breaks, we sat with them in the courtyard and talked while they ate. They kindly offered us some of their food, and we exchanged information about traditional American and Indian customs. We learned so much about Indian culture and they were so curious about our lives back in the US as well.
When we came back into the classrooms, we taught the students about ethics in engineering through a sample case study that we actually did in one of our engineering classes at Michigan! They shared many great ideas about Engineering Honor Code and why it’s important to make ethical decisions when designing solutions.
Next, we did an exciting Shark Tank activity that the students loved. They posed as entrepreneurs and pitched a business idea to us (the sharks). They all got very creative with their ideas and we were very impressed with how well thought out and confident their pitches were given such a short amount of time to prepare.
When we finished the activities, we went back into the main room to close out the day. This was our last day with the 10th and 12th graders, and we were so sad to leave them. Many students stood up and each thanked us and said something they learned during our time with them at BCA. They were so kind and their remarks almost brought us to tears. We had such an amazing few days with this group of students, and we already miss them so much. They taught us so much about Indian culture and it was heart-warming to see them grow curious and inspired by engineering through each activity. They were also so kind and welcoming to us and made us feel at home at BCA, and we are so grateful for this experience.
We stopped back at COB for a quick lunch and then returned to the school for our afternoon activities! First, we received a presentation on the 8 classical dance styles of India and their development throughout the years. The teachers also presented on different musical instruments that originated in India such as the Sitar, Harmonium, and Tabla. We were thrilled to watch the BCA music teacher give us live performances on each of these! Moving into our presentation, we shared about the US education system and more about how the University of Michigan works to protect and support their students.
Our next activity was learning to do Rangoli, or an art decoration drawn with limestone on the ground outside entrances of homes to bring good luck. We had so much fun experimenting with different shapes and colors to make the beautiful patterns!
We headed home for dinner and rest time before preparing our activities for tomorrow!! Thanks for tuning in and we hope you enjoy!
(everyone wish Kyleigh a very happy birthday!)
Comments