Day 4: A Lot of Stuff Going On! Ending with a BANG!!!!!

Thursday had a lot to offer the campers. We started trying to get their brains working, by doing one of those classic camp survival activities. In groups of three, the campers needed to figure out which items from a list they would take with them to survive a treacherous 5 day hike to reach civilization. They always come up with some great ideas to try and survive.



After that we did a very simple but powerful activity to talk about how much data is enough data. Students were given cups filled with random puzzle pieces from a puzzle. We then passed those cups around the room and they were given the task to try and determine what the puzzle was a picture of.


It took several rounds of passing the cups around until the students figured it was Jack Sparrow. So in every project, the more data the easier it is to come to a conclusion!

After this we worked more with the Minis and data analysis. I gave groups of students a list of grades from my own honors classes from several years ago. This gave us chance to talk about the difference of expectations from middle school to high school, and how the rigors of high school differ from middle school. The CITs gave a lot of valuable input on how best to make the transition from middle to high school.

We then had students use these grades to make box and whiskers plots to look at grade distributions from term to term. I wanted to give them the chance to revisit what we had gone because it will be invaluable in their projects.




For lunch, we took them all the up to the baseball field for a look at the mountain and to sit have lunch outside. It was not too hot, and a perfect summer day.


After they ate we had the CITs talk to the campers about project ideas for next year. Also the CITs told the campers how they came up with their own project ideas. I really would stress that they pick something they are truly interested in. That really makes the project so much easier to perform.



Mr. Tower and I then took the campers on a tour of the grounds and showed them the cross-country trails and all the other fields. Our campus is huge, and we probably walked a mile on our tour. A perfect way to burn off the Calories consumed at lunch!




When we got back to the school, we cooled off with some freeze pops and the CITs had one of the most fun activities ready to go...the SCAVENGER HUNT! The CITs laid out a series of clues for the campers to solve that took around the various places in the building. Those students in Green house and those in White house got a little more familiar with those areas. We really want the campers to get familiar with the building so they feel more at home here in the fall.





Finally we ended the day with my favorite activitiy: What's it Used For? We put out a bunch of different science equipment and had the campers try and guess the uses for each thing. The various things they come up with, always make me laugh.






And we get to end with...

...A BANG!