Week 2

Week 2 

Week 2 was actually a really fun, engaging week. I especially enjoyed the spaghetti/marshmallow tower activity. It was interesting to see all the different designs when looking around the class. However, all the designs had most of the same elements.

 

A lot of groups went the pyramid route with a square base and built it up by layering spaghetti strands like the above picture. My group wasn't very original and pretty much went the same route. Once it came time to attach the marshmallow on top of the structure, it wasn't very supported and we ended up with a below average recorded height. The most interesting part of the entire activity was afterward when it was revealed that kindergarten kids excelled over engineers, business students and others when given the challenge of supporting their marshmallow. These kids didn't have the knowledge of physics to influence their design and just winged it and did whatever they felt was best. These results pose some very interesting implications about design like how what is the accepted way of doing something doesn't always yield the best results.

For Thursday, we had to take a section of cardboard and turn it into something else.

   

It was interesting to see how someone could take something so bland and turn it into something appealing, creative, and interesting. My design was pretty basic but I feel like it was as interesting as I could make it. My favorite design of the day came from the kid who simply brought in a cardboard box. I thought it was hilarious. Now I don't think he received any points for the activity but at the end of the day, his design was the one I remember most because it made an impression on me. A lot of the designs just faded into the background.