Week 2: LEGOs®, Physics and More!

Those of us who came from Chapel Hill flew out on Sunday, July 7, 1996. After a whirlwind flight from RDU to DC and a two hour wait at the Boston airport, my first challenge was finding South Hall - the dormintory rooms where we would be spending the next two weeks.

When I finally checked in, the dorm was reminiscent of my college days; however, I was pleased to see that I had a room all to myself. It was no Charles Hotel, where my principal happened to be attending a leadership symposium at Harvard, but I was thrilled to be there nonetheless. . .

Seawell had been one of the few schools chosen, one of two in North Carolina, and I was one of the 16 teachers chosen to embark on this exciting, unknown journey...

The first day was intense and served to set the tone for the next two weeks. This was certainly not going to be your run of the mill teacher workshop. These folks at Tufts were fast-paced and smart, and they expected us to be.

We spent our mornings in Anderson Hall.

building with LEGOĆ blocks.
(Click on thumbnail to see enlarged view of image.)

Dan, the LEGO man, taught us the names of the parts and how they got their names.

Afternoons were spent in the Lab, either building and programming our LEGO creations. . .

learning web authoring, or doing science experiments.

Interspersed with our "LEGO play," we listened intently to physics and engineering lectures and watched cool demonstrations.

The folks at Tufts have a site devoted exclusively to many of the

lectures and experiments that we engaged in during the workshop.