September 21st

This is Alex writing. Today, the first thing we did was go over our homework from Thursday. We had each chosen a question related to climate and had looked up answers to our question. We presented what we had found to each other, and talked about it. Unfortunately, Nic couldn't come to the meeting today. But the rest of us did a pretty good job on our homework. Our coach is teaching us to not say "um", "like", and other things while we're talking about important things. It's good practice for when we're talking to the judges, she says.

After that, we did a teamwork challenge. We had to make a chute with a gate or release mechanism that would allow a pool ball to roll at least twelve inches across the table after it was released. We built it and took it apart in ten minutes. This was the first time for us to have assigned roles for each of the team members. We rebuilt the chute later for my dad to see, and he was very pleased with it. He said that the way we constructed the tower was very good, with the cross-bracing holding it together and keeping it from wobbling. He also liked how we lengthened the rails by adding smaller beams to the sides; he called the small ones splints. The connection of the rails to the tower was also good, he said. It was a lot better than adding extra braces to it.



Team members roles: Designer - Cheyne; Captain - Alex; Builder - David and Part Gatherer - Max


The completed chute.

After that was done, we worked on missions. We're having trouble with the levees and ice buoy mission; if we succeed with one of them, we fail with the other one. We're working it out, but it's difficult. So, we're almost done with that mission. Once we're done, we'll have to decide which other mission is best for us to work on.