STEP day 2

Today for a little while we had a special guest: Joe! Joe happened to be around in preparation for a meeting a little later in the morning, so he stopped by to help out a bit and see how the workshop was going. He pretended to have no idea what we were doing and asked the kids to go over what we talked about last week. Cricket chirp... So then he asked, "Okay, well you talked about what Imaging Science is, right? Can anyone tell me what Imaging Science is?" More silence... "...Well, it's like photography, right? Imaging Science is just like photography?" And then half the kids start nodding in agreement... *facepalm. 

Moving along, we hand held the kids through a discussion about what we did last week, which then transitioned into what needed to be done next. The first thing I had planned for today was to complete the information required for the project abstract (due Monday). One of the requirements is a page of references, so to help things along and get the juices flowing I prepared three references ahead of time: An Introduction to Thermal Imaging, How Space Blankets Work, and Thermal Imaging to Assess the Insulation Properties of an Incubator Cover by Macnab, A. et al. (accessed via RIT Library database, so I don't have a link, sorry). I thought these were great references because they represent three different types of sources: a blog; a popular internet reference; and a scientific journal. They also covered a range of applicable topics, and some even included practical information for carrying out data collection. So through this I hoped the kids would learn not only about thermal properties and thermal imaging, but also how to read scientific articles and perform useful research. 

I paired up the kids by pairing the older students with the younger ones, and then since only 5 of my 7 kids showed up Joe was paired with the odd one out. Each pairing was then given one of the three articles I had brought with 15 minutes to read and discuss between them. Then they were to present on their article to the rest of the group. This went.... okay. It was clear that pretty much all of these students were very shy and uncomfortable about getting up and talking in front of each other. They spoke very quietly and were not confident about what they were saying... which is really a shame because what they were saying was actually very insightful and spot on. Joe and I asked leading questions to cover the points they might have missed, and overall it seemed they had picked up on mostly everything I had hoped they would. 

At this point Joe had to leave, so we bid him goodbye as we transitioned into completing the rest of the abstract information. This time I split the group in two: a problem statement group and a methods group. The problem statement group was charged with addressing why this is a relevant research project, what scientific gap the research is filling, and what questions are being addressed in the project. The methods group was charged with creating a list of all of the insulators we had all brought today, and taking notes on what materials they were made up of. After about half an hour, we regrouped to assemble everything into the abstract and determine together what steps we would take to collect data.

Once that was all determined, we were off to the ice rink to collect data! (Because, of course, since we wanted to utilize the cold winter weather, mother nature decided it would be over 50º today.) We claimed a space in an upper corner of the rink and commenced with data collection with the portable IR camera. The figure skating club was holding a practice during this time, so we were entertained during the 5 minutes we waited between each picture, though it got a little distracting when it came time to do actual work. For the different insulators, we collected images for initial - no insulation, initial - insulated, at 5 minute intervals, and then a final uninsulated picture. We did this for a bunch of different materials, but my favorite is a space blanket:

Wool knit blanket on the left, space blanket on the right

You can essentially "see" a hood through the blanket. You can also see where heat is reflecting off the space blanket.

After 10 minutes, you can see how the wool blanket has heated up, but the space blanket looks pretty much identical.

Overall I am not certain of the validity of most of the data... The kids kept running down to the vending machines in the warm lobby to get snacks, or would forget and take off the insulator they were wearing, or would unfold their blanket and change their configuration, among other things... not to mention no one was keeping accurate 5 minute timing. Sigh. But even those kinds of mistakes are useful and important lessons that we'll be able to discuss next week.

After we were finished collecting data, we returned to the Reading Room to do a little more research and come up with the rest of our references. The kids were paired up and used the computers to do searches for relevant information. There wasn't a whole lot to be found, unfortunately, but the kids at least got a taste of how to perform scientific research before calling it a day.

I'm still not totally sure how I feel about this. I feel incredibly exhausted and it seems like no matter what I try, I can't get these kids very interested. I question whether I'm really any good at this and whether I'm cut out to handle a tough audience. I pour my heart into creating a fun, interesting, and educational experience but I can't seem to connect. I thought they would have a lot of fun collecting data with the camera, but it felt more like a chore. The times I gave them independent work to do it was more like I was burdening them than giving them an opportunity. Hopefully I'm just misreading them and being hard on myself... But I was really hoping the data collection with the camera this week would be a highlight, and right now I'm not feeling the excitement. :-(

Meanwhile, foot-in-mouth moment of the day: After the kids were supposed to have left, I was returning a bunch of the supplies to my office when I ran into a current undergrad student on the stairs. She asked what the group of kids was about, and we got into a little discussion where I related that most of the kids were there because their parents made them; I quietly admitted, "It's not very fun to spend my Saturday morning with a bunch of kids that really don't want to spend theirs with me." And then suddenly above us on the stairs was one of the kids, wandering around because he had left his gloves in the Reading Room (even though I asked multiple times, "Has everyone got everything?") and couldn't get back in because it was locked. I don't know if he heard what I said, because I was being quiet (believe it or not - and not just "Bethany quiet", but actually quiet), but part of me actually wishes he did hear me. I think sometimes it's easy to forget that I'm giving up my Saturday, too (and Friday night, for that matter). Although I don't want the kids to know that I'm struggling, such awareness might help to make me look a little more human...