Under the Sea, Week 2, SF, Day 2

We made so much progress on our projects today! The deep sea creature is starting to take shape, the coral reef has risen from the ocean floor, and the deep sea exploration vehicle has a control panel! As I floated around today, I got to help a lot of folks identify tricky problems in their design or plan, and try to work on solutions. I found myself mostly asking questions in order to nudge these budding problem solvers over the next hurdle. 

Hayden is convinced that the propeller on the submarine needs to be pedal powered from the front of the sub. OK! How are we going to make that happen with the materials we have on hand?

Plus, we got to learn to use a few different tools too! Isla and Ethan needed to cut out their hermit crabs, se we got a refresher on how to use the bandsaw.

Tuesday is our first full day of building, so everyone is always really excited to build all morning and all afternoon--the folks working with Ceili on the deep sea creature even asked if they could stay back from park! 

Mia and Piper working on a smaller turtle to go with the coral reef. 

Alexander, Jake, Trevor and Vijay get ready to stand up one of the walls of the submarine. 

Submarine workers attach floor joists to mount their plywood floor. 

As the teams started to move past their initial designs into serious building, some of them realized that there were gaps in their design, questions unanswered or components not accounted for. Will the roof of the submarine have a hole for the periscope? How are we going to attach the different size sections of the turtle shell so it will look 3D and people can climb inside?

The folks building the deep sea creature often needed to pause and get back on the same page in order to move forward with a unified plan. 

The submarine team hit pause shortly before the end of our afternoon build session in order to get back on the same page with their design. The group hasn't made one design drawing that includes all the different components--bench, control panel, periscope, propeller--to work from, so we started to get worried about some details falling through the cracks.

Evan demonstrates a method for attaching the concentric octagons that make up the sea turtle shell. 

And the coral reef is taking shape! It looks like the team might cover some of the shape of their structure with fabric to give it texture and form.

All in all, a great day! High fives all around!