DukeEngage Durham 2012

Hello from Active Teens! Today is the last day for Andy and me, which is very sad, but we both definitely plan on staying involved in the future! We’re excited to share that the new name for Active Teens is going to be Bull City Fit. This week has been our first week at the new Edison Johnson facility, and we had great turnout the last two days. It’s really rewarding to see especially after all the planning we put into the new space.

In other news, we submitted a grant proposal to add fitness equipment to the playground at Edison Johnson. Right now, the playground only appeals to kids 8 and under, and the parents and older siblings frequently just sit on the benches and watch the younger kids play. Adding fitness equipment such as uneven bars and sit up benches would definitely help keep the older visitors to the playground engaged. The grant winner will be decided by voting, so we would definitely appreciate it if you could take a couple seconds to vote for us! (You can vote once per email address or facebook account).

Link to vote for us: http://kaboom.maker.good.is/projects/bullcityfit

Mrinalini and Andy

Here’s an intro video I made for DERC this week- it’s not too fancy but hopefully will provide a window into what the organization does!

DERC FINAL Final Final

Last week I made the 4^th-8^th grade students create a human timeline. I handed them a picture backed by tan construction paper. The picture illustrated a specific event or an era in our nation’s history. I gave the campers a few minutes to arrange themselves from oldest to most recent event in time.

The result?

Let’s just say, the sheet where I wrote “The End of The Civil War” was at the very end of the timeline, i.e. most recent history. Did I mention that Rosa Parks made it onto our timeline, as well as Emmett Till and World War II vets? 

                                                                                                                                                                      … A+

The failing grade on this particular test is not the fault of these students. I took U.S. history in elementary school, middle and high school. I would have made the same exact mistake. I’ve experienced this warped timeline with African Americans, excited to narrate the history of the black freedom struggle. The speech begins something like this:

“Black people, we’ve had to fight for our rights. We were slaves and then Lincoln freed the slaves. And then Martin Luther King jr., he Marched on Washington and Rosa Parks…. and now President Obama is in the White House and…”

1619-1863 (ish)

March on Washington 1963

I promise you, I am not aiming for humor. I have heard this conversation a number of times. We were slaves, Lincoln was a hero, Martin Luther King jr had a dream, Rosa Parks sat on a bus and Mr. Obama assumed the presidency. Herein lies our racial history.

It was imperative to me that the students began breaking down these historical moments, conceptualizing when things occurred and what long line of events triggered actions and movements. At least enough to differentiate the civil war from the civil rights movement. Potato, Potáto, it is an easy yet harmful mistake.

Today, a week from our human timeline, I quizzed them on their knowledge. Things were still fuzzy but we were making some progress. They also began working on articles taken from the Durham County Library North Carolina Collection. http://www.durhamcountylibrary.org/dcrhp/carolina.php

These articles pertained to a series of highlighted events from Durham’s civil rights movement. I was impressed by how seamlessly the students transitioned from performance based activities to a reading based activity. They settled in with partners and went to town. I expressed to them how important it was that they understand the event they were given. First, they were going to be getting into groups (next week) to present the happenings of their article. Each group will decide which story they want to share with the class. They will then choose to write a skit, short story or create an oral account of the event (as they interpret it). Second, we will be having a special guest come to class next week. She is a civil rights activist in Durham and participated in the Carolina Theater Protest. I will not share her name until my next post about the event (after I get her permission to share). We are thrilled to have her.

- Lexy (from Lyon Park)

Highlights on what the 4^th-8^th graders have to say about being “Black and Proud”

I asked them to write a brief reflection on what we had discussed that day or make a statement on what James Brown’s “I’m Black and I’m Proud” meant.

“I’m proud to be Black because we over came so many things over hundred(s) of year(s). We over came slavery. We over came segregation. The unfairness against Blacks every where. Now you may have noticed the letter B in Black is uppercase. I did that because the word “Black” is too powerful to have it undercase. It needs to stand tall and proud because ‘I’m Black and I’m PROUD!’”

- Young man entering 6^th grade

Drawing: Stick figures imitating lynching post cards of the 30s. The caption above the sketch states:

“ two black men being hung by three white men”

- Young man entering middle school

 “I’m proud to be black because I know my race has been through a lot. I also know many people have been through a lot to make life easier for blacks. SAY IT LOUD I’M BLACK AND I’M PROUD!

- Entering 4^th grade

 “To be a black student is to show people what we can do to show we accomplish from back then until here”

- Young woman entering 8^th grade

“I am so proud of who I am. I’m black. I’m so thankful…. There were lots of people who risked there lives for us. Us black stayed strong while white treated us like a door mat. Now its our turn to stand up strong. Personally, do you think we should do what whites did to us?”

- Young woman entering 7^th grade

(permission to publish selections of work granted by students)

- Lexy (at Lyon Park)

A day for celebration, it’s Independence Day again here in Durham. Between the performance downtown at American Tobacco to the fiery display at the Durham Bulls Park, Fourth of July was filled with fun, good food, and spirited music.

For me at least, the day was even happier because almost two weeks of work at Shodor has paid off: we have finally done it! The wind tunnel set up we have been working on for almost 2 weeks is finally done. I am excited to see how the students respond to doing a lab like this, hopefully they have fun once we work out the final kinks in the lesson plan.

This recent success has made me really think about our time here. After all this time (all of 6 1/2 weeks) we have spent learning about Durham and working in the city, I find myself really enjoying my time here. I am disappointed when I think about having one more week in this program, as it has truly been a joy to learn about the way this city has progressed and is progressing. And I am glad to have had this opportunity to serve. I heard it put in a sermon at my church a few weeks ago that service is not so much about doing service to or even for others, but about serving with them. Over these last few weeks, I have started to feel a bit of the difference between the two. It’s not so much about us really giving service to others, so much as being there to work along side them. To be a person, not just a volunteer. I guess that may be more of an ideal than practical reality, but working towards that may just turn out to be something special.

Well that about covers my week. Hope you all had a great Fourth, and have a good rest of the week!

-James

Here are some pictures of the wind tunnel set up:

While going on a plant safari to collect leaves and flowers for plant pressings, campers stop by the North Pond to observe a turtle up close.

Time flew by during the three weeks of camp at Duke Gardens. To start off this post, I’ll introduce the general structure/organization of the camps. The campers are divided into 2 age groups, 5-7 and 8-11, each with around 10-15 kids. Each group has a theme of the week, and the activities during the week mostly revolve around the theme. The themes we’ve done so far include Become a Scientist, Treasure Hunters, Science of the Sun, Animal Homes, and Animals in the Garden. In the morning, from 8:30 to 1, a camp leader and assistant lead planned activities. In the afternoon, from 1 to 4, some campers stay and choose from a wide range of activities indoors or outdoors.  The two age groups are mixed together in the afternoon, and there are generally about 5-10 kids around. We’ve done a lot of really awesome activities during the morning:  building a solar oven, making a nature mandala, putting together a bone display after digging through an owl pellet, taking walks through the garden with binoculars and having kids running through the sprinklers that seemed to follow us everywhere, and going on a scavenger hunt when it’s about 100 degrees outside and savoring the prize – popsicles at the end. The afternoon varied more with the group of kids who’re staying. When the campers are mostly girls, arts and crafts seemed to be the top choice for the whole afternoon. During the week with more boys, making paper airplanes and throwing them all over the classroom became the most popular activity. When the kids get too rowdy, watching a movie is always a great solution. In the rest of this post, I’ve included several of the funny scenes I’ve observed that added to my experience and made it much more colorful.

Scene 1 – Math Dilemma: I was outside with 2 kids who were making up their own game. They got a bucket of (tree) gum balls and drew 4 circles in a line, each with a different number of points (1, 5, 10, 16). They took turns throwing the gum balls and tried to hit the circles to get highest number of points. They used chalk to keep tally of the scores.

Boy: What’s 16 plus 16?

Me: 32.

Boy: How do you write that?

Me: 3 and 2.

Boy: [Writes on the ground] Ohhh, ok.

A minute later…

Boy: What’s 34 plus 16?

Me: 50. Wait, how did you get 34?

Boy: Well, you told me I had 34.

Me: No, I think I said 32.

Boy: [Ignores me] 50 points!

After a few rounds…

Boy: What’s 824 plus 1?

Me: 82… How did you get to 800 already?

Boy: [Happily] I got a lot of perfect throws.

A few minutes later…

Boy: What’s 118 plus 16?

Me: [Thinking “how did the score decrease?” to myself] 134.

Boy: How do you write that?

Me: 1, 3, 4.

Boy: [Writes 1034 on the ground, pauses, then looks at the score] Yay! I have a thousand and thirty four points!

Another boy: [Awestruck] Whoa, that’s a lot of points!

Me: [Saying to myself] They’re just playing for fun, the score doesn’t matter, the score doesn’t matter, the score doesn’t matter……

Scene 2 – Sausage: During the morning camp this week, we had some free time, and one girl suggested that we play a game of “Sausage”, where one person started in the middle and everyone else sat around in a circle. People who’re in the circle ask questions, and the middle person always has to say “sausage” with a straight face, no matter what the question is. They lose if they crack a smile or laugh, and the person who asked the funny question gets a turn in the middle. In the end, they loved it so much that we played the game every day, and they even started using different words to replace sausage. Here are some questions that seemed to work exceptionally well:

What do you dream about at night?

Sausage

What do you have under your pants/what comes out of your butt?

Sausage

What’s 2 plus 2 plus 1 times 4 (and many variations)?

Sausage

Different words:

What comes out of your eyes when you cry?

Tea

What do you have under your dress?

Granny’s panties.

If you were a mermaid, what would you wear here [points at chest]?

Strawberries.

Scene 3 – Short remarks: The afternoon kids decided to build a fort by putting together tables and covering the sides with large poster paper. Two girls were making a “Girls – no boys allowed” sign inside the fort and having a conversation, which was cut short by a parent’s arrival, but it still sounded hilarious at the time.

Girl 1: Dude, this is gonna be awesome!

Girl 2: [Somewhat offended] Dude, I’m not a dude!

Girl 1: Oh yeah, you’re a dudette!

Girl 2: No, I’m not a dudette either. [Mom arrives]

Scene 4 – Tween Problem: Afternoon, one of the older campers is talking to me about school.

Girl: I’m so glad that I’m not going to Glenwood (elementary school in Chapel Hill).

Me: [surprised] Wait, why? I heard it’s a really good school.

Girl: [explains] No, it’s not. They have to dance with the boys at the end of 5^th grade. Ewwww.

Me: [flabbergasted] Oh, ok……

Scene 5 – Star Wars: There are 2 boys named Ryan staying for the afternoon care.

Girl: [thoughtfully] Ryan and Ryan. Hmmm, how do I tell you guys apart?

Pauses

Girl: [excitedly] I know, I’ll just call you Ryan 1 and Ryan 2.

Me: Who’s 1 and who’s 2?

Girl: [points] Well, this is Ryan 1 and this is…

Pauses again.

Girl: [Having an epiphany] Wait, never mind, I’ll just call you Ryan 1 and R2d2 (Star Wars).

~ Mengyun Lu

Engineering Camp Part 1 is finished, and overall was a fun experience for myself and from the reflections I read, at least some of the students. Thankfully no one fell asleep on me (a success in my mind!) and  only had to leverage the students candy prizes once to get their attention, so overall I think things went well enough. It seems  that many of the students came away learning something about engineering though, and when I talked to one boy (the same one that wore Duke Basketball gear throughout the week) about the lessons, he said they were pretty cool and that he had fun (and then made sure to thank me for the candy he won).  Now its time to wind down, tweak some lesson plans, and get ready for the new week.

One of the challenges we face is making the new lessons plans challenging enough for the students to not get bored with how easy or uninteresting the information is, but to also make the lessons practical enough to be able to go through them in a day’s lesson. The one lesson this is the most challenging with is the High School version of our aerospace engineering lesson, as right now it would be too simple for the high school students to do for a full three hours.  I guess the problem we face is that we are trying to expand the lesson to include a part where they put together a rough model, and long story short we can’t get one to fly with our current set up. We are bringing in other fan options as well as experimenting with the body type. I know that one way or the other the students will have fun, so in the end I know whatever we do it will help. Hopefully this will get resolved soon so that we can get to working on the other lesson plans. In the mean time, it will be back to problem solving. Have a good night!

Thanks,

James Flynn

Her’s a picture of our model and our wind tunnel so far.

While working with Active Teens, Mrinalini and I have heard many different suggestions of how to live healthier. Although everybody’s advice is slightly different, there is one motto that is universally shared at the Duke Healthy Lifestyles program. That motto is “5-3-2-1-almost none.” This saying is used to motivate kids to live healthier.  Each part of the motto stands for a different way to maintain a balanced lifestyle. 5 – Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. 3 – Eat three structured meals a day. 2 – Spend two hours or fewer in front of a screen every day. 1 – Be active for at least one hour of the day. Almost none – Drink almost no sugary drinks, including sodas and juices. Although these don’t seem very significant, if a child follows these simple rules, they are much more likely to stay healthy.

Due to an increase of nationwide interest, the “Almost none” part of this saying has been discussed a lot recently. In response to the fact that soft drink consumption has more than doubled since 1971, Mayor Bloomberg of New York proposed a plan to limit the size of sodas in New York. This would ban sweetened drinks over 16 ounces. Ideally, this would help people make better dietary decisions because even though a person would still be able to buy the same amount of the unhealthy drink, they will be forced to intentionally buy multiple cans or bottles to make up for the smaller containers. Many support this proposal due to the undeniable connection between sugary drinks and rising obesity rates in the United States. Others believe that, while this may be true, individuals should be responsible for their own health. Who do you think should be responsible for keeping our country healthy?

Camp Calvary has begun! The campers are awesome and I have enjoyed working with them thus far.

I taught my first two history classes. I taught a 2 hour class with the 4-8 graders and another 2 hour class with the little ones (k-3) on Friday. I was nervous for the older kids, but I enjoyed teaching them the most. They responded to the activities in ways I never anticipated.

I based each lesson plan off of the following questions: What is history? Why is history important? What tools do historians use?

For the young ones, I explored these questions using an overview of Durham history. We took a train trip back in time. They had to learn a secret handshake, pass a freeze-dance test and write the beginning facts of their biography (full name, birthday, two things they are proud of and who they want to be in the future) in order to ride our train to “days gone by.” They passed all of their qualifying exams and we embarked on our first journey together.

For the older students, I wanted them to engage with an artifact as a historian would; asking questions, probing for details, etc. Ellen suggested that I have them make a body sculpture to articulate the message or meaning of their piece. It sounds crazy but it was wonderful and they participated fully (a huge success with these guys. At their age, many of them are too cool for certain things). I broke them into groups: Group Music, Group Audio and Group Photo. Group photo received a series of pictures relating to the Royal Durham Ice Cream Parlor sit-in. There were also some photos of the Greensboro Sit-Ins to suggest that a protest was taking place. I provided Team Music with James Brown’s “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” and team audio listened to a five minute clip of Malcolm X’s “Ballot or the Bullet” speech. Each team chose a captain and was given a sheet of 12 questions to help guide them in identifying what they were dealing with, why and when their piece was produced. 

They created three “body sculptures” that showed their understanding of their artifact. Team audio, which had the toughest time initially, made a stunning still-life pose expressing the tragedy of Malcolm X’s assassination. I don’t think they realized how moving their art was. I was impressed with the students’ ability to translate their thoughts into movement. I wanted them to literally take what they were learning into their being. They did a wonderful job.

I missed my blog post last week so I plan to blog twice in the week to come. I will be chatting more about our progress. Likewise, I aim to explore the students’ reactions to James Brown’s “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud).” From the littlest camper to the eldest, I found majority of the student related to this piece. I hope to talk more about their connections to a black power song written over 30 years before their time.

Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud)

The Ballot or the Bullet

Halfway through our first week of workshops already, and it has been lots of fun so far. The first day we opened with an introduction looking into what we see in resources like Google, and making sure that we validate what we find there with other credible sources, and understanding that sometimes what we see may or may not be an answer. Then next came the part that gave me an adrenaline burst as I was about to fall asleep the night before. I closed out the lesson with an introductory look at Aerospace Engineering – one of the lessons we have developed in the last few weeks – and had an activity for the students using a fan as a “wind tunnel.” Despite my fears, and the lesson running a little long, it went relatively well for a new lesson.

Our second day was a true gem of a lesson. Dr. Rhett Davis from North Carolina State University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering department came and taught a lesson on circuits, with the added bonus of having us and the students build circuits that make an LED light blink. As we learned about capacitors and resistors in terms of water flowing to a water wheel (light bulb) to grind wheat (make light), we had fun learning how to move into the final circuit from one that simply lit up the LED. I have my LED circuit still, and I’m happy that I will have this reminder of some of the fun times this week with the students. Like on the first day when the students came in and a boy was wearing a Duke shirt and Duke basketball shorts. Kids these days, they really know how to cheer someone up.

I can’t wait to see how the rest of this week turns out, as today marked the beginning of my three days of consecutive lessons, but I am feeling much better about everything now that Monday is out of the way. Well, tomorrow is the big building challenge for the students to build as tall and as strong of a structure as they can, and then on to the big Biomedical Engineering workshop – our other new lesson. This week will be fun!

Have a good week!

-James

Here’s our week in summaries, and pictures will be posted later.