SEP Session 1, Day 1 (9-11)

Many teachers began the first day of class by playing ice breaker games to help students learn more about their classmates. After learning more about each other, teachers introduced students to the foundation of their course.

Each day, we will feature several courses. Throughout the session, we will feature as many courses as possible.

Students in "Periodic Expressions" were introduced to the marvels and mysteries of the Periodic Table. Mr. Farabaugh led class in their investigations of various elements and how they react with each other. Some of the buzzwords flying across the white boards and across lips were "alloys," "charges," "reactivity," "diatomic," "soluble," and so many others. Even on the first day, students began working like real chemists by filing pennies to expose their zinc compositions before placing them in hydrochloric acid. Students will return tomorrow to see the results of this reaction yielding zinc chloride and hydrogen gas. Stay tuned!

Penny in hydrochloric acid

In "Math, Statistics, and Game Theory" mathematicians learned the rationality assumption, which states that the decision maker (player of the game) chooses the best strategy based on his/her available options. This assumption served as the guiding principle for today's class lesson. Students investigated the best strategies to use when playing Tick-Tac-Toe and worked to develop mathematical algorithms to explain these strategies. Students worked together in groups of threes and fours to come up with their strategy to try and beat Simona's original tic tac toe algorithm/ strategy. Students worked together to write a code that communicated their strategy and helped direct their classmates in how to play tic tac toe using their group's Tic-Tac-Toe strategy. 

Best,

Nicole, Olivia, and Abby