Learn about Engineering with the Community Helper for E

The Community Helper I chose for E is Engineer; mainly because that is what their Daddy is. He is a computer engineer though, and I couldn't think of much to do with that! However there are many, many other types of engineers! To me an engineer would be someone who applies scientific and mathematical knowledge to design something with a purpose. That may be a bit simplified, but it works pretty well.

We did a few activities that would address a few of the engineers. First we were Electrical Engineers exploring Static Electricity.

Then we were Chemical Engineers changing one of our favorite chemical reactions with different ingredients (Controlled Fizz).

And last we were Structural Engineers. For this I gave the girls a task, to build the biggest tower they could out of blocks. First they were to try single blocks; I had to specify this because they immediately started putting them in square shapes, and I wanted them to see the effect of no support. Of course the first tower came crashing down!

Then I had them try different shapes to see if they could find one more sturdy. They tried pyramids, 2 stacks of blocks beside each other, and also squares of four blocks. All of these were sturdier then the first tower, but the squares of four were the sturdiest by far!