Penn-Quality Education Brings Physics and Technology Together!!

07DEC2010 - JT Staff Writer

Normally the students in Ms. Longhitano's 8th period class would be on the third floor deep in a discussion of the physical laws of nature. Mr. Scribner's Business Technology class would be furiously typing entries into a lavish spreadsheet to show the weekly payroll of Sesame Street, Incorporated. But lately they have been thrown together in an intense collaboration with students and instructors from the University of Pennsylvania's STEM outreach program.

Learning could be dangerous if you are too close to the projectile cannon that launches a small plastic ball toward a series of hoops. Our students are learning real-world experimentation with the laws that govern gravity, flight, velocity, and angles. Geometry, science, physics, and programming are all converging in the IMC Computer Lab.

Professor Idris Stovall and some of his undergraduate students from Penn have been co-teaching classes every Tuesday during 8th period here at UCPA. Students are learning to calculate velocity, angle, trajectory, and other formulas and then testing their calculations in real-life experiments. Technology students are developing and using programming skills utilizing the SCRATCH programming format developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Students are engaged, excited, and having fun!! Another program is happening during the Tech/Web Design Enrichment using SCRATCH to create digital animation stories. Stop by for our wrap up class on the 14th and see how we are learning college level material and building our relationships with our higher education neighbors!!