Introducing his lesson with a mini-lecture on natural versus people-made things, Carpenter led students in Cathy Coppol's class in object and shape identification exercises and gave a few design pointers before distributing a paper-house pattern that students then cut out.
“Things that are people-made come in different sizes and are made in shapes and sizes specifically to fit the purposes for which they'll be used,” Carpenter said. To prove his point, he sat in a chair made for a five-year-old and had Maxwell, a volunteer from the class, sit in a chair made for an adult.
Students then discussed the different parts of houses and their uses before cutting out the pieces from their patterns for assembly later.
The bridge-building exercise, in which students modeled bridges from toothpicks, marshmallows and playing cards, was a team effort that had students working on both building and cooperation skills.
Two teams each built twin spans consisting of five marshmallows linked by toothpicks and connected at the top by another row of marshmallows. Students then lined the space between the twin spans with playing cards.
The visit by Carpenter to the Early Learning Center, where Carpenter's son Noah is a student, was sponsored by UD's Engineering Outreach initiative, an educational effort that encourages UD engineering alumni to share their knowledge with students in local elementary and secondary schools.
“I was solicited by [my son's teacher at ELC] to participate in class development,” Carpenter said. “Simultaneously, I was solicited by the American Society of Civil Engineers to do an outreach activity for kindergarten and first-graders.”
The goal of Carpenter's lesson, which was centered on perennial childhood hero Curious George, was to boost young learners' understanding of objects, shapes, natural versus manmade things and other basic geometry skills.
Article by Becca Hutchinson
Photos by Kathy Atkinson
