Dr. Robert Panoff taught part of the Modeling Your World workshop today. First he explained what models are and why they are used. Then he made an example of a model. His model was a marker falling, which represented a plane with no wings or engine. The students were then challenged to model anything they could with only a five-foot rope. Some ideas were a snake, a tight rope, and even a racetrack. Dr. Panoff showed how the students had to think outside of the box by showing a model of the St. Louis Arc and a bird flapping its wings.
The students then moved on to study a nondestructive model, which is when an item is tested without being destroyed. The students had to use this type of model to answer two questions about an egg: is it raw or is it hard-boiled? Ideas were thrown around to test if an egg was hardboiled or raw. Some ideas were shining light on it, shaking it, and even spinning the egg. The students conducted these tests, and the results were put on the huge whiteboard. The first egg was cracked open, and as the students guessed, it was a hardboiled egg. When the next egg was broken open and appeared to be empty, the students learned that the questions they should have answered were: is the egg filled with a solid or is the egg filled with a liquid? The next egg, to the surprise of the students, was filled with dishwasher liquid. The final two eggs did not cause as much excitement, seeing that they were plain raw eggs.