Through a hands-on workshop, students were introduced to boat engineering, thanks to the help of Curious-on-Hudson. In the exercise, children built their own small boats using a variety of materials, with the purpose of getting them to float and move, with a small puff of wind provided by a small fan, down a makeshift "river" of water.
Jackie Bastardi, STEAM program developer at Curious-on-Hudson, told students that real engineers keep trying even when they fail. Engineering, she said, is all about trial and error. "We love it when we fail," she said, "so we can improve, improve, and improve!"
Students also were given a up-close look of engineering in action, thanks to activities such as presentations by officials from the New Tappan Zee Bridge project and rocket launching at the Middle School.