Driving Question: How can I engineer the strongest bridge with the most efficient use of the specified material?

Module Overview: Bridges are perhaps the most challenging and fascinating feats of engineering. 

In this module, students became civil and structural engineers by working at the Manchego Fromage Consultancy, where they were responsible for coming up with the most efficient bridge design. 

Students strived to creatively meet their imaginary client’s needs within budget and material constraints. The clients were the City of Rodentia, working in partnership with the Rodent Migration Travel Group. 

In learning about bridge types, students explored the effect of tension and compressive forces, differentiated between brittle and ductile material properties, and investigated the calculations that go into designing bridges. 

Marily M.

I enjoyed the module so much. I love creating and building things, so I had lots of fun building some testing bridges and the final one. I faced some challenges I didn’t think would happen, but I found a way to deal with them.

For this module, we designed and built a spaghetti bridge basing ourselves on our client’s needs from the “City of Rodentia”. I learned about bridge types, the effect of tension and compression, and the calculations that need to be considered to design a bridge. This knowledge helped me design a strong and effective bridge.

My final product is an Open Tender, which is the proposal for our “clients.” It includes the price, design, 2D and 3D model, calculations, and other information pieces.

Diego M.

I learned how much I like to design things and make them physically. It was enjoyable and challenging to build a bridge with pasta because you need to consider many factors and develop techniques to build the strongest bridge.

This project allowed me to learn about the different types of bridges and the engineering process and what it includes (different studies from the area, forces of members, strength to weight ratio, etc.)

Based on our investigations, we had to experiment with building pasta trusses to see what works, what doesn’t work, and which type of bridge truss was stronger than the others.

We created and proposed an open tender to the fictitious Rodent Migration Travel Group after running our experiments.

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

I wanted to reflect people’s thoughts on Covid-19 by including various world events, situations, and feelings I’ve heard of or experienced myself. Whenever I feel a strong emotion, I like listening to songs with the same vibe, and I hope others feel the same way. My second goal was to grow my creative confidence. I achieved both of my goals by writing a song – and presenting it on this website.

What did you learn about yourself or about your creative process or about your medium?

I learned that it’s effortless for me to start the creative process, but difficult to finish. I also like to write many songs at a time, and that slowed the process of “perfecting” one song. That’s why I’m open to any feedback on the song – to me, it still sounds unfinished. From the resources we were provided by the educators, I learned that judging someone’s skills vs. them is an entirely different thing – a person whose skills are being judged shouldn’t take it personally. And although it’s crucial to receive some type of feedback in songwriting (as it should be creative, but not too alienated), one should still be comfortable showing their artistic style and not make every little change people are telling them to. It’s good to finish a song with a similar tune you used in the song, as it will make people come back again and again. For example, The Weekend’s “Can’t Feel My Face.” I still have a lot to learn about songwriting, producing, singing – all of that. I’m definitely going to continue writing songs and receiving feedback. If I do write some release-worthy songs in the future, I’ll let all of you know!

The Lyrics

Verse:

Yeah, sometimes I don’t talk to people for a reason

It’s never a good place to begin with

When I’m laying on the bed with my headphones on

And imagining every possible scenario

Of people coming and going, leaving and staying

And when the only thing we thought about was playing

And praying for the people we have lost in the chaos

of the world bringing hatred towards different people

Yeah, looking at the news, I guess that’s what I’m best at

During those times of social distancing acts

On the front page, furious (yeah), they think I am hilarious (yeah)

“Let’s get you a bible”, the situation seems precarious

And honestly, I must say that they’re making me mad

Before you didn’t even care, but now all you do is so fad

“Can we go outside?” I hear a voice while keeping distance

“Sure, my love”, and I hope what she says I didn’t just listen

I still can’t hold my head down, oh no,

I just want to let the truth out and scare them with all

The things happening in front of their noses

I’m straightforward, but sweet and you

Want to hear me whisper all this nothingness I see

Chorus:

Everything’s gonna be okay

We’re gonna see a brighter day

And it goes ay, ay, ay

Thank you to the doctors and the nurses

Thank you for being so diverse, yeah

Now all we gotta do is observe

Let’s not hope for the worse

Verse:

You can do what you want or whatever you’re best at

Obeying the rules isn’t the best, huh?

For achieving herd immunity please stay at home

A vaccine will come out, “at least let’s all hope so”

And if not, then what will going outside give you?

Covid-19, so please maintain some hygiene

Flattening the curve might take some time

But washing those hands might help achieve it faster

“I will do it all for the people, not for the fame”

Well, finally, someone’s got some common sense

All those celebrities go viral singing Lennon’s “Imagine”

As if we’re all dreaming of winning and survival

They’re kind of right though, aren’t they?

Because “hey dude, real people are dying!”

“Okay-okay, I’mma head outside for some fresh air”

Look ahead, man, there’s nothing to flair

The economy is failing from the left to the right

They wouldn’t care much, would they?

Unless they couldn’t take another flight

And fight because “there’s no food at sight”

“I guess that’s not a problem for us, eh?”

Chorus:

Everything’s gonna be okay

We’re gonna see a brighter day

And it goes ay, ay, ay

Thank you to the doctors and the nurses

Thank you for being so diverse, yeah

Now all we gotta do is observe

Let’s not hope for the worse

Verse:

I promise I won’t leave, I won’t leave you behind

I will fight every time for our human rights

But if we’d all die, (laugh) no, not just once or twice

Wouldn’t it be nice to say that at least we tried?

If you’re told what you’re doing is wrong,

Why keep doing it?

You only have one body and mind, one life to live

Keep living it, and hope for the best

Oh, you’re stressed and not impressed

By the words I’m rapping as you cannot digest

So you just guess and participate in a protest?

That’s weird, man…

But in 1920, things worked like that…

Yeah, we can learn from it, but let’s not forget the fact

That tomorrow’s not yesterday, we can’t dive that deep

Today’s medicine, techonology aren’t the same

We should all reflect on what the experts say

I know you have a brain, and you seem pretty smart (small voice: intelligent)

(drums fade away)

So please, play your part

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

In this module, I wanted to delve into the old East Asian Buddhist tradition of using art as a form of meditation, freeing the mind of its rational constraints and leading to samadhi or meditative awareness. I did this by both developing skills in calligraphy itself as well as attempting a form of meditation while practicing those skills and making the pieces above. The result, I hope, is some appearance of spontaneity and creativity, the two terms that anyone would use to describe the works of calligraphy that Buddhist monks in China, Japan, and Korea made while immersed in their happy, cheerful meditation.

What did you learn about yourself or about your creative process or about your medium?

The most interesting thing that I learned while painting the Chinese characters was how challenging it is to attain any sort of balance or beauty with them. A simple downward brushstroke takes many months or perhaps years of practice to look even half-decent to a person who knows calligraphy. I did not get to this stage over the course of the project; what I did do was get a very brief look into the complexity of this medium – how the characters that you paint with the brush are not so much those that you paint but those that are left behind by the brush itself. Any stroke, whether it be a horizontal line or a dot, can very candidly suggest the calligrapher’s state of mind when painting it, meaning that any frustration or hesitance is immediately visible in the forms of the characters. This is perhaps the harshest aspect of calligraphy – each stroke is permanent and irrevocable, and cannot be embellished afterward. Not only does each brushstroke reveal your skill with the ink, but it will also reveal your ability to leave distracting thoughts behind and pool all of your mental energies into a single movement of the hand.

Poem Translation

The pieces above are renditions, in various styles of calligraphy, of three poems that I composed in a kind of bad Classical Chinese; the English translations are here:

Regular Style Poem

In the snore of my dog and the sound of my
Mother cooking dinner,
I hear Buddha’s joyful laugh;
Just as there are many drops of water but only one
Pond,
So are there many Buddhas but only one
Dharma.

Semi-Cursive Poem

Alone I walk to the pond,
Looking for solitary ducks to feed with my
Brown paper bag.

Cursive Poem

The perpetual sound of hail on the window –
Instead of my friends’ happy chatter,
Every day I hear only this.

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

My goals were a mixture of self-discovery and creative growth. I wanted to learn how to trust my creative instincts while also trying to understand them. I let my creativity flow with this project and managed to map that out in some mind maps and drafts. I spent the term slowly building on this artwork, which was initially going to be a much softer floral piece, and I am super happy with what it has become. You can see my process/growth below.

What did you learn about yourself or about your creative process or about your medium?

I learned a lot about the watercolor paints I was using. I practiced with them a lot and tried different techniques. I also learned that I come up with my best ideas when I’m not trying to come up with ideas, so I took breaks and made lunch or something when trying to come up with an idea. This is called ‘incubation time.’ My biggest takeaway is that I enjoy being creative, and I will continue to build on my artistic skills.

Driving Question: How might I grow my creativity during the COVID-19 crisis through exploring the science of creativity and innovation and experimenting with art?

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

Learning about something my parents are passionate about and learning the basics about photography and applied geometry in nature was my objective of the module. I also wanted to grow my creative confidence and challenge myself to try something new. I did this by taking lessons from my dad, getting ideas, and researching. I think my final products and process portfolio reflect such.

What did you learn about yourself or about your creative process or about your medium?

I learned I have a hard time going with the flow and not planning photos. I thrive when I plan and trust myself. I challenged myself by trying something new and showing my work to others, when it’s not my strength and by mixing two areas of improvement in one summative and module. I met my expectations and went above them by taking photos that I am proud of and clearly show my progress. I’m impressed with what I achieved in some of my photos, the math and geometry in others, and how I saw the world finding more shapes. Photography is a great form to capture life and emotions, and it’s quite a complicated art form for me.

Driving Question: How might I grow my creativity during the COVID-19 crisis through exploring the science of creativity and innovation and experimenting with art?

What were your goals for this module? How did you achieve them?

My goal for this module was to grow my creativity by learning more about my creative process through something that I like and that I’m passionate about, which is fashion. Through my process, I was intentional about exploring different things that affected my creativity, such as my environment, and in the end, I created sketches of five dresses each inspired by traditional Moroccan fashion and elements.

What did you learn about yourself or about your creative process or about your medium?

This module allowed me to grow a lot creatively, especially when it comes to things I wasn’t necessarily confident in or didn’t have a lot of skills at. I feel like I’m a lot more comfortable experimenting and taking risks than I was before. I also learned a lot about sketching specifically. It was something very new for me, and there was a lot of trial and error before I managed to create the final product.