On April 28, Iowa State students in the College of Engineering had their first chance to meet their unlikely partners for this next year, student teachers in the School of Education. These students, paired together as part of the Trinect program, had the chance to interact over the evening to get to know one another and the project team as well as address any questions or concerns they might have about the project.
“Teamwork is so important to this program,” said Adah Leshem, program director at the Center for Biorenwable Chemicals, part of the College of Engineering. “We really wanted to give the Engineering Fellows and the student teachers a chance to foster a connection by getting to know one another and set the tone for their future training and this event was a great way to do both of those things.”
The evening started off with a matching game of engineered inventions and the things in nature that inspired them followed by a welcome from project leader Joanne Olson, associate professor in the School of Education. Student teachers and Fellows then had a chance to discuss information critical to the function of the team, ranging from leadership styles to laying the groundwork for visiting the third member of the team, the cooperating teacher from Des Moines Public Schools.
Also included in the evening’s festivities was a contest between all the teams to build the tallest weight bearing tower out of index cards. The teams were given 15 minutes, using only index cards and a foot of tape, to build the tallest tower that could support the weight of a full water bottle.