Bernard Harris Camp
From July 11 to July 23, middle school students participated in the ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp at Indiana University. Students at the camp conduct an experiment to see if they can build a boat -- with plastic straws and tin foil -- that will hold dozens of pennies without sinking. The students tested their designs by dropping pennies into their boats to see how many the boats could hold before sinking.
The ExxonMobil representative questions one team about its planning tactics for the boat's construction.
Members of a team bend their tin foil according to the drawings they made for their boat.
One boat is tested as pennies are dropped in it. Some of the boats held more than 200 pennies.
After the experiment concludes, a camp volunteer interviews a group about its boat's results. The purpose of the camp was to introduce middle school students from underrepresented segments of the population to a college atmosphere while also teaching them about math and science.
