Week 3, the second of our research and exploration weeks, asked the students to focus on the actual mechanics of developing a flash mob and creating the physical devices that will feature in the video the class will produce — all tasks that will face Team Engineering. The students first spent time in small groups exploring 3D printing, 3D modeling, and 3D scanning, and examining how they might design and build a 3D-printed copy of the FSU Torch that could be presented to different innovators at FSU as part of the student video. We also took a class field trip out to Landis Green to do some initial measuring and determination of how many students would be necessary to successfully #torchthegreen.
In group discussion, we broke the tasks facing Team Engineering down into two main categories — 3D Printing and Flash Mob Mechanics. With the former, we discussed how best to design a torch that matched FSU’s design; whether we’d need multiple sizes, colors, and materials; and whether we could design a torch with a light with a battery. With the latter, we explored how to layout the shape of the torch on the green, what materials to use to make the torch visible on video, and how to coordinate the crowd of students in the flash mob (to get them to animate the flame part of the torch, for instance). Finally, as part of the class discussion, we explored how each of the different tasks facing Team Engineering would need to integrate with the other teams — rigging cameras with Team Video, crowd communication and control with Team Outreach, and the different types of torches to be designed and built with Team Storytelling.