Day 4 -- Wow! What a full day!

It was a full 12 hour day for me, but it was totally worth it! I had a blast! The day started with me making sure I had access to the room we were to use this morning for Sci. Comm. class. My card didn't work, so I had to go and get that taken care of. Afterwards, I went over to the library as we had a "tour" of the library. I learned a lot, I hope the students did too! It was nice to get a formal "tour" of the electronic access of library resources. Then, it was off to Sci. Comm. class. My key card worked for our temporary classroom (our usual room was booked for something else). The students had an extemporaneous presentation on the research paper they just wrote. It was good to get a feel of their presentation style and ability. We started talking about their Discovery Project. Off they go on working on it...

After lunch, we wrapped up some Sci. Comm. and Discovery Project items (we were "delayed" because of the very useful one hour of library tour time). Then, they worked on their first C program. Bridget did a good job on preparing them with their first program and helping them compile and run it. Many students tried other varying programs to see if they could get it to work - especially those that had programming experience. To those that know other languages like Java, a big part of computer science it transferring what you know about one language to figure out a new one. Keywords are usually pretty close as well as syntax, but there are some differences - as you've noticed. But, if you really know a language, then learning others shouldn't be too bad. It just takes getting used to. I always thought that schools/colleges should give foriegn language credit for knowing computer languages. If they did, I wouldn't have had to take four quarters of Spanish at UCSD during the summer for my foriegn language credit.

Tonight was COSMOlympics! It was so much fun! It was great watching everyone, especially my cluster! We won the water balloon toss and the pie eating contest! "Cluster One where spoons are fun!' My throat hurts from cheering so much. I got took a bunch of pictures. It was a blast -- special Cluster 1 shirts and crowns! I loved the banner they made -- "There are 10 types of people in the world (or was it COSMOS, I can't remember), those in Cluster 1 and those that aren't." Very cool! It was funny to sit in the stands and hear the other students say "huh?" or "what?". There were some that knew that it was binary. Very cool! I'm so proud on how everyone did -- in the trivia, relay, water balloon toss, pie eating and cheers. It was so worth staying after class and having a 12 hour day. Thanks to my cluster for making it totally worth it! I had a great time and got wonderful memories of COSMOS 2008!