Originally posted on the National Science Teacher Association blog.
At the Toshiba offices in Irvine, California
On July 30th, eight high school students and four teachers from the United States traveled to Tokyo to participate in the third annual TOMODACHI Toshiba Science and Leadership Academy. The goal of our trip was to work with Japanese students and teachers on two science and engineering projects that I will also be implementing in my classroom this year. The first project was to build a marble elevator using the engineering and design process and the second project was to use science and technology ideas to improve a real-life community by making it smarter and more disaster-resilient. At the closing ceremonies each group presented their suggestions for one of the following communities: Jakarta, Beijing, Lesbos, or Kuchineorabu-jima