Modern Blanket Toss: Findings and Observations

2014 FINDINGS
I think it should be a little longer here, like six weeks is kind of short to learn
about all this.
Students mentioned the friendships and the people connections as being an
important part of the success of the program.
I thought it was fun because we got to fly in different areas with a lot of
different people we've never met before in the first week, and now we're
laughing and we're getting closer, like friendship close, and, yeah, I've pretty
much liked the past – most – well, all of the six weeks I've been here because
I have so many memories now.
From where I’m from, I call it my nerdy side, but a lot – there’s not a lot of
people that you have that you can talk to about science without them
scoffing, but in a place like this and in the setting that I’m in, whenever I’m
with the UAV class, I can talk about my nerdy side in a way, and I can bring
out the things that I like about science, and it’s much more comfortable for
me to talk about the sciences because it’s what I enjoy doing. And I don’t
exactly have that option at home, but I’d definitely say that this has made it
more comfortable for me to talk about the sciences.
Table 10 Factors that Help in Student Learning
Not very
much
A little
A lot
Doing a presentation 0% 27% 73%
Things you write about 0% 64% 36%
Your own inner motivation to learn 0% 18% 82%
Being an Upward Bound student 0% 9% 91%
Expectations that others have of you 9% 55% 36%
Your friends or peers 9% 27% 64%
Hands-on projects 0% 0% 100%
Your instructors 0% 9% 91%
Technology 0% 27% 73%
At the conclusion of the interview students were asked to rate how different
factors influenced their learning. Results are presented in Table 10. Students most
frequently reported that hands on projects, being an Upward Bound student,
and the instructors were “a lot” of help in learning. Writing things and the
expectations of others were the least helpful to student learning.
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