Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Yesterday I had the personal constellation activity for both classes.

In my 1030am class I finished the discussion of the last two constellations (Crux and Lupus), then gave them the 20 brightest stars in the entire sky before proceeding to the activity.

I gave them the standard rules for making the story. First, nothing modern or futuristic - all classical; no celphones, guns, spaceships and washing machines.

Second, they may or may not link it to Greek mythology. They could use local mythology if they wanted. They could use an existing story in Greek mythology, as long as it's not an existing constellation, or they could make a completely new story featuring existing or new characters.

If they could not come up with a single constellation from their make-up of stars, they can make two or three constellations, as long as they are part of the same story. They cannot add, move or remove stars.

Lastly, I told them the story had to be rated GP or PG. This is the one that drew the most reactions, as if they were already looking to make a story that mirrored most local movies out currently.

What shouldn't have surprised me was that unlike the common themes in the previous terms of boats, cats, lovers or butterflies (although there were still some who continued that trend of thinking), the apparently predominant vision this term (at least in these two classes) were fishes. Some didn't even come up with new names, although others tried with "Niko" and "Elbomo".

The students who went on the field trip last Sunday also submitted their reports today.

After that I went with an equipment supplier to a university in Morayta to "demo" the computer-aided laboratory they sold the College of Engineering. There was a newspaper clipping on the door where they proudly broadcast it as being the first in the country.

The room was all set up for demonstrations. There was a computer connected to an LCD projector, and the different topics: mechanics, heat, thermodynamics, optics, electricity and electronics, had their own prominently labeled display tables.

Afterwards we took the elevator to the fourth floor and the supply room. All the cabinets were opened where the equipment they had relevant to the topics I was interested in were shown.

Then we met the dean of the college, who clarified my questions as to the computer-aided lab, that it was hands on and not for demo purposes only.

I got to admit the school was very clean. Even the supply room, compared to ours was neat (although all the papers were in the cabinets).

But I would have appreciated it more if the experiments were actually performed in front of me, but I guess they weren't set up for that, despite having made a big deal about knowing our arrival. If I had a demo lab, I'd make sure someone was on hand to show stuff to visitors, and provide a running commentary.

Add that to the list of things I'd change when I'm on the other side of the fence.