The Bridge Blog
A dialog about our new bridge and these web pages
Overview. As a pointy-headed
university professor, my weekend project of bridge photography and
building these web pages generated many questions and introduced me
to just-in-time learning. I enjoy chasing my curiosity and
want to identify ways to encourage younger learners to also enjoy curiosity
chasing and learning.
Learning usually requires repetition while forgetting occurs when
I infrequently use information. Many young learners do not understand
the importance of repetition. Weekly visits to the bridge provided
the repetition necessary to detect changes in the bridge and
consequently generated
many questions and opportunities for learning. Over the course of the
bridge project, I had access to few experts for answering questions.
Rather than a liability, this became an asset and pushed me to improve
my search skills with Google. Soon, I found that answers
to questions encountered during my weekly photo shoots were often
only a Google-search away -
(see
Restoring the Joy in Learning). Consequently Google + Internet became
dependable extensions of my memory.
The bridge story is a work in progress and is evolving from a simple
collections of photographs to an experiment with Internet-centric
just-in-time learning.
Insights I gain from you
will find their way into the learning centers of MUSC.
Palmetto Bridge Constructors, a joint venture between
Tidewater
Skanska and
Flatiron Constructors, as well as
High Steel Structures,
Freyssinet, the
SCDOT and the
Federal Highway Commission Office
of Bridge Technology guided much of my learning.
I also learn from many of you and from Google-linked resources. More
important is the e-mail encouragement I receive from many of you.
Wed, 20 Aug 2003
August, 2003: How this began.
This web page started very innocently. I took my grandchildren to the SC
Aquarium where I took a photo of my grandkids with the new bridge in the
background. About two months later, more grandkids appeared, another
visit to the Aquarium and another photo. When I returned home, I noted
that the bridge had grown enough to notice - so the next week,
I returned to the aquarium to take a photo from the same location. It was
closed (7am Sunday morning) - so I went next door to the pier which became
my permanent data collection spot. The routine of weekly photos changed from
an innocent group of photos for my grandchildren to a web site where my
grandchildren could watch the
progress from their homes in Minneapolis (now Nashville), Allentown
and Louisville. But there is more to this than simply taking photos. Mike,
one of my sons, told me a long time ago that my photos were not
interesting unless I took photos with a mental
image of a story I was trying to tell. Then Josh (another son) showed me
how to make humorous photo essays - starting with our adventures in India.
Since I started the Cooper River Bridge story, many others
have encouraged me to continue - so here are the weekly (mostly) updates
of our cable-stayed new Cooper River Bridge. The lesson? Nothing
happens until you start.
posted at: 08:02 | path: | permanent link to this entry
