Smash it! Crash it! Launch it!
About the Teacher
Mr. Calderon is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelors degree in Psychology (Pre-Med) and a Masters degree in counseling from St. Edwards University. He has been a middle school teacher for Pflugerville I.S.D. at Westview Middle School for 7 years. He has taught 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math and science. He has also been a cheerleading coach and a boys soccer coach for at Westview for 4 years. The Westview Middle School Cheerleading team achieved a National Championship in 2010 and a Regional Championship in 2012. The boys soccer team also recently won the district championship for P.I.S.D. in May of 2012. Mr. Calderon is also a GED instructor for Austin Community College where he has personally achieved over 120 graduates from program. Mr. Calderon’s philosophy in teaching and coaching is to create a positive, comfortable environment where students have the ability to learn and excel. He is an avid chess player and always enjoys a quick game to keep his students engaged. During his off time, Mr. Calderon enjoys spending time with his daughters (Victoria -15 and Isabella-7) bike riding, swimming and golfing. As an ongoing project of 6 years, Mr. Calderon has volunteered time to collect blankets and clothing for Austin’s homeless as well as donations for the Boys Scouts Club #2 in his home town of Chihuahua, Mexico. He is excited to join this wonderful organization and looks forward to spending time this summer with his new students.
A note from the teacher & some of the things the campers learned while in camp
This week’s campers are amazing risk takers and individuals open to new experiments and discoveries!
One of this week’s favorite activities was a bizarre-looking flyer we built. We approached our experiments by means of the trial and error method, an approach to problem solving that generates knowledge from analyzing the failure, making a change, and then trying again. Using straws, tape and different kinds of paper, we learnt about compensation of weight, scale, and the relative size of paper loops. The combination and exchange of these elements allowed us to reach great heights.
We also built a paper airplane propelled by a stretched rubber. We experienced that by making little bends and folds in the wings of our airplane it flew faster.
With both the hoopster and the airplane we learnt and experience Bernoulli’s Principle, which explains why plains are able to fly: air rushing over the wings creates lift and also gives stability.
For Splash Day we made a controlled eruption. Using soda and mentos we observed how the soda reacts depending on the amount of mentos employed. We reached heights of up to 10 feet!
