The Bridge Blog
A dialog about our new bridge and these web pages
Overview.
Schools and universities are all about learning - and learning is mostlly
brain training. Learning is expedited by repetition and forgetting
is expedited by infrequent use of learned skills or information.
Tracking the building of the Ravenel Bridge and now tracking the
demolition of the Grace and Pearman Bridges bring
many questions to me and help me better understand the role Google
and the Internet play in
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.
Many young learners do not understand the importance of repetition. More
important, while experienced learners understand the learning process
they often do not realize the destructive effects of the forgetting
process. Over the course of the
bridge project, I have access to only a few experts.
Rather than a liability, this has become an asset and pushed me to improve
my search skills with Google. Soon, I realized that answers
to questions encountered during my photo adventures were often
only a Google-search away. Gene Stead,
my first boss and I put these ideas together in a small essay:
(see
Restoring the Joy in Learning).
Google + Internet have become dependable extensions of my memory.
Insights I gain from you and this project will find their way into the
learning centers in our schools and universities.
Tue, 16 Aug 2005
August 13, 2005: Another very pleasant surprise
Sparky Witte, a long time resident of Mt. Pleasant, grew up with the Grace and
Pearman bridges. With the Ravenel bridge he has enjoyed being able to walk and
bicycle across the bridge, admiring Mt. Pleasant to the east and Charleston to
the west. He also can watch the unbuilding of the Grace and Pearman bridges.
Last night, Sparky sent me a group of photos of the July 30 events - the
race and the old car parade. Moreover, he had taken quite a bit of time to
track the demolition of the I-26 and Meeting Street overpasses. I was unable
to stay for all the I-26 work Sunday morning and missed completely the
Meeting Street overpass demolition. So here is part of Sparky's gift - a group
of photos that provided timely tracking of the unbuilding process.
I have added the Meeting Street work to the main page
(tracking the progress over the past days) as well as to the
Meeting St.
page. His photos of the extraction of one set of supporting piers (and cap)
as been added to the
Engineering Challenges page.
Among his photos was one of him - posted above. Clearly, Sparky has brought
new life to our web page, adding photo input to the engineering input I receive
from many people. Sparky - you're the greatest!
posted at: 16:27 | path: | permanent link to this entry
