In-class Activities

Thousands of students every year are involved in Pearl Sullivan IDEAs Clinic activities.

Student unscrewing engine cap.
The first ever Pearl Sullivan IDEAs Clinic activity related to one of the simplest, and most common machines: the bicycle. A large collection of deserted bicycles were collected from campus police and were turned over to the students to be disassembled. The assembly /disassembly process allowed the students to identify and play with devices whose names they had just heard such as cranks, ball bearings, axles, etc. The outcome of this early activity laid the groundwork for the creation of the Engineering IDEAs Clinic: to spread these activities across the entire Faculty.

The IDEAs Clinic activities also reinforce essential, non-technical skills such as teamwork, communication, and especially safety, all the while maintaining an engaging environment for students.