In the orientation phase, students typically select a topic of study that interests them and familiarize themselves with the instruments they'll need to collect data. NY400 Week altered our schedule, so after several days of maintaining the Deck Log, the students were all assigned to study a single topic: mechanical advantage. -- a principle they had been taking advantage of every time they had set sails, weighed anchor, or reported for helm duty.

On this Voyage of Discovery, the students organized into two teams: Port Watch, which included Ben, Eli, Ellis, Joram, Pwint, and Vincent; and Starboard Watch, including Dennise, Emily, Eric-Jan, José, and Raynika.

On Day Six, Mr. Beiter launched the mechanical advantage project by convening each watch team during its off-duty hours, delivering an introductory lesson on the principles of mechanical advantage, and laying out the experiment that would soon follow.