Made in Humane Club
Pokey the porcupine had a school project to complete with his team. He had to make a bridge that worked and held weight. Pokey and his team built a bridge with cardboard and put a table tennis ball on it. It worked; the bridge stayed put!
Midnight the owl warned Pokey that they had put a very light object on the bridge and that they should test it with something heavy. Pokey disregarded her advice and told the team to start painting the bridge and putting finishing touches on it.
The next day, they showed the bridge to their teacher, Madam Hoot. Madam Hoot announced that it was time for show and tell. Pokey placed the bridge between two desks. Madam Hoot got a big, fat book to put on the bridge. Pokey and his team were flabbergasted.
Madam Hoot plopped the book down on the bridge, and it broke. Pokey turned pale. He and his team were going to get a big ZERO. Pokey looked at his team angrily and shouted, “What were you thinking? It is because of you that our project got ruined. Silly teammates!”
Midnight the owl retorted, “I told you that instead of decoration, we should have focused on better material”.
Pokey stayed silent. He was FUMING. But then he thought, “Maybe I should have listened to Midnight. She was right all this while“. Pokey said, “Madam Hoot, can we please have one more chance?”
Madam Hoot said, “Sure, Pokey. Make sure you don’t get something wrong this time; otherwise, you will get less grades”.
Pokey didn’t guess. He debugged the problem by asking questions: Where did it break, and why did it break? The first “bug” was the material; it was too weak for a heavy load. The second “bug” was that they had tried to solve a scientific problem like a craft project. They didn’t actually know how to build a bridge!
The team went to the library and studied encyclopedias until they found Leonardo Da Vinci’s bridge. It was a criss-cross pattern made of ice-cream sticks. They got to work. When it was done, the bridge bent low during testing, but it didn’t break.
The next day, Madam Hoot tested it with the same heavy encyclopedia. Pokey was calm because he was prepared. He fastened the bridge between two desks, and when she put the book on, it bent low but did not collapse! Pokey’s team got full grades for this activity.
Things to learn: When things go wrong, do not blame. Calmly use structured thinking to figure out what went wrong. Debugging means finding the “where” and the “why” before you try to fix the “how.”