We All Live In The YELLOW SUBMARINE

Today Mrs. Smith planned another Smash Day for us instead of the usual science class. Out of 10 sheets of scrap paper, 4 little mirrors, tape, and a piece of cardboard, each group of either 2 or 3 was to build a periscope-like device that would allow us to see what a box contained. The box would be placed on the table, while we all had to remain lower than the surface of the table. (Of course she had planned out a little story for us to play out: we were in a submarine to spy into a castle on land to see what was inside without letting the guards around the castle caught sight of us.) Hence, the rule that did not allow us to rise above the surface of the table.

I don't know what would count as modifying, because at first we had no idea what we were going to do with our supplies until we just started piecing them together. As we went through that process and realized that certain structures just wouldn't allow us to get on with the task, we just changed the design of the structure to the best we could. The most common problems that came up during this experiment was that the way the mirrors were angled in the periscope did not work to mirror of the reflection of whatever we were supposed to be looking at. We fixed this, of course, by shifting and playing around with different angles of the mirrors, looking to see which formation would give us a better view of our secret objects in the box. The second problem that came up was that the viewing device that we made wouldn't support itself. It fell when we did not hold certain parts of it up. This was solved by using pieces of cardboard or more paper to stabilize the instrument. We threw out different ideas and experimented with each one when we had the time and chose the best option. In the end, when it came down to the actual "spytime", we gave up on our original design with all the mirrors fixed complexly inside it and clumped it all together so it looked more like a long stick with a mirror at the end of it peering into the box. 

I don't know if there's any advice I would give to someone doing this experiment for the first time, except maybe remind them that it doesn't really have to be a periscope with the mirrors all angled inside the object. It can be anything that allows u to see inside the box. The rest can be figured out through the whole thinking and creating process - that way the information they learn will better stay with them.