The Final Six Weeks of the First Semester

PLTW Exam Scores

The final six weeks of the first semester came to an end last week with high success in the classroom.  In the PLTW program at North Surry High School, there was a 100% passing rate for the exam scores.  This was a huge achievement for our program.  There were four students that scored high enough to earn transferable college credits from Iowa University.  Our students, teachers, and administrators have worked hard to bring these types of expectations to this program.  The students took the exam prep seriously, and it paid off.  The parents stood behind their children and provided what they needed for their children to be successful last semester.  For that, I would like to thank and congratulate all of the students and parents in our program.

Sponsored Events

Our program has sponsored two events over the last month.  Our students were able to work a PLTW night at the North Surry vs. East Surry basketball game.  We had nine students present projects they had designed in class.  This was a great opportunity to discuss PLTW with parents and also gain interest with students that are thinking about taking PLTW courses.  Our students talked to a total of 56 people; 17 of those people were parents.  We received feedback on what parents thought about PLTW and how we could continue to try to improve the recruiting process for PLTW.  We also inspired students to sign up for  PLTW classes next year through this informational session.    

During Christmas break the graduates that have taken four PLTW classes were invited to a PLTW reunion.  This year, the reunion was held at 13 Bones in Mt. Airy.  We had 6 of our former students attend the reunion.  We shared a great meal and shared stories about the "Good ol' Days" at North Surry.  All of the students that attended are currently in college.  They also enjoyed telling stories about their experiences in college over the last few months.  We all had a great time and cannot wait until next year.  Graduates that attended:  Back row, Grace Swift, Emma Cassell, and Kelsey Badgett, Bottom row, Mason Taylor, Jonathan Sutphin (Teacher), Devin Clark, and Andrew Cave.    

Introduction to Engineering Design (IED)

Over the last 6 weeks in IED the students have continued to learn the design process by creating projects in Inventor.  We were able to complete a virtual design project using Inventor.

In this project the students had a virtual team that was made up of people that rely primarily or exclusively on electronic forms of communication to work together to accomplish a goal. Up until this point, we have worked in teams that used face-to-face contact as the primary means of communication. There are inherent benefits to this. Teams that exist under one roof have the ability to converse spontaneously when generating ideas and often read each other’s body language to identify and prevents conflicts before they occur. Teams that rely on face-to-face communication often socialize with each other and build personal bonds of friendship that result in a level of trust that is critical to tackling responsibilities that are beyond the capability of one individual. In order to develop a greater understanding of what it is like to function as an engineer in the 21^st century, engineering students must be willing to step outside of their comfort zone to experience teamwork through a virtual environment. Some examples of the students work while completing this virtual project were:

                  

The first picture is from Greta East and Brady Hatcher.  Their problem to solve was " Do-it-yourself home projects are becoming increasingly popular. People are often looking for beginner to intermediate home craft projects. Design and model a mechanical toy that can be assembled with small brads and/or glue." They came up with a mechanical toy dog with a detachable bone. 

The second picture is from Dixe Fulk and Zaynah Galloway.  Their problem to solve was "School lockers are a mess. Students can never find a pen, pencil, or calculator, and their homework is always getting lost. Those who bring their lunch to school often find their food crushed under a sea of books and binders. Because of the clutter, it is often difficult for students to close their locker doors completely.  Design a high school locker organization system that will neatly contain items commonly used and kept at school." Their locker design solved the problem that was given and then the team was able to add a few extra areas for other items.

Principles of Engineering (POE)

In POE the students have completed several challenging projects and learned many different real world skills.  The last design project that was to develop a projectile launcher.  The problem statement that one of the groups came up with was:  

"A leading hobby company is looking to improve an existing launcher design. The device must launch a projectile using the materials provided. The device must be adjustable so that projectile launches can be precise at varying distances. The winning design will receive cash for a patent that can be mass-produced as a kit and sold to the public. Members from the company will be present during the launching phase of the process."

Below are a few of the groups' designs for their projectile launchers.  Each group had to complete a lab after they developed a design dealing with acceleration, distance, gravity, mass, angles, and programming.  

  

The top photo is a picture of Aaron Caudle's launcher.  It shot a ping pong ball 18 feet on a 40 degree angle.  They calculated the Mean, Median, and Mode for four different angles with ten shots per angle.  

The second picture is from Ethan Oakley's project.  He shot a ping pong ball 32 feet on a 60 degree angle.  His group calculated initial velocity from four different motor settings.  This groups also had to calculate the gear ratio of their gear train system.    

Both of these groups designed these project using a 12 step design process.  They also had to put together a google document that told everything that they had done with documentation over the 2 week project.  

  

Twitter

There are many different videos and tweets on the North Surry High School Twitter page.  To get to this page search #northsurryhighschoolPLTW on twitter.  Or just click on the link.  

Remembering the second six weeks in PLTW

What a great 2nd 6 weeks it has been.  The PLTW program has participated in many different activities this semester including the Surry County Science Fair, and the North Surry Engineering day.  From these events, the program had great experiences building relationships with Engineers and learning about the Engineering field.  All of the PLTW students were able to speak to ten Engineers.  Each students had questions to ask them and they were also able to get contact information for the future.    

Sydney Edwards was the only PLTW student to enter the Surry County Science Fair this year.  She entered her "Brownie Topper" as a design experiment.  Her design problem was "A brownie factory needs me to design a device that will put a chocolate drop on top of a brownie. The machine must position a brownie on a separate device that will then move it into position for a dropper to descend and dispense the icing drop. The brownie with the chocolate drop should then move to another position where it will be placed with other finished brownies to await inspection and packaging."  She designed a device using VEX equipment and using RobotC to program it to do what she wanted it to do.  She was able to win first place in the school division and first place in the county division.  She will be taking her project to ASU on December 13th to hopefully win the region.  Below are a few pictures of Sydney and her success.  We wish her well at regionals.

                                 

Introduction to Engineering (IED)

Over the last 6 weeks in IED the students have been continuing to learn the design process by creating projects in Inventor.  Inventor is the 3D drawing software that PLTW uses to develop the students for real world applications.  The students have been learning how to use different tools on inventor like loft, constraining tools, quick keys, assembly tools, different ways to extrude, drive constraints, explosions, etc.  They have also learned in more detail about part drawings, working drawings, detailed drawings, and assemblies. The students have completed a few different projects this six weeks while learning all of these items.  They have re engineered their own cellphone case and printed it out on the 3D printer.  They have also completed their train project by drawing 10 different parts of the train, assembling all the parts, completing dimension drawings and completing a video of the train rolling down the track.  This allowed the students to gain a deeper knowledge on the different tools in inventor.  Below are examples of students work in the IED class.
 

                  

Kassidy Puckett and her cell phone case.            Austin York and his cell phone case.

Both of these students took all of the dimensions off of their personal cell phone and created a custom case to fit their phones.  They had to take into consideration all of the tolerances from their phone to the case that they designed.  When they finished drawing it in inventor they were able to print out a prototype using the 3D printer.    

Reid Walker design his train in inventor.  He was able to constrain the wheels to the track so that the train could move down the track in a video at the end of the project.  

Brady Hatcher took a different route and decided to create Thomas The Train in inventor.  Brady was the only student that went over and beyond the constraints of the project to make it his own.  

Principles of Engineering (POE)

In POE the students have done several challenging projects and learned many different real world skills.  The students have just completed their marble sorting project.  Some of the items that they covered in this project was research, brainstorming, completing a design brief, sketching (oblique, isometric, multi view) designing, coding, creating a portfolio of their work, deadlines, and presenting to different classes.  This project will also be able to be put in each students graduation portfolio. The project took 15 days to complete.  

The students had a design problem that they had to concur while completing and learning all of the items above.  The design problem was, "The National Recreation Park Association (NRPA) has asked your team to develop a solution to a growing problem in their parks. The association has placed dumpsters for recyclable material throughout the parks. They have a sorting facility; however, they need the device that will sort the recyclable material.  Design, model, and test a device that will separate recyclable materials".

  

Below are a few drawings from different students portfolio.  

 These are sketches and descriptions from Chynna Brintle.  She done a great job of giving detailed descriptions of what she was designing.

These are sketches and descriptions from Tre Gates.  He was able to give detailed views in his sketches to describe what his design process conveyed.  

 

This is Aaron Caudle's Marble Sorter design 

This is Jonathan Dalton's Marble sorter design

         One of the biggest days of Chase Chandler's life happened during the second six weeks as well. Chase is a senior and will have taking 4 different PLTW classes before he graduates high school.  He has excelled in his IED and POE classes while traveling around the state playing baseball.  On November 9th, he signed to play Division 1 baseball at Liberty as a right handed pitcher. Congratulations to Chase.  

              

Another great accomplishment for one of our PLTW students went out to Kendal Tucker.  Kendal has taken IED and is currently enrolled in POE.  He has maintained an A+ average while traveling the state and playing baseball.  On November 9th, Kendal signed with Division 1 Winthrop as an infielder in baseball.  Congrats goes out to Kendall and all of his accomplishment in the classroom and on the field.  Pictured above and to the right is Kendal and Chase on signing day at North Surry.

Twitter

There are many different videos and tweets on the North Surry High School Twitter page.  To get to this page search #northsurryhighschoolPLTW on twitter.  Or just click on the link.  

Remembering the last 30 days in PLTW

What a great start it has been this year.  North Surry High School entered the 2016 - 2017 school year with the largest number of PLTW students on record.  There are currently 94 students enrolled this semester taking either Introduction to Engineering, Principles of Engineering or Civil Engineering and Architecture.  Out of these 94 students, we have 25 Females on the roster. This is a huge gain for this program.  Many people are under the impression that Engineering is just for men.  So to have 26% of the students in the program be female, is a huge positive for the program.

The PLTW program would like to thank Austin Mcbride for coming and giving a presentation to the students on how his first year of college is going.  He is studying to be a nuclear engineer at State.  Austin was a 2 year student in the PLTW program here at North Surry.  He spoke about how the PLTW program has prepared him for what he is doing now in college.

We would also like to thank Emma Cassell for coming back and helping students in the POE class.  Emma is a 4 year graduate of PLTW and is currently studying at UNC Asheville to become a doctor in the radiation division.  Emma is a frequent volunteer in the PLTW classroom.

We would also like to congratulate Mason Taylor on changing his major to Technology Engineering at NC State.  He is wanting to continue the tradition in teaching PLTW to students across the state.  One day Mason will be one of the best PLTW teachers that there is.        

Spotlight of the week

In the first 30 days of school the PLTW program has already been the spotlight of the week on 100.9 WIFM.  Click on the link to take you to what students from the program said about PLTW.  Spotlight   There were 3 students that were chosen to speak on what their thoughts were about the first 30 days in their PLTW class. These Students did a terrific job describing how PLTW has helped them and will help them in the future.

Introduction to Engineering (IED)

Over the first few weeks of Introduction to Engineering (IED) the students were able to learn items like the design process, converting from one measurement system to another, sketching isometrics, sketching obliques, sketching multi view drawings, understanding the basic dimension rules, and we are just starting to learn inventor.  We were also able to finish our Puzzle cube project that went through the whole design process.  Below are some pictures of the student's work.  

       Dixie Fulk and Kaulin Smith's design of a new cup for her coffee or drinks.  This was completed on September 1st. The students had to develop a cup for a set user.  This cup had to have features on it that made the students think outside the box.    








This is Kassidy Puckett's one point perspective drawing that she completed.  This was completed on September 15th.  Kassidy did a great job in making sure that she took all of her depth lines back to the vanishing point.  The side windows and the doors are really tough to get right and Kassidy made it look easy.  

This is Austin York's multi-view drawing of one of his parts in his puzzle cube.  This shows his front, top, and right side view.  It also has his projection plane and his projection lines.  The isometric drawing in the top right corner is what the part looks like in 3D.  

 This is Logan Haynes Puzzle cube.  This is the finished prototype.  He designed this using Isometric sketches and multi-view sketches.  This puzzle cube is made up of 5 parts and all of the parts have to be interlocking to the cube.  This was designed for a 5 - 10 year old child to play with.  But, this puzzle cube is so good that some teenagers can not put it together.  

This is one of Brady Hatcher's Inventor drawings of his puzzle cube.  This was before he added his dimensions to the part.  You can also see in this picture that Brady has developed a title block for this project.  He developed a template that he will be using all semester.    

Principles of Engineering (POE)

3rd Period POE North Surry High School

4th Period POE North Surry High School

Principles of Engineering has been lots of fun this semester.  The students have got to learn many new things.  We currently have 47 students enrolled in POE this semester.  This is the largest group of students that our program has had over the last 5 years.  With all of these students, the county made a decision to buy 7 new VEX kits for our students.  Now we have a total of 14 VEX kits.  This is allowing our students to work in groups of 3 to 4 instead of having to work in groups of 6 to 7. The students are able to learn more in the smaller groups than in the larger groups.  From the North Surry PLTW program we would like to give a huge thank you to the Surry County CTE director and Board of Education for allowing us to purchase these kits.  Over the last 30 days in POE, students have learned the basics about many different engineering disciplines.  The students have also learned about simple machines, gears and how to calculate them; as well as pulley systems, mechanisms, circuits and ohms law, design processes, thermodynamics and centroids.  Below are some examples of student work in POE class.

This is a hydrogen fuel cell car that the students worked on.  It is ran off of a solar Panel.  

There are many different videos and tweets on the North Surry High School Twitter page.  To get to this page search #northsurryhighschoolPLTW on twitter.  Or just click on the link.  


         One of the biggest days of Elli Sutphin's life happened during the last 30 days, as well.  Elli is a 9th grader and this is her first year taking a PLTW class.  She has excelled in her POE class while traveling around the state playing basketball.  On October 2nd, she verbally committed to playing Division 1 basketball at NC State.  Congrats goes out to Elli.