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 21st 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.
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