We need mentors interested in helping us with a successful program in Wentzville, MO. The focus is using Project Lead the Way material in an engineering setting. Mentors who have an engineering and/or project management background are preferred.
Description:
Engineering Design and Development Course Description Engineering Design and Development (EDD) is the capstone course in the PLTW high school engineering program. It is an engineering research course in which students work in teams to design and develop an original solution to a valid open- ended technical problem by applying the engineering design process. The course applies and concurrently develops secondary level knowledge and skills in mathematics, science, and technology. Utilizing the activity-project- problem-based (APPB) teaching and learning pedagogy, students will perform research to choose, validate, and justify a technical problem. After carefully defining the problem, teams of students will design, build, and test their solution. Finally, student teams will present and defend their original solution to an outside panel. While progressing through the engineering design process, students will work closely with experts and will continually hone their organizational, communication and interpersonal skills, their creative and problem solving abilities, and their understanding of the design process. Engineering Design and Development is a high school level course that is appropriate for 12th grade students. Since the projects on which students work can vary with student interest and the curriculum focuses on problem solving, EDD is appropriate for students who are interested in any technical career path. EDD should be taken as the final capstone PLTW course since it requires application of the knowledge and skills from the PLTW foundation courses.
Benchmarks:
During the 1st semester, students have done the following: 1) Created teams based on similar interest 2) Created a problem statement 3) They chose a topic for their project 4) They have done market research and have used Google docs to write and send our surveys to further their research. 5) They have begun to create design specifications. 6) They started to create technical sketches 7) They have created and presented a preliminary design proposal to our Principal. 8) The teams are using AutoDesk Inventor software to make 3D models of their design. They create a set of working drawings and parts list. 9) Teams then will create a build procedure before the prototype is built. During the second semester, student will do the following with their mentor: 1) Teams will build the prototype during January and February. 2) Students will create test criteria and procedures. 3) They will test and evaluate the prototype. 4) Teams will have a critical design review. 5) The students will redesign and refine their prototype. 6) The students will create a portfolio. 7) Students will present their final project in a trade show at Ameren UE (in early May and at a PLTW board meeting (in late May).
Duration:
28
Grade Level:
12
Content Area:
Engineering
Student Outcomes:
The Engineering Design and Development course of study includes: The Design Process Intellectual Property Research Problem Identification, Validation, and Justification Teamwork Project Management Design Specifications Concept Testing Design Proposal Virtual Solutions Building a Prototype Testing a Prototype Test Evaluation and Refinement Documentation Presenting the Process and Results
Evaluation of
Student Outcomes:
Students will document the quality of the project outcomes against a rubric or standard, discuss the gap, if any, between their work and that standard and how they plan to fill the gap. Students will also share with mentors how they leveraged the mentor's help throughout the project and provide insights on how they could have improved as collaborators.
Teacher Role:
Teacher will develop the project with assistance from ITP staff, communicate project objectives and schedule with students and mentors, share examples of excellence for each phase of the project, assist the students to set the bar of quality for each specific outcome, communicate with mentors where they can provide the best support and challenge throughout the project, and work with ITP staff to discuss what's working, what isn't and develop the program over time to maximize benefits for students and mentors.
Mentor Role:
Each mentor will work closely with the teacher to ascertain where to put their effort in each step of the project. Mentors will provide support for students to understand and leverage the life cycle described in the project schedule.
