Mentored Pathways - Maximizing youth potential through academic mentoring.

Step	Description	Expected Student Results
1	Students will have learned the basic layout of the design process. Groups will investigate a technological artifact and find out about its history and impact on civilization. Students will learn how it may be used differently today. Students will use various resources to find the information, including print, multi-media, and the web. Be aware that every site on the web is not always reliable, so verify your groups resources. Working in pairs, you and your partner will divide the work between you; be sure to regularly share your findings with your partner and mentor. 1. You will gather information about the technological development you chose by answering the Questions to Guide You. Your teacher will provide you with websites and book resources to help. 2. Prepare a 2-3 minute presentation that includes all of the required information to present to your classmates. Explain the original invention. List the discipline(s) of engineering most important to the development of the product and explain how these disciplines were essential. Include a timeline showing the history of the invention and evolution (changes or innovations). Identify major changes that have occurred in the product. Address the global impact on society and the environment.	Students will understand how the design process was used to create something and to see how that invention shaped the world as well as society. In both positive and negative ways.
2	Groups will design a table or chair with no more than 6 pieces (not including braces if necessary). Later, you will continue the design process by modeling the piece of furniture by building it out of paper. It is important that you consider ergonomics in the development of your table or chair. Ergonomics means fitting a product to the user. For example, the group will need to decide whether your chair is for an adult or child, whether it will be used when you sit at a desk, eat a meal, watch TV, play video games, etc. You will stay in contact with your mentor about the design and any elements they feel you are missing in the process. Student task: To describe their idea to their mentor about which piece of furniture to build. Mentor task: To aid the student in creating a piece of furniture that meets the criteria of the assignment.	These design goals should be captured and communicated to all stakeholders.
3	Introducing robots and robotics to the class. Your teacher will divide your class into several groups. Each group will research and present to the class information about the use of their assigned robot in today’s society. Your group will have two days to research and prepare a presentation that includes the following information. 1. What task does the robot perform? What human function or task does this robot simulate? 2. Where is the robot used? What is its work envelope (how many degrees of freedom or flexible joints does it have)? 3. Is the robotic end effector multi-functional? If so, what other tasks can it perform? 4. How is the robot taught to perform its task? 5. What sensors does the robot have and how does the robot use these sensors? 6. Name some advantages and disadvantages of using a robot to complete this task. 7. Describe the impact that this robot has had or could have on its intended audience. 8. What type of jobs/careers can this robot create to provide employment for people? 9. Predict and explain how this robot may be altered to perform more or different tasks in the future. 10. Include sketches, pictures, and/or video of the robot performing its task in your presentation. Student task: Students will contact their mentor during the researching of this project to garner information about how robots are used in the mentors profession. This will be part of the presentation. Mentor task: Will help the students understand the roll of robotics in their field.	Performance Objectives It is expected that students will: Understanding modern use of robots and address the following questions: 1. What task does the robot perform? What human function or task does this robot simulate? 2. Where is the robot used? What is its work envelope (how many degrees of freedom or flexible joints does it have)? 3. Is the robot multi-functional? If so, what other tasks can it perform? 4. How is the robot taught to perform its task? 5. What sensors does the robot have and how does the robot use these sensors?
5	What do a guitar, a bicycle, an eggbeater, and a sewing machine have in common? They all use gears to increase, decrease, or redirect power. Gears come in all sizes. A mechanical wind-up watch has very small gears, while the gears used to lift a bridge to allow ships to pass underneath are huge. Different gear configurations are used for different purposes. In this activity you and your classmates will build gear assemblies and observe how they are used. This information will come in handy when your class designs and builds an automated factory assembly line. Student Task: Students will contact mentors with questions about how these and other innovations directly impacted the mentors profession as well. Mentor Task: Mentors will aid the students in understanding what innovations directly impacted their professions. They will also help the students understand what innovations/inventions are on the horizon that will have a major impact on their profession.	Students will learn/know how to build and when to use the different gear assemblies.
6	Pull Toy Construction With your knowledge of mechanisms, you and your partner will use the design process to design and build a mechanism or series of mechanisms that will meet the following criteria: The mechanism is to be built entirely from VEX parts provided in the lab. The mechanism is to be built on a small 4 wheel chassis capable of being pulled across a table-top surface, the movement of the wheels will make the toy move. A gear mechanism attached to the wheels will make another part of the pull toy move. An illustration should be added to the output of the mechanism so as to simulate the toy. Student Task: Contact you mentor with your project idea and ask for their input. Mentor Task: Aid/Guide the student in understanding the difference in making something innovative and original as opposed to using a design they see done by another student,	Students will understand building something using their new found knowledge. Both the design process as well as the gear mechanisms. They must make a completely functional pull toy and show how they used their mentors input to receive credit.
7	Robot Behaviors and introduction to writing code. A behavior is anything your robot does: turning on a single motor is a behavior, moving forward is a behavior, tracking a line is a behavior, navigating a maze is a behavior. There are three main types of behaviors that we are concerned with: basic behaviors, simple behaviors, and complex behaviors. Student task: To ask their mentor to translate the three task types in robotics to a similar example in the mentors field. Mentor task: To help the students understand the different levels in the mentors field. This will become more clear based off of the students emails.	Students will understand and be able to answer the following questions. 1. List at least five smaller behaviors you could break the complex behavior “brushing my teeth” into. 2. Why is it important to think of a computer program as a set of basic, simple, and complex behaviors that a robot needs to follow? 3. What is the purpose of a set of curly braces { } in a ROBOTC computer program? 4. What is the role of a programmer?
8	Automation Through Programming Students will be given a problem/robot that needs built. They will then contact their mentor to help solve that problem/design, build and program the robot they come up with. 1. Your teacher will help divide your class into groups of approximately three students. 2. Read over the problems and discuss who will assume the primary responsibility for the engineering jobs. The duties are specified on each problem sheet. Everyone on the team will take part in all phases of the design process, but one person will be primarily responsible to see that the job gets done. Each team member is expected to complete and submit for evaluation a problem sheet for each task. The three engineering jobs should be changed for each task so that everyone has the opportunity to experience all three types of jobs. Mechanical Engineer Electrical Engineer Computer Engineer 3. Begin working on the problems. Make sure to document your design process in your Gateway notebook and complete the problem sheets provided by your teacher. Your teacher may require you to use the Autodesk program to sketch at least one of your problem solutions on the computer. Keep up with your progress on the problem check-off sheet. Student Task: Students will contact their mentor about a what type of solution would work in the real world to solve the problem they have been given. Mentor Task: Mentors will give students feed back about real world solutions/examples of how automation is being used in their field.	The students will have designed, built and programmed a robot that will solve a problem they were given as a group. They must show they delegated each part of the design process as well as that they worked with their mentor to solve the problem.
9	Simulated Factory Assembly Line Students will be given teams. They team will then be given a part of a factory assembly line they must design, build and program. The assembly lines of each team will be built independently of one another. However they must work together when place next to each other. 1. Unless your teacher has assigned teams, choose two other people in your class to work with. Discuss with your team the work cell that you would like to create. Your model will simulate the manufacturing of one feature on the part. The processes to choose from include: Block entrance cell Creating slot on top slot on side top hole chamfers on side edges chamfers on front or back edges side holes Painting the entire part Delivering six blocks at a time to a pallet at the end of the line for the forklift to pick up and place on truck 2. After choosing the process, brainstorm with your team how you will accomplish the task. Using the Simulated Factory Cell Engineering Project Notebook as a guide, document your design process in your engineering notebook. Everyone on the team will take part in all phases of the design process, but one person from each shift will be primarily responsible for the engineering jobs listed below. Each team member is expected to complete a journal entry that documents personal progress, designs, and ideas in your Factory Cell Project notebook every day. Discuss who will assume the primary responsibility for the jobs listed below. Be sure to collaborate with the teams working on cells before and after yours so that you will have a smooth transition in the assembly line. Mechanical engineer: Construction and troubleshooting of the workcell Electrical engineer: Wiring and troubleshooting of the workcell Computer engineer: Writing and troubleshooting the work cell program 3. Fabricate, wire, program, and troubleshoot your workcell. When you are sure it works, have your teacher check it. Put it together with the factory cells before and after yours and check them for compatibility. 4. When all work cells are functional, put them together and run the completed simulated factory assembly line. Student task: Students will contact their mentors to aid them with this task. They will ask for suggestions, concepts and ideas. Mentor task: Mentors will aid students with innovative ideas on how they can design and improve their assembly lines.	Students will be able to answer these questions. 1. What would you have done to improve your workcell? 2. What was your team’s greatest challenge with its workcell? 3. What did you do to contribute to your team’s success? 4. Is there anything you could have done differently to ensure your entire class had success with the simulated factory cell project?
10	Sharing the Plan Mentor will encourage student as they prepare and present their project to an appropriate audience. They will discuss oral presentation skills and give advice and professional tips to help students present their work in an orderly, professional manner. Student Task: Student will share their final project product plan with an appropriate audience.	Students will present their work to an appropriate audience using visual aids, note cards, and applying presentation tips/oral speaking skills practiced in class throughout the semester. Students should dress appropriately and ensure that all materials are prepared. Student will write thank you letter to mentor detailing specific areas that have been especially beneficial during the project. Students will use proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, and businesslike format and will provide specific details about the many ways their mentor has helped them throughout this project.

Project: Spring 2016 Wentzville, MO Project Lead The Way