Engineering projects
Engineering Projects
The program of Engineering projects in my classes is focused on three main objectives. The first is to teach the students the Engineering/Design Process. I want students to understand that there is a process to solving a problem, and that they will be more successful in the long run if they faithfully follow that process.
The second objective is to teach persistence and perseverance. Many projects that students will undertake in my class are designed for students to not be able to create a successful prototype on their first attempt. In those cases, it is my goal to help them understand that failure is not the end of the world and to teach them the right way to fail, namely, to learn from the failure and make changes in order to have success.
My final objective is something that I have only started dabbling with in the past few months, and that is project management. The ability to manage a team of even a few individuals through a project is something that most students don't see as a skill that they need to learn. However, project management is becoming a more and more in-demand field, and I hope that by teaching students the skills for planning, delegating and follow-through that they will leave my class with one more skill that will help them succeed in work and in life.
The second objective is to teach persistence and perseverance. Many projects that students will undertake in my class are designed for students to not be able to create a successful prototype on their first attempt. In those cases, it is my goal to help them understand that failure is not the end of the world and to teach them the right way to fail, namely, to learn from the failure and make changes in order to have success.
My final objective is something that I have only started dabbling with in the past few months, and that is project management. The ability to manage a team of even a few individuals through a project is something that most students don't see as a skill that they need to learn. However, project management is becoming a more and more in-demand field, and I hope that by teaching students the skills for planning, delegating and follow-through that they will leave my class with one more skill that will help them succeed in work and in life.
Rube Goldberg machines spring 2016
This is the sixth time that my classes have built Rube Goldberg Machines, and it seems like every time, I change it. Some changes are small, like changing deadlines and timelines to fit the schedule. Some changes are bigger like adding simple machines to increase the Science integration and moving everything from a paper-based platform to a website and then back again.