Congrats on making it to the very last unit! This is my favorite part of the year as we begin to go off on working on all sorts of cool different projects, and we learn about startup companies (which are near and dear to my heart as I used to work in one prior to being a teacher). For the remainder of the year we will be working on our end of year projects. For this, you have a couple options:
Startup Company Project Outline
STartup Company project - Need FindingStarting off on day 1, we will be covering need finding. By this I mean finding a need that is worth solving and which our created companies can set out to fix. Especially for engineers who are inclined for innovation, creativity and cool technology, this is possibly the most important part of the process as there is a big difference between creating an idea and creating an idea which addresses a meaningfull and financially sustainable need. Very often, the creativily inclined get lost down a rabbit whole of what they think a company should do or a product should be while losing sight that their opinion isn't necessarily the one that matters most.
*If the startup company project isn't your cup of tea and you wish to do one of the alternative projects, the following is a word document of some of the STEAM projects and competitions I wish to accomplish at some point in the next year(s). Peruse through these and see if anything jumps out at you, or we can sit down and figure something out. end_of_unit_project_options.pdf
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For our project for this very short Aerospace Engineering unit, we will be competing in a bottle rocket competition! We will start the design and planning today, and I intend for us to be launching our rockets on Tuesday. The grade components to keep an eye on are: 1. the design, 2. materials list, 3. the actual rocket, and then 4. documentation of course. Below is the outline for this competition. Bottle Rocket Design CompetitionObjective: Design a rocket powered from a bike pump that can travel the furthest distance. Constraints:
More Resources and Info
From our interest survey at the beginning of the semester, I discovered that the majority of you are interested in Aerospace Engineering (for some reason). As such, we are introducing a mini-unit covering the basics of Aerospace Engineering, some of the fundamental principles and we will have a short project over making bottle rockets.
Resources today: Notes: introaerospaceengineering.pdf Assignment:
Today we bid farewell to the Arduinos and the Electrical Engineering unit as a whole. Tomorrow (well Monday) we say hello to the Aerospace Engineering.
To Do:
We are officially in to the last 6 weeks of the semester and 2 1/2 weeks until Thanksgiving Break! There are a few loose ends in the Electrical Engineering Unit which I'm hoping we can get taken care of today and tomorrow, to start a very brief unit over Aerospace Engineering (by popular demand) and then we are in to the final project unit. So, without further ado here is what we have to do today.
11/6 Agenda
Plan on finishing your Arduino Projects by the end of day on Monday. Here is the rubric: compe_projectrubric.pdf
And here is where to turn in your documentation: forms.gle/r7BVMKML8DCMnhMMA I'm gone on Wednesday and Thursday at a conference. I'll be at school before and after school if you need me, but I imagine you should do just fine without. To do:
And another friendly, the last day of the second six weeks is this Friday. There are no new grades that will be added to the gradebook between now and Friday, and all grades are up to date so if you are unhappy with your grade reach out to me ASAP. Be nice to our lovely sub and be sure to clean up our classroom. As we start finishing our Arduino lessons (for your submitting convenience, HERE is the link to submit your Arduino lessons again), we will begin our Electrical Engineering projects. Below are relevant resources to get you started on this:
arduinoprojectideas_2019fall.pdf compe_projectdocumentation.pdf arduino_projectrubric.pdf I am away at a conference today (Tuesday)! You will be continuing to work on your Arduino lessons, and expect to be finishing by the end of class Wednesday. After this, we will begin our Electrical Engineering projects. You should all know what to do today as it is the same as Monday and we discussed my expectations, but FYI here is the note I left for the sub:
I look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday! Be nice to our lovely substitute please and keep our classroom in safe while I'm gone :) As we finish the electronics lab, we are going to transition into the second half of our electrical unit, dealing with coding on Arduino's. Arduino's are a type of beginner friendly microcontroller (mini-computer that you can program to do various tasks) that you can design to do a wide range of projects, from controlling motors on a drone to just blinking lights or making sounds. What we are learning could almost better be described by computer engineering or even computer science than Electrical Engineering, but it is a highly valuable skill that everyone --even those who want nothing to do with a STEM field-- should learn; not only does coding teach you problem solving skills that can be applied anywhere (anywhere with problems at least, which is everywhere :) ), but computers are becoming such an integral part of our society that workers in every industry can benefit from at least knowing how to "speak the language" of coding so as to communicate and collaborate with tech companies that can enhance their own business.
As we start this unit, we are going to be having some issues similar to when we learned SolidWorks where there are more students than computers. Expect a rotation of days similar to what we did then as sometimes I think it is best if everyone gets to actually go through these lessons themselves. Resources
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