{"id":1770,"date":"2011-05-16T10:14:08","date_gmt":"2011-05-16T15:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/?p=1770"},"modified":"2014-04-07T07:16:27","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T12:16:27","slug":"this-years-new-engineering-class-makes-an-impact-on-phs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/?p=1770","title":{"rendered":"This Year\u2019s New Engineering Class Makes an Impact on PHS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Freshman Makayla Fox works in the computer program "Inventor," which is the main program used in the Engineering class. Photo by: Ellen Smith<\/p><\/div>\n

By Ellen Smith<\/em><\/p>\n

Plymouth High School has added a number of classes to its ranks over the years, and this year is no exception. \u00a0Mr. Ken Robinson has been teaching this year\u2019s new engineering class, and as school comes to a close, many students have made sure that they have taken advantage of it.<\/p>\n

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Engineering class is not an average class. \u00a0The name of the class is \u201cIntroduction to Engineering,\u201d and students get to participate in many hands-on activities and have lots of time to work in-class. \u00a0\u201c[Introduction to Engineering] is a beginning level class where we learn terminology and how to draw using a CAD system called Inventor. \u00a0We spend a lot of time…using this program.\u201d said Mr. Robinson. \u00a0In terms of the Core 40 requirements for high school, this class is an elective. \u00a0\u201c[The class] is part of a new study to promote \u2018STEM\u2019 which is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.\u201d Mr. Robinson said. \u00a0Intro to Engineering gives students a chance to learn about engineering in high school, and is targeted for students interested in math, science, and\/or engineering. \u00a0The class took place during the first two trimesters of the school year.<\/p>\n

Freshmen Tristan McCallum and Makayla Fox, Junior Zoe Mack, and Senior Cody Pozil all took the class during the two trimesters it was offered. \u00a0\u00a0They all signed up because of future interests. \u00a0Mack said the class \u201chas the CAD program I need to know for college.\u201d \u00a0Pozil took the class because \u201cit will directly apply to my college major-electronics engineering.\u201d \u00a0Even though McCallum is a freshman, he took it to learn about \u201call the aspects of engineering.\u201d \u00a0\u201cThis class offered me new opportunities,\u201d he said. \u00a0Fox said she took the class \u201cbecause I was interested in architectural engineering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Intro to Engineering is mainly a project based class. \u00a0A typical day involves mainly \u201chands on projects on the computer, or making your designs on the 3-D printer,\u201d said Pozil. \u00a0\u201cThe 3-D printer is a lot like a normal one,\u201d said Fox, \u201cyou still print from the computer, but in 3-D images instead of 2-D ones.\u201d \u00a0This new piece of technology was central to the projects in class. \u201cWe worked on many different projects,\u201d Mack said, \u201cincluding creating a puzzle cube on the computer, then [making] it with wooden blocks. \u00a0We created packaging for [the cubes], designed a train, and various other things.\u201d McCallum enjoyed \u201chaving the opportunity to draw and create my own unique computer generated drawings for projects.\u201d Design was the main focus for the class.<\/p>\n

In its first year, Introduction to Engineering has had much success, and students were quite satisfied with it. \u00a0\u201cI think [the reception] of the class [among students] went over very well for its first year,\u201d Mr. Robinson said. \u00a0Mr. Robinson had to take classes and prepare for teaching this new class. \u00a0\u201cEach Project Lead the Way class that you teach requires you to attend a two week class at a university. \u00a0My training was at IU\/Purdue Kokomo. \u00a0[The classes] were long days. \u00a0It started off at about 7:30 a.m. and ended between 9:30 and 10 p.m.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNext year the Intro to Engineering class will already be undergoing changes. \u00a0\u201cThe class will move much faster than this year\u2019s class, because the 7th and 8th graders at Lincoln are learning most of the basics that I had to teach this year.\u201d said Mr. Robinson.<\/p>\n

Having an engineering class in high school gives students a chance at even more preparation for the future, and it has benefited them in many ways. \u00a0Pozil said he liked the class a lot because \u201cThis class helped teach me the proper processes in design and drafting, which I will have to use for the rest of my life.\u201d \u00a0Mack liked \u201cthat I learned a new CAD system, and how to create things with it. Then [we] actually made some of the things we created on the computer. This will help me with the skills I need to know for [my future career in] architecture.\u201d \u00a0Fox definitely recommends this class to others, especially people that are good with technology, and vouches for the class frequently. \u00a0\u201cI had a lot of fun in the class,\u201d she admitted, \u201cand I am not the greatest with technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though it is only in its first year, the new engineering class is already making quite an impact on its students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ellen Smith Plymouth High School has added a number of classes to its ranks over the years, and this year is no exception. \u00a0Mr. Ken Robinson has been teaching this year\u2019s new engineering class, and as school comes to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-school-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1770"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1775,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1770\/revisions\/1775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/social.plymouth.k12.in.us\/perspective\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}