Week of Dec 17

This is final exam week.  The schedule for exams for my IED classes is listed below.  Remember that school is out at 1:15 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  School is out at 9:05 on Friday, so have a good and safe holidays.
1st period - Tuesday 9:05
2nd period - Wednesday  9:05
3rd period - Monday 9:05

EXCITING NEWS!  Novacentrix presented to our engineering classes last year.  One of the vice presidents is a RRHS graduate and very involved in helping our program.  He is offering for our students to participate in teams in a project and possibly present at a professional conference in February.  Novacentrix makes conductive ink and they demonstrated for us that you could print a circuit directly on a sheet of paper using a standard ink jet printer. (The ink, of course, is special and not available at Office Depot.)  We will have more details for you in January, but for now be thinking about 3-5 other people that you would like to work on a team with.  The teams will be tasked with designing an object that integrates electronics in the design, and you can create your designs on the 3d printer.  For example, you might make the train design (remember that from IED?) that has an LED for a light.  When you press a button, the light lights up.  It is a simple concept, but this is a new and emerging field.  The team with the winning design will be asked to present their results and process at the 3d manufacturing conference in February.


Don't forget about High Tech U
You have just another 2 weeks to get your application in before everyone else for Semi High Tech U.  If you are interested, you will need to submit your application on Semi's web site (above).  RRHS students are able to apply right now even though they will not open the applications to the public until after January 1.  The dates again are Feb 20, 21, & 22.  You would have to be able to miss those three days of school, but it is well worth it!


Have a happy holiday break, and be careful.  I look forward to seeing all of you back in one piece on January 7.

One More Week!!!! (practically)

The end of the semester is fast approaching.  You will get the final exam review this week.  Even if you are exempting, you need to complete the review as it will be good practice for your EoC exam next spring.  It is a good time for you to brush up on the concepts covered this fall and know what is important to remember.  Remember that (1) you may not exempt the IED exam in the spring and (2) to turn in your completed exemption form to the office by 4:30 Tuesday.  Check out the rules & procedures as well as the final exam schedule on the RRHS home page.


Any women interested in engineering?  Would you like a free lunch and a chance to talk with engineering students and faculty at UT?  The UT Society of Women engineers is hosting an Encounter with Engineers on Saturday February 9.  The link will take you to their event page where you can learn more about the day's events and how to register. You must register by January 11, 2013.  That is over a month off, but don't put it off if you are interested.  You can apply online.  Below is a summary from their web page to get you a little more information.
Encounter with Engineering (EWE) is a day-long program created to introduce engineering to high school girls. EWE is a great introduction the different engineering fields and is a great opportunity for students to find out about engineering, what they can do with a degree, and talk to engineering students. This event is entirely free, and lunch is provided. Many of our past EWE participants have been inspired to pursue a career in engineering. We strongly encourage girls in grades 10 and 11 to participate.

Also, NASA is sponsoring the WISH program (Women in STEM High School) for junior and senior girls interested in engineering.  This is an internship in which you would get to work on an actual NASA space exploration project with other high school students and present your team's results at the Johnson Space Center in Houston over a week's time this summer.  If you are interested, check out the WISH web site, but be aware that the deadline to apply is January 3.  

This is the last week you have to get caught up on work and get those grades up before the semester ends.  Next week, we will only be taking and grading final exams.

It's Almost Here!!!!!!

The end of the semester is fast approaching.  Just two more weeks, and then we will be taking final exams and off for the semester break.  Students should finish up their portfolios on Tuesday, and then we will look at some brief design concepts before getting ready for the final exam.

You may exempt the fall semester final for IED, if you meet the school qualifications.  If you want to exempt any engineering final, it will have to be the fall.  The spring exam will be an end-of-course exam that is required by PLTW, so you will not be able to exempt regardless of your grade and attendance.  I will add that this exam will be a preview of that final, so it would give you some insight as to what the EOC will look like for this course.

Speaking of final exams, be on the lookout for exemption forms.  Be sure that you get yours and, by all means, turn it in filled out and signed correctly by the deadline: next Tuesday December 11.

Any women interested in engineering?  Would you like a free lunch and a chance to talk with engineering students and faculty at UT?  The UT Society of Women engineers is hosting an Encounter with Engineers on Saturday February 9.  The link will take you to their event page where you can learn more about the day's events and how to register. You must register by January 11, 2013.  That is over a month off, but don't put it off if you are interested.  You can apply online.  Below is a summary from their web page to get you a little more information.
Encounter with Engineering (EWE) is a day-long program created to introduce engineering to high school girls. EWE is a great introduction the different engineering fields and is a great opportunity for students to find out about engineering, what they can do with a degree, and talk to engineering students. This event is entirely free, and lunch is provided. Many of our past EWE participants have been inspired to pursue a career in engineering. We strongly encourage girls in grades 10 and 11 to participate.


Make sure that you are checking on any missing work and getting your grades up now.  Progress reports go out this week, but you only have a week left after that before finals start. You want to be first in line to get what you need from me or any other teacher before the semester ends.

Week of Nov 26

It's hard to believe that it is only 4 short weeks until we are out for the Christmas break and that the year is already half over.  Of course, one of those weeks will be taken up with final exams and preparations.  That means that there are some things you need to know about soon.

For all of the PLTW engineering classes, an End of Course exam is required, which will be given during the times of the spring semester exams.  That means that you will not be able to exempt your IED exam in the spring regardless.  If you want to exempt the fall semester exam and qualify per the school guidelines, you are free to do so. However, it is a preview of at least part of the exam that will be given in the spring.  The schedule for exams and guidelines can be found on the RRHS web page.

Students are picking up Inventor quite readily and are progressing faster than we had planned.  This week, we will assemble our puzzle cubes and create a movie file that shows it being assembled & disassembled. Then, we will continue to expand our Inventor skills and be able to create more and more complex objects.  After the Christmas break, we will make the toy train in Inventor.

If you would like to download Inventor for use at home on your schoolwork, you can do so at the Autodesk web site.  Be warned that the download and install may take up to 10 hours. If you run in to trouble, let me know, but please be specific about the error.  "It didn't work." doesn't give me much to help you with.  It should run on most modern computers, but it may be a bit slow.

There are some key dates coming up.  Make sure that you are checking the RRHS home page and getting school and PTSA notifications to keep up.  First of all, RRHS is participating launching a Laptop Initiative, to give every freshman a laptop computer.  As this rolls up in future years, we can do more and  more things in the classrooms with computers since every student will have their own computer to use.  There is an informational meeting coming up this Wednesday (Nov 28) at 6:30 p.m. in the 1100 bldg lecture hall to outline how the program will work, expectation, etc.  Be sure that a parent attends this meeting.  

The next meeting will be on December 12 for incoming freshmen. If you have an 8th grader coming up to RRHS, you will want to attend the Academy Night to get information about our academy programs and choices available.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow! The semester is going very quickly.  It is already time for Thanskgiving, which means that semester final exams and the end of the semester are not far behind.

Speaking of semester finals, students who are eligible per school rules to exempt may exempt the fall semester exam for IED.  No one will be able to exempt the spring final exam as this is an End of Course exam that is required by PLTW for all of our students.  In short, if you think you might want to exempt one of the IED exams this year, it must be the fall exam, if you qualify for exemptions per school rules.

The puzzles looked good. Everyone did a great job in their designs so far.  Make sure that you have good documentation in your journals for the work that you have done.  We will next create solid models of the five puzzle pieces that you created using Autodesk Inventor.  This industry-standard solid modelling software is used by engineers and companies in creating designs of many of the products that you use every day.  Students every year are excited to find out that the license granted to the school for use of this software package allows students to download a copy for educational use at home.  I will place the link in Moodle, and you can follow the directions for downloading the software at home.  The installation will take up to 10 hours, depending on your computer and connection speed. I recommend that you use a wired connection for this as it will speed up the download.  Many students have had success installing Inventor at home, but it is too big and complex for some older computers.

Week of Nov 12

IED classes have started working on the Puzzle Cube project, which we started on Friday.  You will use the design process and some new tools to design an interlocking puzzle cube toy.  After designing the cube and its five parts by hand, we will learn to use Autodesk Inventor to build a solid model of the cube.  This will be our introduction to Inventor.  The license that the school has with Autodesk for the software allows students in the IED classes to download Inventor on their home computers for educational use.  I will post the link in Moodle when we begin.  There are 3 huge files which take a long time to download. It would be best if you use a wired connection in the interest of time and plan to not be using the computer for 7-10 hours while it downloads and installs.

Report cards will be handed out during 2nd period Thursday.  It is hard to believe that the year is already 12 (Well.  Really 11) weeks gone.  This six weeks will be extremely quick since we have finals and the end of the semester looming in just 5 more weeks.

Speaking of finals, the exam schedule is out and posted in my room. As far as IED goes, you may exempt the fall semester exam but not the spring.  PLTW requires that all students take the EOC exam, which I will give during finals week in May.  If you want to exempt your IED exam and are eligible to do so, you will definitely want to do so this semester.

Finally, I have duty every morning this week, so there are no morning tutorials.

Semi High Tech U - Feb 20-22

Semi High Tech U is a three day "educational field trip" sponsored by SEMI, a consortium of various companies in the semiconductor (commonly called "computer chip") industry.  The link above includes a video that describes and allows you to see what goes on at a typical High Tech U.  Many companies who take part in making the integrated circuits used in not only computers but also cell phones, games, MP3 players, cars, televisions, and garage door openers among thousands of other products put together activities and host students from all over central Texas to help you to understand the challenges faced by engineers in their companies.  This is a good chance to get exposed to how the math, science, language, and other skills that you are learning are being put to use right now in some of the most fast-paced jobs available.  You will also get to meet and interact with engineers, managers, recruiters and others who work for these companies.  You can ask questions about their jobs, experiences, studying engineering, and even conduct a mock interview.  It is a great chance to enhance your resume and job-searching skills.

The team at the Austin High Tech U last year set the HTU world record for the fastest time in the "human calculator" activity.

High Tech U is specifically for all students interested in pursuing a technical field.   Events are held all over the world, but the one for the Austin area is currently scheduled for February 20, 21, and 22.  It will require that you are able to miss school for three consecutive days (2 A days and a B day), so I am telling you now so that you can plan ahead.  There is not cost to you to attend, and transportation will be provided to and from the event every day by RRISD (probably even someone you know very well).

Students who wish to attend must apply directly to Semi.  They will make the selections, but there is no limit on the number of students who can attend from any one school.  Last year, we were restricted to five students from RRHS through a special arrangement between RRISD and Semi.  Applications will be accepted beginning in January, but RRHS students may submit applications NOW.  Download the application and submit it per the instructions as soon as possible to enhance your chances of being selected.  Even if you are not certain that you will be able to attend, apply now.  You can always turn down the offer later if  you are accepted.  Also, previous High Tech U students may apply, but remember that Semi makes the selection this year.  Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions.

Week of Nov 5

IED classes will finish up a study of measurement and statistics this week by learning to use Excel to complete the tedious standard deviation calculations, among others.  Our next unit will take us in to designing first through sketches and drawing and finishing up with finally starting to use Autodesk Inventor.  When we begin Inventor, I will open a link that will allow students to download a copy of Inventor for use at home.  The school license for the software allows students to use the our software for educational purposes.

This week is the last week of the six weeks.  Make sure that your grades are up to date before Friday.  Look for report cards to come out next week.  In preparation for the grade deadline, this Wednesday will be  a WOW day, but Thursday will NOT be a late start.  Make sure to plan your schedule for the week accordingly, and take advantage of the tutoring time during the WOW period Wednesday afternoon.

This Saturday is the FADE competition. Teams will need to be at the front of the school (100 bldg) in time to  leave at 5:30 a.m.  Check my FADE update page for details and more information.  It is exciting to see the teams working through their ideas and preparing to represent RRHS well in College Station.

Week of October 29

We will learn to dimension drawings to communicate size and location of all features of an object that we will design.  This is important for communication between engineering professionals, but we will also use it when we start making objects in Inventor.  The dimensioning will help us to understand what dimensions are needed and how to place them to correctly constrain (which is what Inventor calls it) a part.

Wednesday is WOW, so you have a chance to make up missing or incomplete work, if you need to.  Get a WOW pass from any teacher that you need some tutorial time in, and you will be given extra time during the school day on Wednesday.  Tutorials without having to stay after school!  Also, Thursday is a late start day.

Progress reports will be sent home this week.  Look for those as well.  Note that this is a 5 week six weeks, so the grading period ends next Friday (11/9).  Be sure to stay on top of assignments and grades as you will have one less week after progress reports to get caught up.

October 22

This week, we will continue working on linear measurements.  First, we will convert between different systems of measurement (metric, Imperial, etc.) followed by how to specify measurement dimensions on a drawing and finally how to use dial calipers to take very precise measurements (down to 0.001").  Expect a quiz over unit conversions on Wednesday, and leave your journals in class for a journal check this week/weekend.

Don't forget that Friday is a pep rally, and Thursday is a late start.  Consult the RRHS main web page for the bell schedules on those days.

This is also the last week of the mid-six weeks progress reporting period.  All work needs to be done and turned in by Friday so that we can finalize grades early next week.  Progress reports will be sent out next Friday (November 2).

Money for College  
Be sure to keep up with the Scholarship Page that I have tabbed at the top of this page.  I will drop scholarship opportunities there as I find out about them.  The latest is Milwaukee School of Engineering.  They offer scholarships for students who have successfully completed one or more Project Lead the Way class.  If you are in our engineering program, want to major in engineering in college, and need more help than you are getting from A&M or Texas, MSOE might be worth looking in to for you with up to $12,000 in scholarships provided.  I will update it from time to time with others as they come available.

FADE Challenge Released

I received the challenge for our FADE setup late tonight.  In short, we are to build  a structure to protect a rover that will explore new and previously unexplored planets.  It should protect the rover from threats such as:

• Temperature extremes
• Meteorite strikes
• Rock slides
• Rain

You can check out the detailed design brief here.  Your teams may begin working on the designs as soon as possible.  

To answer some questions from today:

1. We are to build a prototype that will be tested in a lab at A&M.
2. No materials are provided, so we will have to provide everything ourselves.  Using materials already on hand (either at school or from a store like Home Depot) is acceptable, but we will have to account for the actual cost of such items in our budget.
3. We can use the engineering activity account to purchase the items needed.  
4. You will provide an "engineering notebook" of your design. I have notebooks that each team can use. However, they are requesting typewritten information.  I would suggest using the notebook in handwriting as we go along and then typing up a document with the final design solution that can be glued in to the notebook.  

Good luck teams.  

Week of October 9

This week, we will leave continue practicing different types of engineering drawings.  Our next topic will be more formal than the isometrics and perspectives that we just finished.  All engineers communicate their designs using multiview drawings.  While Inventor can create those for us for items designed using the solid modelling program, it is important that all engineers know how to draw and interpret multiview drawings, also called orthographic projection drawings.  Expect a quiz this week or early next week on the different drawing types.

Don't forget that Monday is a holiday.

Samsung Field Trip
For those going on the Samsung field trip on Tuesday, be at my room (601) at 8:45.  We will meet there so that you can leave any items that you don't need with you in the storage room.  Samsung does not allow any type of electronic devices (including phones, MP3 players, cameras, and USB drives or storage cards) in their facility.  It would be best for you to leave them at home or with a friend on Tuesday.  The bus will be unattended and unlocked in Samsung's parking lot and may not be secure for you to leave valuable items.  The bus needs to leave at 9:00 because Samsung wants to start at 9:45.  In addition to the travel time, it will take 10 or so minutes to get everyone signed in through security.  We should return to the school between 2:00 and 2:30, so you will be back for the start of 8th period.

FADE Starts Wednesday
For those who signed up for the Future Aggies Design Exhibition, the kick-off is Wednesday.  Meet in my room after school, and I should by then have the design task that we are asked to perform.  I am excited about this because we ended up with 18 students registered which gave us 3 teams of six future engineers each.  You can keep up to date with the information as it is released by the Texas A&M Student Engineering Council at their web site.

PSAT October 17
Juniors and Seniors will take the PSAT test during the morning periods of next Wednesday (Oct 17).  Freshman and sophomores are still expected to be at school and will have classes planned for them.  When all have finished testing, we will continue with the regular 7th & 8th period schedules for the afternoon.

Oct 1 - Last Week of the Six Weeks

This is the last week of the first six weeks.  The year is going by so fast that it's hard to believe.  I always like to look back to the start of school and see much we have already accomplished.  If you have any missing work, be sure to get that in to me (or have me check your journal) this week.  Wednesday will also be the second WOW day of the year, another opportunity for you to make up missing work before the grade deadline this Friday.

We started sketching last week and will continue through this week.  On Monday, we will finish the isometric sketches and look at two different types of 3-d sketches: obliques and perspective.  Engineers use these sketches to draw representations of their design ideas for further study and communication with others.  After the sketching, we will go in to a study of more technical drawing - orthographic projection multiview drawings.  Those are not sketches, but precisely proportioned and aligned drawings that communicate information to others.

Make sure that you are leaving your journals in the room as well as keeping them up to date.  I record the third journal grade this week.  Every journal page should have a number, date, and signature (or initials), and you should update the table of contents every day at the end of class.


If you haven't paid the $35 lab fee, please do so this week.  This money is critical to pay for the supplies and equipment that we use in the engineering classes.  If you are unable to pay at this time, please let me know.  I can tell you if you have paid or not, so just shoot me an email or ask in class if you are not sure.

Future Aggies Design Exhibition
I submitted registration for 19 RRHS students to participate in the FADE design competition on Friday, an exciting and great group of students.  The schedule for the day is now posted on the link above (and in a previous post below).  We will not be given details of the design challenge until October 10 when all teams are simultaneously informed of the task, leaving us with exactly one month to complete the challenge.  While we don't know the exact task that will be given, we do know that it will be based on one of the 14 Grand Engineering Challenges.  For those of you registered, look over those challenges and familiarize yourself with the possible tasks that may be given to us.  More information about teams and details will be sent to you this week.

FADE Registration Deadline Changed to THIS Thursday

There are a lot of you interested in FADE (Future Aggies Design Exhibition), and that is exciting.  I just got word today that the original deadline of October 5 has been moved up to this Friday, September 28.  I need to put together the teams and have definite commitment by Thursday so that I have time to fill out the forms.

I have hard copies of all that you need, but they are linked here as well.  I need 4 things from you:

• The FADE Behavioral Agreement
• Texas A&M Medical Waiver
• RRISD Permission & Waiver -   This is actually 2 forms: the medical waiver & permission form and an academic permission form.  The academic form needs to be signed by all of your teachers to indicate that you are aware of your responsibility to keep up with your school work and pass classes in order to take part in this extra-curricular activity.
• Give me information needed for the registration form by filling out this registration form.  

There is no cost to you.  All charges will be covered through the engineering activity account and grants (Let's hope!). 

The schedule for the day has been posted on the FADE web site.  Check that site for updates and more information as it becomes available.  The schedule for the day will be as follows.

7:00 am - 8:00 am	Team Check-in
8:00 am - 11:00 am	Design Competition
11:30 am - 12:30 pm	Lunch / Student Panel
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm	Campus Tour
3:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Department Tours
6:30 pm - 7:30 pm	Dinner / Awards Ceremony

In order to make it to College Station by the registration time, we will need to leave RRHS at 6:00.  Lunch and Dinner are provided by A&M, but you may want to bring money for breakfast and snacks during the day.  

Let me know if you have any questions.  

Sep 24

Be ready to present your product evolution presentation on Tuesday, and remember to upload them to Moodle before Monday night at 11:55 p.m.  The link to our Moodle is in the links I have provided on the right-side of this page.  This will finish up our What is Engineering? unit.

Next, we will learn to draw isometric sketches, perspective sketches, and orthographic projection drawings.  Engineers use different types of sketches & drawings to communicate ideas to each other and to clients.  Learning how to draw them will ensure that we can read or understand them as well. That unit will take us through the next two weeks.

Also, this week will see our first WOW period.  On Work it Out Wednesday, students will  have a tutorial opportunity during the school day in order to make up missing work or get extra help.  Check with teachers for any classes which you are failing and request a WOW pass.  Thursday is again a late start day.  

Parents, be sure to check over your student's progress reports that were given to them on Friday.  If you have any questions, let me know. 

FADE Design Competition & Texas A&M Field Trip

Check out the information on FADE (Future Aggies Design Exhibition).  This event is option and will take place after school hours, so it is optional.  If you are interested, let me know.  I will have permission forms this week that you will need to fill out and have parents sign.  The deadline for us to sign up teams of 4-6 students is next Friday, October 5 this Friday September 28.  On October 10, we will be given an engineering challenge to solve from the Fourteen Grand Engineering Challenges, although, I don't know right now exactly what that will be.  The student teams will then have one month, until November 10, to create a solution to the challenge that we are given.  On November 10, which is a Saturday, we will travel by bus to the campus of Texas A&M to present our solution and see how other students solved the same problem.  The cost is free to students participating, and lunch and dinner is being provided for all participants.  For now, start forming teams of which you want to be a part and let me know that you are interested.  I will have sign-up and permission forms on Tuesday.

If you are interested, I need the information on this form in order to get you registered.  Please fill this out to let me know that you want to participate and to give me the needed information. I must have registration and permission forms back by this Thursday.

September 18

Progress reports will be sent out on Friday, so look for those to come home before the weekend.  If you have questions regarding your grades, please let me know as soon as you can.  Also, next Wednesday (Sep 26) will be our first WOW.  If you have some missing work or low grades, take advantage of that  in-school tutorial times to make it up.

This Thursday will be a Late Start.  School starts at 9:25.

We are finishing up our study of the design process.  Students will create a presentation on the evolution of a common item of their choosing (cell phone, printer, automobile,  camera, and many more) with a focus on the details of when, how, and why the product changed over time.  Next week, we will begin a short unit on sketching in more detail than we looked at it last week.  We will learn to make specific engineering types of sketches called isometric and perspective sketches. 

September 10

There are several events that you should be aware of this week outside of our engineering classes.

First of all, parents are invited to attend the Open House on Monday, September 10.  Parents will gather in the 1100 (new) building cafeteria for a short PTSA meeting and instructions at 6:00.  Beginning at 6:30, you will follow your student's schedule with 10 minutes in each class to meet the teachers and hear a brief overview of each class, grading, objectives, etc.  Students were given an invitation letter today during 2nd period and should have written their schedule down on that letter to give to you.  Please come to see us Monday night, and get a copy of your child's schedule and a campus map so that you will know where to go.


For IED, we will continue learning just about the process of design and exploring how design in an intentional and systematic way to solve problems.  Afterward, you should start looking at things differently and start to recognize the reasons why some of the products you use look the way that they do.

Don't forget to check out the other pages that I have linked through this site displayed as tabs above the blog posts.  One is a collection of scholarships that are available to RRHS engineering students to apply for and get assistance in paying for college. I have added a link to the college visit schedule for our school.  On Thursday (Sep 13), Rochester Institute of Technology will be here and wanting to talk to our junior and seniors.  Check with your counselor to sing up for a time to talk with them.  RIT is one of the colleges that offers college credit for participation (with an appropriate EoC and course grade) in PLTW courses.  You can start out college with 4 hours of credit already earned for successful completion of each of our PLTW courses. 

September 3

I hope that you enjoyed your long weekend.  This week, we will continue setting up the journals and practice sketching.  Wednesday we review brainstorming, a process engineers use for generating ideas to solve a problem.  Then, on Friday, we will study a structured design process.

This Friday is the deadline to bring your $35 lab fee to me.  If you are unable to get the lab fee to me this week, please let me know.

Mark your calendars for next Monday, September 10, which will be RRHS Open House.  Parents will have a short PTSA meeting and then a chance to run through your child's full schedule, meeting all of us as your student's teachers.  It is always a good time but very fast-paced.  Typically, parents will spend about 8 minutes per class period in each room.

Be sure to go to sign up through Remind 101 for quick updates via email and/or text message.  That will allow me to send out quick reminders and short updates from time to time.

Finally, we will see our first "late start" day this Thursday.  Check the RRHS page for the late start bell schedule.  Classes start later, at 9:25, in order to allow teachers to work and plan together in PLCs.  This schedule occurs on most Thursdays this year (but not all). 

This has started out as a great year.  We all are looking forward to an exciting year of Dragon Engineering! 

Welcome to 2012-2013!

Welcome back for another school year.  For those of you new to RRHS, welcome to the Round Rock High School.  You may soon notice some of the changes this year, and I think they will help make it a better year at RRHS than ever before.  We'll talk more about those changes soon. 

This is the blog for my Introduction to Engineering Design (IED) classes.  IED is the first class in the high school engineering sequence from Project Lead the Way.  The class focuses on the basic skills for all engineering and technical positions including teamwork, brainstorming, technical drawing, and communicating design ideas.  We use Autodesk Inventor (R) and various other software that is used by engineers in industry to create their designs and communicate with other engineers and customers.

I will keep this site up to date not only with class news but other information that is useful to my students and parents, such as other web links, opportunities to work with industry partners, and even scholarship opportunities.  The calender on the right hand side of the page will keep a running list of what is going on in class as well as other key school dates (holidays, A/B days, etc.).  Above that is a list of useful links.  Since the curriculum is protected by copyright, I can not place actual classwork on this public blog.  The students will get used to accessing my information on my Moodle site.  I use Moodle to run the entire class, so all work and instructions will be found there throughout the year. 

Look for a packet to come home from your student's first day that describes our class in more detail.  I am also sending a half-sheet home that has multiple methods to contact me.  One of those will be Remind101.  I will use that to send out short text messages or emails when there is pressing news or reminders (such as materials to bring to class, field trip deadlines, etc.).  Feel free to sign up now using the Remind 101 signup instructions on this link. 

I look forward to this year.  Be sure to let me know if there is anything I can do to make it more enjoyable and productive. 

FREE Summer Institute Opportunity for Students Interested in Civil Engineering

Prairie View A&M University is hosting a summer training institute for students who are interested in Civil Engineering, particularly the transportation industry.  As their web site states, it is a chance for you to explore careers in the transportation field, experience college life, and learn something useful.

The deadline for applications is May 21, so you need to get on this quickly.  That's the bad news.  The good news is that the STI Scholars program may cover the cost and make it completely free to you!

This presentation gives you a little more information as well as some pictures of what students did in past institutes. 

Week of May 7

Out of Room May 7-8

All IED classes on Monday & Tuesday except for 4th period will meet in room 737.  Our computer lab is being used for EoC testing those two mornings.  4th period will meet in 601 as usual Tuesday afternoon.

Continuing RE Project

We will continue with the RE project this week.  Be sure to finish up creating your parts and assembling in Inventor.  Then, we will begin discussing ways to improve the design. 

EoC for Our Class

Remember that every student must take the End of Course exam for any PLTW courses in which you are enrolled.  This part of our agreement with PLTW.  That means that there are no exemptions given for Intro to Engineering, as I pointed out at the beginning of the year and at the time of fall finals.  I'll give you more details soon. 

Week of April 30

This week, we will continue reverse engineering. You will finish up drawings and notations of the RE parts, including good dimensions for each individual part. On Wednesday, we will start making the parts in Inventor. Let me know who you are partners with so that I can set up a folder on the I: drive that you both can access.

Get those Field Trip Permission forms in!

Athena Manufacturing May 1/National Instruments May 3
I need the field trip permission slips back right away. If you want to go on the Athena Manufacturing trip on Tuesday, you MUST turn in permission forms Monday morning. Please bring them by my room before school. If you are going to National Instruments on Thursday, I need your permission forms by Tuesday at the end of the day. Be sure to let me know that you are interested in one or both trips through this sign-up form.  It is also shown in the post from last week below.

Final Exam/EOC
Look for information about the EOC exam for IED soon.  As a reminder, the EOC exam is required by our curriculum, PLTW, and will serve as the final exam.  As a result, exempting the spring final is not optional for any of the engineering classes. 

Week of April 23

This week is TAKS testing week.  Even the freshmen will be involved in EOC camp as the rest of the campus is taking the various TAKS tests Monday through Thursday.  Here is the schedule for the week, bu the summary is that we will only see each class once from Monday through Thursday.  Friday is a regular B day schedule.  Note that the original schedule has been changed (switched Friday & Monday). 

Next week, we have two opportunities for field trips.  On Tuesday morning, May 1, two different groups will go and visit Athena manufacturing.  Athena makes parts for aircraft manufacturers and other companies.  It is a great chance to see how design ideas become reality in an actual machine shop.  If you are interested, two things need to happen.:

• You need to fill out the permission form and get your teachers' approval to be off campus.  See me to get the forms or download them here.  Students wishing to attend need to be passing all classes and have all teachers sign off that they are caught up with all work.  
• You need to sign up for the trip on the form below.

Week of March 5

IED classes need to finish the castle projects this week.  Don't forget to make entries in your journal for each day of the project.  On Monday & Tuesday, you should finish up the designs and add the information to your existing portfolio Powerpoints.  Be sure to check the design brief for the information that is required. 

We will begin making presentations on Thursday & Friday. 

I probably don't have to remind you, but next week is Spring Break!  This is also the 3rd week of the six weeks, which means that progress reports will go out when we return from Spring Break. 

Article on Civil Engineering Career Futures

I noticed this article in US News & World Report tonight.  I know that a number of you expressed interest in civil engineering for a career.  Take a look at this to get a picture of what your future may look like. 

Feb 27 - 2 weeks to Spring Break

Only 2 weeks until we get a spring break!  You should be finishing up your castle project this week.  The schedule calls for us to create portfolios beginning Thursday and present next week. 

This week is a WOW week.  If you need to make up some work or extra time on your castle, ask for a WOW pass.

Robotics Demo on Friday
Dr. Julien is bringing her robotics demo back to RRHS on Friday for 5th & 6th periods.  If you would like to attend, are not in 5th or 6th period IED, and are current on your work from those class periods, let me know.  We will meet in the Lecture Hall of the 1100 building.

Samsung Field Trip

The Samsung field trip has been set up for Tuesday, March 20.  That is an A day.  If you didn't get to go last year, now is your chance.  Samsung has a planned group of activities to show you what life in a high-tech company is like and how those jobs relate to various lessons that you encounter at school.  You get a chance to interact with actual engineers.  Look for permission forms and a sign-up (online, of course) next week.

Feel free to use the QR code here to correctly spell my email address.  I will start using this more and more to make it easier to reach me via email. 

Week of Feb 13

This week, we will begin the Castle Project.  You will research and select a design for a castle that you will create.  Then, you will make your castle in Inventor.  This project will take us 2 weeks to complete, including giving a presentation of your castle and what makes it so special.

In addition to the research, you will select an initial layout and generate ideas for your castle design.  You will also begin designing some of the components in Inventor.

On February 23, we will take a group of students to the Edison Lecture Series.  If you are interested, be sure to get a permission form from me and express your interest on the form here.  Note that the form references an AT&T Labs visit that is not available to IED students.  You may attend that portion of the field trip next year.

Note that this is the last week of the six weeks.  I will be grading journals this week. 

Train Project

We are now nearing the end of our Train project.  Students should have all of the individual parts completed by the end of this week, and then we will assemble the pieces next week.  I am exploring options to be able to print out your copy of the train on the 3-D printer, similar to the one I have displayed on my desk. Everyone should be finished with the train by Wednesday, Jan 25.

Look for information about a field trip that is coming next month.  RRHS will attend the Edison Lecture Series on Thursday Feb 23.  Engineering students will have the opportunity to attend a special event at AT&T Labs aimed at showing our students how their education is put in to practice in a high-tech company environment.  The two events are tied together on the same day.  As I get more of the details, I will let you know here and in class.

Week of January 9

Welcome back for the spring semester. I hope that you had a restful break and are ready for a full and busy spring semester. This week, IED will start the Train Project. You will create 9 separate parts of a toy old-fashioned steam locomotive and assemble them to create the train car. The final product will look something like the picture on this post. This will be a major grade, and we will work on this for the next 2 weeks. Students will learn even more advanced Inventor skills. Remember that next Monday (January 16) is a school holiday. The more we get in to Inventor, the more grading I will be doing electronically, so it is more important than ever that you establish your folders on the I: drive correctly and save all work there. Please check to make sure where your files are being saved frequently. I will be checking journals later this week, so please leave them in the room for me to access.