Story of Étude Middle School Engineering
As students start their engineering experience at Étude Middle School, Discovering STEM is the first class they take. In this class students start their experience by learning robotics through Lego’s ev3 and NXT microcontrollers. They can apply these skills on our competitive FIRST Lego League team. This platform gives students the opportunity to experiment with an easily accessible format for trial and error by experimenting with robot design. Students learn the basics of programming, gearing, kinematics, and even dynamics. Students follow the same competition as each year’s FLL competition to test their designs. The second project these students dive into is a city design project where they develop a design of a city with some direction with the City Planners of Sheboygan. The students learn about creating technical drawings and a small introduction into work with Computer Aided Design. Students build designs in MInecraftEDU that were created in technical drawings. This collaborative project for students has them learning skills of drawing, scale, volume, area, and it helps develop spatial understanding as they start moving into the realm of CAD. For their last project, students build an initial version of an underwater Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV), the Sea Perch. Sea Perch is a national competition that is held each year to challenge students design skills. We do not compete beyond the classroom level for this project. Students initially learn how the Sea Perch design works. They learn about concepts of buoyancy, fluid dynamics, and even dive into a more advanced CAD software known as PTC Creo Parametric. Students had worked with MinecraftEDU to help develop spatial understanding. PTC Creo Parametric applies that spatial understanding to real life objects that students can manufacture themselves. Students model the initial Sea Perch design in PTC Creo Parametric to understand the inner workings of the program after building the model in real life. This gives them the skills to make improvements to the design to make their own ROV to compete with the class. Students follow the creative process throughout this class to model this process for the rest of their career in the Étude Group of Schools.
Design and Modeling with STEM focuses on Electrical and Electronics engineering and computer programming. Students first learn the methods of using electricity to your advantage and then they learn how to apply that knowledge to electronics and soldering. They use Minecraft to model Digital logic and learn Binary code to understand the key component to how computers communicate. This happens in both 8 week sessions of skill development in first and second semesters. As for the other periods, students are designing self-directed projects that are developed in the steps of the creative process. Academic classes, such as science and language arts provide students with the research and background knowledge they need to produce an end product students have connections between their academic research and artistic skills development. Investigating STEM follows a similar pattern of the other Project Seminar. The first eight week skill development portion of Investigating STEM is developing an understanding of sketching, hand technical drawings, and then eventually CAD software. Students learn about the different view drawings (isometric, dimetric, and trimetric). The second semester dives deep into the strength of structure such as bridge and tower building while learning skills of truss calculations and moments/torques.
Design and Modeling with STEM focuses on Electrical and Electronics engineering and computer programming. Students first learn the methods of using electricity to your advantage and then they learn how to apply that knowledge to electronics and soldering. They use Minecraft to model Digital logic and learn Binary code to understand the key component to how computers communicate. This happens in both 8 week sessions of skill development in first and second semesters. As for the other periods, students are designing self-directed projects that are developed in the steps of the creative process. Academic classes, such as science and language arts provide students with the research and background knowledge they need to produce an end product students have connections between their academic research and artistic skills development. Investigating STEM follows a similar pattern of the other Project Seminar. The first eight week skill development portion of Investigating STEM is developing an understanding of sketching, hand technical drawings, and then eventually CAD software. Students learn about the different view drawings (isometric, dimetric, and trimetric). The second semester dives deep into the strength of structure such as bridge and tower building while learning skills of truss calculations and moments/torques.
Course Sequence
Discovering STEM
Discovering STEM is an introductory course to engineering that engages students in three main project areas: Lego Robotics, Architectural Design, and Remote Operated vehicles. The different trimester units of this class allow for students to investigate the core parts of engineering in a safe environment that allows for experimentation and troubleshooting. Students investigate the questions: How do engineers solve problems? How do engineers impact structures in our community? and How do engineers redesign and revise? Through these questions, students dive into skills such as the engineering design process, programming, technical drawings, sketching, Computer Aided Design, and 3D Printing.
Design & Modeling with STEM is a course where students investigate two skill sets of engineering: electronics engineering and computer programming engineering. Students investigate the essential questions of How can I, as en engineer, use AOI Logic to my advantage? and How do computer programming engineers use algorithms to their advantage? Students dive into skill development in calculating binary numbers, truth table development, AND/OR/INVERTER (AOI) Logic, simulations, programming in Scratch & MIT App Inventor, and understanding algorithms. Students apply the skills learned in each semester of this year long course during a ten week project phase. Students design their own project based on research from an academic class that is filtered through the skills gained in Design & Modeling with STEM.
Investigating STEM Skills is a course where students investigate two skill sets of engineering: 3D modeling and civil engineering. Students investigate the essential questions of How can I, as en engineer, use 3D modeling and printing to my advantage? and How do civil engineers use structure to their advantage? Students dive into skill development in computer aided design, 3D printing advanced skills, structural design, simulations, and truss calculations. Students apply the skills learned in each semester of this year long course during a ten week project phase. Students design their own project based on research from an academic class that is filtered through the skills gained in Investigating STEM Skills
Discovering STEM is an introductory course to engineering that engages students in three main project areas: Lego Robotics, Architectural Design, and Remote Operated vehicles. The different trimester units of this class allow for students to investigate the core parts of engineering in a safe environment that allows for experimentation and troubleshooting. Students investigate the questions: How do engineers solve problems? How do engineers impact structures in our community? and How do engineers redesign and revise? Through these questions, students dive into skills such as the engineering design process, programming, technical drawings, sketching, Computer Aided Design, and 3D Printing.
- Trimester 1 - Lego Robotics
- Trimester 2 - Architectural Design through Minecraft
- Trimester 3 - Sea Perch ROV design challenge
Design & Modeling with STEM is a course where students investigate two skill sets of engineering: electronics engineering and computer programming engineering. Students investigate the essential questions of How can I, as en engineer, use AOI Logic to my advantage? and How do computer programming engineers use algorithms to their advantage? Students dive into skill development in calculating binary numbers, truth table development, AND/OR/INVERTER (AOI) Logic, simulations, programming in Scratch & MIT App Inventor, and understanding algorithms. Students apply the skills learned in each semester of this year long course during a ten week project phase. Students design their own project based on research from an academic class that is filtered through the skills gained in Design & Modeling with STEM.
- Semester 1 - Digital Logic and Electronics
- Semester 2 - Android Programming & App Design
Investigating STEM Skills is a course where students investigate two skill sets of engineering: 3D modeling and civil engineering. Students investigate the essential questions of How can I, as en engineer, use 3D modeling and printing to my advantage? and How do civil engineers use structure to their advantage? Students dive into skill development in computer aided design, 3D printing advanced skills, structural design, simulations, and truss calculations. Students apply the skills learned in each semester of this year long course during a ten week project phase. Students design their own project based on research from an academic class that is filtered through the skills gained in Investigating STEM Skills
- Semester 1 - Computer Aided Design and 3D Printing
- Semester 2 - Bridge Design and Structures