Contact - Syllabus - Misc.

Contact me using:

mmays@sra.mn or Google CLASSROOM

COURSE INFORMATION - EDD

Engineering Design and Development Course Description

Engineering Design and Development (EDD) is the capstone course in the PLTW high school engineering program. It is an engineering research course in which students work in teams to design and develop an original solution to a valid open-ended technical problem by applying the engineering design process. The course applies and concurrently develops secondary level knowledge and skills in mathematics, science, and technology.

Utilizing the activity-project-problem-based (APPB) teaching and learning pedagogy, students will perform research to choose, validate, and justify a technical problem. After carefully defining the problem, teams of students will design, build, and test their solution. Finally, student teams will present and defend their original solution to an outside panel. While progressing through the engineering design process, students will work closely with experts and will continually hone their organizational, communication and interpersonal skills, their creative and problem solving abilities, and their understanding of the design process.

Engineering Design and Development is a high school level course that is appropriate for 12th grade students. Since the projects on which students work can vary with student interest and the curriculum focuses on problem solving, EDD is appropriate for students who are interested in any technical career path. EDD should be taken as the final PLTW course since it requires application of the knowledge and skills from the PLTW foundational courses.

The Engineering Design and Development course of study includes:

• The Design Process

• Intellectual Property

• Market Research and Product Surveys

• Problem Identification, Validation, and Justification

• Teamwork

• Project Management using Timelines and Gantt charts

• Design and Manufacturing Specifications

• Concept Testing

• Design Proposal

• Virtual Solutions

• Design Reviews and Postmortem Design Reviews

• Building a Prototype

• Testing a Prototype with Proper Documentation

• Test Evaluation and Refinement

• Documentation using an online portfolio

• Presenting the Process and Results

Grading is as follows: 70% projects, 20% test/quiz, 10% homework with standard grade levels of A:89.5-100, B:79.5-89.4, C:69.5-79.4, D:59.5-69.4, F:0-59.4. The final consists of a presentation of your project which is approximately 25% of the total semester grade.

The one year program will be broken into two semesters:

Semester 1 will be individual projects with the student performing all of the project tasks. Semester 2 will be a team project where teams will be established and tasks will be delegated.

COURSE INFORMATION - DE

Digital Electronics

This class is equivalent to a semester of college electrical engineering. Each unit is comprised of lessons containing various concepts specific to that unit:

• · listing of technology, science, mathematics, and English language arts national standards

• · performance objectives aligned with the national standards

• · essential questions aligned with the Concepts

• · key Terms

Each of these components is clearly discussed and described in the lesson, activities, projects, is found in the PLTW LMS section. Each Lesson is to begin with the instructor presenting the lesson’s purpose and essential questions to the students for them to think about and to develop solutions to, by the end of the lesson.

Project Lead The Way’s LMS will be used more extensively this year at Santa Rosa Academy. When a student logs into the system, all materials will be available. We are hoping that this newly improved system will work properly.

Grading is as follows: 60% projects, 30% test/quiz, 10% homework with standard grade levels of A:89.5-100, B:79.5-89.4, C:69.5-79.4, D:59.5-69.4, F:0-59.4. Please see my website for grading specifics and homework assignments.

Digital Electronics is considered the most difficult of all PLTW courses. Plan to work harder than both IED and POE; however, it will be even more fun and worth it.

COURSE INFORMATION - Algebra 1

Note: Algebra 1 grading will be based on "points" only, no categories .... this year only !

Background:

I started my college career with an AA in Business Administration followed a BS in Operations Research & Statistics. I finished my education decades later with a MA in Education.

I started an engineering career as a software programmer and moved into hardware engineering. Later, I worked as a mechanical and optical engineer as my job allowed me to explore new areas of engineering. I had the opportunity to work on civilian projects (computer design) as well as military programs (infrared cameras for reconnaissance aircraft).

I have taught math, engineering and computer science in private, public, and charter schools at the high school and community college levels.

Engineering is an exciting and fulfilling career, and I enjoy the opportunity to prepare students for a great career.