Principles Engineering - PLTW [Honors]
Daily Agendas:
May
Forberg
About POE
PLTW's Principles of Engineering is a survey course in which students will be introduced to several elements of engineering including mechanisms, energy, statics, materials and kinematics. As a student in Principles of Engineering you will develop problem-solving skills and collaborate with others to complete design challenges. Students will be using various engineering programs to research and evaluate designs, create code for robotics, and develop virtual models of design solutions. Student projects will include: creating a bridge, designing a robotic material sorter and programming and building a projectile launcher.
Major Projects
Truss Design
Students will calculate, design, simulate, and test a bridge of their own construction. This project is a twist on the classic toothpick bridge and pushes students to explore the relationship between tensile and compressive forces in truss design. Students start by researching existing truss designs, then model and simulate their own design in Inventor, and finish by building a balsa bridge that they crush and calculate a strength to weight ratio for.
Students will explore programming and robotics throughout the process of creating a SoccerBot. Using VEX Robotics building materials and hardware, students will learn programming through RobotC. Students will learn the fundamentals of programming as well as how to use it in conjunction with robotics hardware. Using previous class content to gear motors, set up chains and sprockets and sensors to guide their robot, students will then work in groups to build a robot to compete in a soccer tournament with.
SoccerBots
Thermodynamics
Principles of Engineering tackles the laws of thermodynamics through the design of unique material substrates. Students will design their own wall section to build the most thermally efficient home possible. Using Autodesk Revit, students will create a floorplan, add a roof, floor, ceiling, windows, and doors to it and run an energy analysis to gauge the effectiveness of their design against industry standards and regulations. With those values, we can see how our new composite materials stack up against traditional insulators.
