POE 2022-2023
Principles of Engineering
Riverside High School
Course Objective
Principles of Engineering (POE) is a rigorous survey course of engineering. This course exposes students to some of the major concepts that they will encounter in a post-secondary engineering course of study. Through problems that engage and challenge, students explore a broad range of engineering topics, including mechanisms, the strength of materials and structures, automation, and kinematics. Students develop skills in problem solving, research, and design while learning strategies for design process documentation, collaboration, and presentation. The course applies and concurrently develops secondary level knowledge and skills in mathematics, science, and technology.
Course Topics
POE Unit Summary
Unit 1: Energy and Power (30%)
Unit 2: Materials and Structures (24%)
Unit 3: Control Systems (28%)
Unit 4: Statistics and Kinematics (18%)
Unit 1: Energy and Power
The goal of Unit 1 is to introduce students to mechanisms, energy sources, and alternative energy applications. Students will gain an understanding of mechanisms through the application of theory-based calculations accompanied by lab experimentation. They will also learn that as energy and power are transferred and transformed, losses to friction in the system will occur. Students will understand that such losses affect the overall efficiency of the system. They will have an opportunity to investigate thermal energy and alternative energy applications. Students will explore and gain experiences relating to solar hydrogen systems and thermal energy transfer through materials. The unit concludes with students working in teams to solve a design problem that focuses on energy and power. They will use the knowledge and understanding built through the previous learning events to create a solution to the problem. It is important for students to understand that an acceptable solution is one that fits the criteria and constraints of the design brief.
Unit 2: Materials and Structures
The goal of Unit 2 is for students to have a more concrete understanding of engineering through materials properties and statics. Students begin by learning about beam deflection and then forces on truss structures. They learn to identify forces acting on those structures and then gain the ability to calculate internal and external forces acting on those structures. The students learn about material properties, which lead students to the ability to properly select a material for a given task. Creating new products to meet a given need or want is not the only concern in this area of study. How to reuse/recycle materials for continued and unique uses is also learned. The primary way of studying materials properties in this unit is through destructive and non-destructive material testing on various materials. Tensile testing is the major destructive test. Students are engaged in how machines perform these tests and use either a classroom machine or a simulation to further their understanding of these processes. This unit concludes with a design problem whereby students, working in teams, follow the design process to solve a design problem.
Unit 3: Control Systems
The goal of Unit 3 is for students to recognize the abundance of and infinite variety of computer use in our daily lives. Students learn to control mechanical systems by recognizing computer outputs and gaining an understanding of how to write code to control them. They additionally experiment with various input devices and learn how they can adapt computer code to control computer outputs. Furthermore students gain an understanding of fluid power, both hydraulic and pneumatic. They begin to recognize the power and control advantages of fluid power. The unit concludes with students working in teams to solve a design problem that focuses on using control systems. They will integrate their prior knowledge, skills, and understandings from Unit 1: Simple Machines, Unit 2: Material Properties, and this unit. Students will decide what input devices to use, how to code their use, and the various output devices necessary to create a solution to the problem.
Unit 4: Statistics and Kinematics
In Unit 4 students are engaged in learning to use statistics to evaluate an experiment. Later they begin a study of dynamics, specifically kinematics, and apply statistical skills to study free-fall motion. Students use theoretical and experimental data as a basis for learning statistical analysis. By collecting, organizing, and interpreting the data, students build the skills needed to understand data results. They further use these new skills and knowledge to design a vehicle that will propel itself. Later, students will address the problem of designing a machine to accurately launch an object a specified distance. Examining projectile motion is at the core of this design problem.
Attendance
The classrooms and labs in the engineering program are equivalent to a job site and POE is the employee's current career. Be at work (in class) as much as possible.
Most of what employees do in POE is based on team work, which requires team participation. However, there are still many individual tasks expected of them. Missing work (class) means they miss information which result in poor performance, a lack of abilities, and hinder them AND their team from being successful. Teammates and Team Managers are expected to be at work every single day.
If employees are sick, don't bring it to work. They should let someone from their team know at minimum about their absence and make arrangements to complete any missed work by also contacting their boss (the teacher).
Grading Policy
Overview
Students are considered employees in POE and therefore they are paid with POINTS. Each employee will earn points for the work s/he completes. Typical point values are as follows; 50 points for easy activities/projects - typically lasting 1 to 2 days, 100 points for intermediate activities/projects - typically lasting 2 to 3 days, 150 points for difficult activities - typically lasting 3 or more days. There are also assignments with Rubric based points. Therese are determined by a rubric provided to the employees for certain activities/projects, such as the CNB Grading Rubric which breaks down the 400 points this assignment is worth.
Points
Points are totaled using PowerSchool, an online grading system. This allows employees (and parents) to monitor their progress and see the percentage total they have earned. (Points Earned / Points Possible) x 100 = quarter grade.
Employees earn Extra Points for going above and beyond in their work. There are many opportunities to earn Extra Points in class throughout the semester. These points add to the points earned, making it possible for an employee to earn more than the points possible, resulting in a quarter grade higher than 100%. However, a 100% is the highest reported score.
There are also Extra Credit Projects available to employees. These are worth varying Extra Points, all dependent on the tasks set within the project and the level at which an employee completes those tasks. Employees are encouraged to complete an Extra Credit Project as early as possible if they wish to take on the challenge. These are not easy projects and should NOT be considered by employees that are struggling. Struggling employees should focus on improving their current score not taking on an Extra Credit Project.
Final Grades
Final Grades are calculated by adding an employees Semester Average Score to their Final Exam Score.
Semester Average (sum of quarter grades / 2) Score = SA% x 0.80
Final Exam (PLTW National Exam - A.K.A. CTE Post Assessment) Score = FE x 0.20
Final Grade = SA Score + FE Score
Tutoring and Extra Help
Mr. Bolen will be available for tutoring or extra help in the mornings before school starting at 8 AM, and during SMART Lunch Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Mr. Bolen will be encouraging students to primarily come during SMART Lunch to help maximize the efficiency of tutoring.
He will be available after school by appointment only.