During the second and third week of camp, we began to introduce tools and machines. We wanted to give students a simple modeling project that would ease them into their use of the equipment and our safety rules and procedures.
Our design challenge was to brainstorm an innovative edible candy or sweet treat that could be marketed and sold in stores. The final prototype would be an over-sized model of the product, built out of foam, painted with acrylic paints and hung from the ceiling of the room by fishing line! Luckily, I ran into a very accomplished entrepreneurer over the summer, named Bridget Graham, who happened to have her own business along these same lines. Read the rest of this entry »
Thanks for continuing to follow my blog and letting me share my classroom experiences with you. This Summer, I’d like to take you away from my usual location at Gateway High School, and direct you to a new set of students and activities taking place at the Boys & Girls Club in Trenton, NJ.
First, let me back things up a bit and provide you with some background information. For the last three summers, I have been running a summer camp located at the Trenton Boys & Girls Club, which we call Future Engineers. The camp itself is just one function of a larger grant project, also called Future Engineers, which provides camps, after school enrichment programs and professional development throughout the year, in order to enhance K-12 Engineering Education in New Jersey. The grant itself is funded by the Martinson Family Foundation, and housed within the Center for Excellence in STEM Education, located within the department of Technological Studies at The College of New Jersey. This summer, I have 75 students, ages 9-15, enrolled in Future Engineers for a total of eight weeks. Read the rest of this entry »
The EcoCAR teams have now headed home after almost two weeks of intense competition in Yuma and San Diego. Most teams are invigorated by the competition, and use it as an opportunity to see how their vehicle measures up in a rigorous test environment. Even as the students left the awards ceremony and began heading to the airport, they could be heard discussing their strategy for next year. It’s a testament to how passionate these young people are about their vehicles and the EcoCAR program. Read the rest of this entry »
Earlier this month, Chris Better and I took a team of five students to participate in the NJ Envirothon for the first time. In fact, we were the first team comprised of “Technology Education/Engineering” students, as the other teams were all assembled by their schools’ science teachers. There were 47 teams participating in total this year. People were quite receptive to our participation because the whole theme of the event was based around solving environmental problems, particularly those dealing with water conservation. Read the rest of this entry »
Each team is unique, from vehicle architectures to outreach strategies, and the same holds true for the exterior design of their vehicles. Even at this early prototype stage of vehicle development, many of the EcoCARs are custom-painted and personalized with images of the schools’ mascots and EcoCAR logos. Read the rest of this entry »
Out here in New Jersey, public schools were recently told to prepare for budget cuts across the state in every district. In the spirit of the sustainable design challenges and problem solving activities that we have been giving students all year, our current situation presented us a REAL problem to solve. Next year, we might have less money to buy new supplies, so it is important to conserve now. However, we want to continue giving students fresh design challenges that deal with sustainability and the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), as well as other 21st century skills such as innovation, critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration. Read the rest of this entry »
This year was the 40th Earth Day. So naturally, our EcoCAR teams – about 200 university students building green cars – looked under their hoods for inspiration…
As a result, we’ve started the 40-Mile Pledge. For the rest of 2010, every time we hit the road for a day trip, we’re keeping it under 40 miles. It’s a simple way to conserve energy and drive like you own a hybrid, even if you don’t. Read the rest of this entry »
For the past couple of months we’ve been working hard on a project that uses the exciting technology and images of Google Earth to show how energy is used and produced all over the world. We call it the GM Google Earth Project.
Wow were do I start? You have heard of the journey of life…well, I am on the journey of alternative fuel discovery. And so are my students. My latest big event brought me to NSTA (the National Science Teachers Association convention in Philadelphia). As an auto shop teacher I felt a little bit like a fish out of water. Nevertheless this fish is growing wings, just like in the Discovery Education movie “Life,” which I got to see on an Imax screen at one of the fun conference night events. As a green auto shop teacher collaborating with the science department, it was a great experience for me to be at this mecca of science conventions with more than 10,000 attendees. Read the rest of this entry »
And here we are, back in Michigan. 500 hours of planning, 30 hours of manning a booth, 3,500 recycled newspaper pencils and 350 bamboo USB drives later, NSTA’s 2010 national conference is officially over.
As one who works behind the screen most of the time, it was a really really awesome experience for me to get to meet the teachers on the other side of the screen and be able to give away resources that they could take back to their classrooms. Read the rest of this entry »
