Technology Student Association, Finishing Projects, and Floor Plans

This past Monday and Tuesday I was absent due to the fact I was attending the Missouri Technology Student Association State Competitions. These are pre-engineering competitions held at Missouri S&T for both middle and high school students. The Technology Student Association or TSA is a national career and technical organization for middle and high school students who  have an interest in STEM topics and want to learn how to be leaders in a technical world. My hope is that next school year I will start a TSA chapter at our school. More information on TSA can  be found at www.tsaweb.org .

6th Grade
While I had a substitute teacher both Monday and Tuesday students worked on a floor plan that meets the needs and wants of their particular clients. The purpose of this activity was for students to understand that when working as an engineer or a designer they do not get to create what ever they want but they must meet the needs of the client who is paying them to do a job. We also started creating and learning our way around Autodesk Inventor.

7th Grade
While I had a substitute teacher both Monday and Tuesday students worked on a floor plan that meets the needs and wants of their particular clients. The purpose of this activity was for students to understand that when working as an engineer or a designer they do not get to create what ever they want but they must meet the needs of the client who is paying them to do a job.
Students have also been going down to the shop in small groups to continue working on and finishing their passive amplification boxes. As you can tell from the picture most students are almost ready to paint.











8th Grade 
While I had a substitute teacher both Monday and Tuesday students worked on a floor plan that meets the needs and wants of their particular clients. The purpose of this activity was for students to understand that when working as an engineer or a designer they do not get to create what ever they want but they must meet the needs of the client who is paying them to do a job. A few students who completed the floor plan early were able to work on their maker faire projects.

Let's Go Blues!!!

Energy Sources, Autodesk, and Belt Sanders

MAP testing is now over! Even though we have had a pretty crazy schedule the past two weeks we did manage to get some work completed during that time.

6th
The end of last week and on Monday this week students constructed their air skimmers. They had to measure precisely and construct the air skimmer based on a completed model. I like giving them a completed model to work from as instructions because it will cause them to think not only how the object was constructed but also they have to take what they have learned from the model and create their own air skimmer. This is definitely an assignment that helps students develop critical thinking skills.
Thusday  this week I introduced the students to the new computer program that we will be using to 3D model our dragsters for the design challenge. The software is called Autodesk Inventor and it is a 3D CAD software that students enrolled in pre-engineering classes will use all the way through high school. Autodesk also offers a student copy of this software for free if your son or daughter would like to use it at home. This link should take you to their page Autodesk Inventor  .

7th
I  think we only have about 4 more days our our speaker project and that will consist of lots of sanding using the belt sander and painting. I am excited to see how these projects will turn out! We have also started to talk about a design process that many engineers or designers may use. Next week students will also work on an online floor plan designer to create a floor plan with a specific client in mind. They can also get to the design software at home by going to homestyler. After the speaker project is complete we will dive deeper into the engineering design process and more Autodesk Inventor projects.



8th
I really enjoyed the presentations on the various energy sources this week. We also had a lot of progress on many of the student's maker faire Friday Projects.  Next week students will also work on an online floor plan designer to create a floor plan with a specific client in mind. They can also get to the design software at home by going to homestyler.

MAP Testing and Engineering

The technology and engineering classes are a little crazy this week and next due to the MAP testing schedule. Your son or daughter has been very flexible. Throughout MAP testing my classroom has been displaced due to the fact they need to utilize the computer lab in my class for the state testing. I just wanted to thank all my students for being flexible.

6th Grade: First of all I want to say welcome to all of the new parents of the Future Pathways Technology and Engineering section. Your son or daughter has taken a variety of elective classes throughout the year and the last 7 weeks of school they are now enrolled in Technology and Engineering. The focus of this class is to introduce the students to skills they would need as an engineering and to teach them an engineering design process. Our first unit is all about measurement. They are working now on a project that will actually require them to measure specific parts to create a project. After the measurement project students are going to learn an 3D CAD modeling software called Autodesk Inventor. They will design a dragster that will be propelled by compressed air in this software.

7th Grade: This past week I have split the class into two groups. Every day of class we have 1/2 the students work on their project while the other half are learning about engineering through reading and answering questions from the Project Lead the Way textbook. This has allowed me to work more closely with students using powertools. The students working on project days are also able to get more done and feel more accomplished during project days. I have had a few students not take the book work seriously so please check your students grade on infinite campus this week. Most students are getting very close to finishing their woodworking passive amplification boxes. I see us working only one more week or so on the project. Our next unit will focus on the engineering design process. 

8th Grade: The past two weeks we have been working on an energy and environment project. After brainstorming the many different types of energy sources including renewable and nonrenewable sources all students choose a different energy source. They have completed a trifold poster board with information regarding their energy source and will present their findings in an interesting way. I have another class coming in to see all of the poster boards our students created. The other class will play the part of investors and have to invest monopoly money in the energy source that they think has the most potential. Our technology and engineering students will have to promote their energy source and talk about how the benefits would out weight the negatives. We will have to wait and see which energy sources students will invest in the most.

The Home Stretch

Spring break is over and now we are in the home stretch of the 2015-2016 school year! I hope everyone is able to get outdoors more and enjoy the springtime weather.

6th Grade: This was our last week of 5th term and probably the most fun week of the term. Students finalized their dragsters this week and they raced each other in an amazing double elimination tournament. If your student hasn't told you about the Tech Ed dragster races yet ask them to show you their cars. All students took home their cars on Wednesday. We also talked about the science behind what created the fastest dragsters and we had a chance to graph our dragster data on a scatter plot chart.

7th Grade: This was a very project heavy week. Almost every day students are working on their passive amplification box using the band saw. I know this is the first time for many students to use real woodworking tools. It is really exciting for me to show students that tools can be used safely, even if they are scary looking,  and that they have the ability to use power tools themselves.

8th Grade: We ended our aerospace unit this week with a test of their balsa wood gliders. If you would like to see a good example of the gliders check out my Instagram page @b_mrfranck . We recorded the best flight. We also started our new unit Energy and the Environment. Throughout the next few weeks students will explore the various renewable and nonrenewable energy sources. Maker Faire Friday was also a success. Although students only have Fridays to work on their Maker Faire projects many students accomplished a lot.

Track and Field: 

Additionally if your son or daughter is interested in track and field we had our first meeting this Thursday. Next Monday will be a boys practice day and next Wednesday will be a girls practice day. If you would like your son or daughter to join the PCMS track and field team please send me an e-mail at bfranck@parkwayschools.net and I can get you the information.