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STEM / Engineering
        Page 10                                                                                                Electronic Edition: www.teachingtodaywi.com

                    West Bend East and West High Schools Engineering Program



                                                                                   The other classes in the program include   one  of  the  highest  scores  ever  was  for
                                                                                Civil  Engineering  and  Architecture,  Digital   soccer socks meant to hold shin guards in place.
                                                                                Electronics,  and  Engineering  Design  and   Named Lock Socks, the students worked with
                                                                                Development. The program has grown since it   local experts and found a company to create a
                                                                                was implemented in 2007. In the first year, there   prototype. other projects have created tools to
                                                                                were three sections and now there are eight.   help prevent rear end collisions, remove snow
                                                                                   Many  of  the  students  who  take  the   and  ice  easily  from  cars,  and  a  cart  to  hold
                                                                                capstone class, Engineering Design and Devel-  a  large  number  of  laptop  computers  without
                                                                                opment, aspire to a career in engineering. The   getting the power cords tangled.
                                                                                class features a year-long project. The students   Students  at  West  bend  East  and  West
                                                                                brainstorm  ideas  for  their  project  by  discuss-  high Schools have a wide variety of options to
                                                                                ing  a  problem  they  have  in  their  daily  lives   explore potential careers during high school,
                                                                                or  their  family’s  lives. As  Johnson  says,  “We   with  the  Engineering  Program  providing  a
                                                                                have to define a problem before we can solve a   clear  view  of  the  many  exciting  careers  in
                                                                                problem.” Students are paired up through their   engineering.
                                                                                similar  interests.  Together,  they  work  on  the
                                                                                project, which culminates in a presentation to
                                                                                judges and families. The highest scores go to the
                                                                                project groups who document and communicate   west-bend.k12.wi.us
                                                                                their project best.


        Nancy Kunkler                       the high schools is to expose students to as many
                                               The program begins with Introduction to  Bringing Space Exploration to the Schools
        Communications Manager              careers as possible.
        West Bend School District
            one of the projects for students from West   Engineering Design. In this class students use
        bend East and West high Schools in the Prin-  a  problem-solving  model  to  improve  existing
        ciples of Engineering class is building a marble   products and invent new ones. They learn how
        sorter. The students, using skills learned in the   to use Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk Fusion
        class,  must  design,  build,  program,  and  test   computer-aided  design  software,  which  help
        a machine that will sort marbles by color into   them to analyze potential solutions and commu-
        separate bins. Their designs show that they have   nicate those solutions to others. Completion of
        learned to design and conduct experiments, as   this class gives them the foundation for the other
        well as to analyze and interpret data.   engineering classes.
            The  students  are  given  three  weeks  to   The East and West high Schools Engineer-
        create  their  marble  sorter,  which  may  seem   ing Program covers many of the basic concepts
        like  a  long  time.  however,  the  students  use   within  the  engineering  field  including  careers,
        every  minute  they  have  available  to  perfect   programming, robotics, automation, drafting, and
        their machine. And there are several prototypes,   physics.  It  covers  various  technology  systems
        “Failure is encouraged here; we learn from it,”   and manufacturing processes and introduces stu-
        explains teacher Ryan Johnson.      dents to a wide variety of careers in engineering
            Principles  of  Engineering  is  one  of  five   and technology fields. They will learn firsthand
        year-long engineering courses available to stu-  how engineers and technicians use math, science,
        dents of West bend East and West high Schools.   and technology in an engineering problem-solv-
        The overall goal of the Engineering Program at   ing process to benefit people.



                                                                                   The unique STEM Shuttle has been visit-  on  engineering,  at  the  upper  elementary  and
                                                                                ing schools throughout Wisconsin for the past   middle  school  levels,  on  board  the  shuttle.
                                                                                18 years. A variety of hands-on workstations   Constructing  an  arch  and  working  on  the
                                                                                related to STEM and space exploration, along   balancing  beam  are  two  more  of  the  favor-
                                                                                with 2 veteran teachers, greet the 10 students   ite workstations on the shuttle. And we can’t
                                                                                per  session  who  will  be  participating  in  the   forget to mention the ozone Layer station. In
                                                                                activities. There can be up to 5 sessions a day.   fact, if you ask 5 students what activity they
                                                                                   The  STEM  Shuttle  is  designed  for   enjoyed most, you will likely get 5 different
                                                                                grades  4  through  8.  The  hands-on  activities   answers.
                                                                                and instructions are adjusted for the different   If  you  have  the  opportunity  to  do  so,
                                                                                grades and learning levels.        please  visit  www.stemshuttle.com  and  take
                                                                                   From  day  one,  the  most  popular  activ-  a peek at the students working at the various
                                                                                ity for the students has been the robotic arm.   workstations. You will also find on the home
                                                                                Students  work  with  their  partners  to  capture   page  some  feedback  we  have  received  from
                                                                                a satellite and return it to the payload bay of   teachers and administrators.
                                                                                the  shuttle  for  repairs. Yes,  many  of  today’s   If you are interested in bringing the STEM
                                                                                students  will  probably  travel  in  space,  or  be   Shuttle to your school or event, or have ques-
                                                                                employed to design structures to be built there.  tions, please email stemshuttle@gmail.com.
                                                                                   That’s  why  there  is  a  strong  emphasis
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