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Formerly known as the Engineering Education Advocate
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Archives
Books by Celeste Baine
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Engineering Principles Teacher's Guide |
Aeronautical Engineering Teacher's Guide |
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Civil Engineering Teacher's Guide |
Teaching Engineering Made Easy: A Friendly Introduction to Engineering Activities for Middle School Teachers |
The Musical Engineer: A Music Enthusiast's Guide to Engineering and Technology Careers |
The Fantastical Engineer: A Thrillseeker's Guide to Careers in Theme Park Engineering - Second Edition |
High Tech Hot Shots: Careers in Sports Engineering |
Is There an Engineer Inside You?: A Comprehensive Guide to Career Decisions in Engineering |
The Awards Ceremony
Last night, I had the privilege of giving the Society of Women Engineers Awards (SWE) to up and coming female engineering students at Springfield High School. The five awards I presented were well deserved. The girls all had high GPAs, SAT scores, maintained part-time jobs and participated in community service projects. Their accomplishments were amazing.
Together, the students at this school won scholarships in excess of $1.3M. The ceremony was engaging, the students were proud and the parents were beaming. I couldn’t help but notice that of the 54 students in attendance, about 40 of them were women.
So the question is, what creates the disparity? The National Center for Education Statistics reports that women are earning 60 percent of all associate’s degrees and 58 percent of all Bachelor’s degrees. Apparently, they are getting the majority of scholarships to attend college too. Do the women just apply for more scholarships? Are the boys not as deserving? Is it writing talent that won the scholarships? Do we need to help the boys more?
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Engineering for All High School Students
– Contributed by Cary Sneider, Boston Museum of ScienceAs states revise their science standards for all students, many have explicitly included technology and engineering so that all students can learn about the designed world, develop practical problem-solving skills, and expand their career horizons. Engineering the Future (EtF): Science, Technology, and the Design Process is a new laboratory course for the first year of high school science, created to help a broad spectrum of students meet these standards.
EtF is a full-year lab course organized around four projects, each of which is divided into several tasks. In the first project, students design solutions to problems that they find interesting. In the second, they design energy-efficient buildings to counter the problems associated with urban sprawl. In the third unit, they learn about thermal-fluid engines as they design and build toy putt-putt boats, and write patent applications for their innovations. The fourth project challenges the students to design electric circuits. Units two, three, and four illustrate how the same fundamental concepts of energy flow apply to thermal, fluid, and electrical systems. Kits are available for projects 3 and 4 and the entire course can be implemented on a modest budget.
After four years of development, including two years of field-testing by more than 160 teachers, EtF has been published by Key Curriculum Press. Interested teachers can request a free review copy at the following website: http://www.keypress.com/etf
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Underwater Vehicle Competitions
The post below is from Brian Lien, a teacher at Princeton High School in Ohio. His students built underwater remote operating vehicles (ROVs). The interesting thing is that his project is considered Marine Engineering. Marine and Ocean engineering are important branches of engineering, especially since we are studying all aspects of the ocean environment to determine our effect on the oceans, the ocean as a natural resource and its effect on ships and other marine vehicles.
For me personally, water is relaxing and the ocean has always beckoned. I’m sure there are many students that feel the same way. A career being outside enjoying the water would be especially appealing. This line of work is a welcomed defiance to most of the stereotypes about what engineers do all day.
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http://www.phs.princeton.k12.oh.us/photos/0708photos/departments/teched/ROV%20Project/index.html
The above link will show you some pictures, QuickTime videos, and a media release of an underwater ROV building contest we just completed. My students really did have fun with this project. The students had to hook an electromagnet to the vehicle and then retrieve 5 washers off the bottom of the pool. 2 of 7 groups were totally successful. One group picked up 3 washers at one time and dropped them into the bucket. Several groups got their ROV’s to “fly” however, once they picked up the washer at the bottom of the pool, they did not have enough power to get their ROV to go up high enough to fly over to the bucket and drop them into the recovery area.
The students learned a great deal from the lab and so did I. I will use a different power supply next year. I will stress the fact that smaller is better (even though the 2 that worked were among the largest). One of them worked with one engine out of commission.
We got the idea from FSEA (Future Scientist and Engineers Association). Once we started into the project I found a site from MATE. They have a contest similar to what I did with my students. Next year I am considering making a team to compete in the competition. The link below is to the MATE Regional competition site. There is some really good information here if you are interested.
I would be willing to help anyone with the project if you want more information, grading Rubrics, or lesson plans. I invited parents and had 2 show up. One of them was from a group that worked.
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What Does an Engineer Look like?
My last post talked about taking a picture to provide a positive memory and get word of mouth marketing at the same time. The problem with engineering is that we don’t know what an engineer looks like and it’s an amorphous shape that changes over time.
You can put on a lab coat and people automatically think doctor or scientist. A headset implies telephone operator, sales person or receptionist. A space suit screams Astronaut. Pilots, firefighters, police people, photographers, teachers, construction people, farmers and many other occupations have a certain “look”. But what does an engineer look like?
One problem with determining the look is that the field is so broad. Engineers design, manufacture, build, research, write, investigate and present their findings. It’s easy to think of engineers designing rides at Disney or crawling around inside of a bridge to check for stress cracks. We know what that looks like but what about the engineers that don’t design things? How do we show an engineer that is checking air quality or researching new and safer ways to dispose of compact fluorescent light bulbs?
I don’t know the answer, but as a profession, we need to work on it.
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Use resources from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
When planning events for Engineers Week, don't overlook the Society of Women Engineers. If you are a teacher or event planner, send an email to your local branch asking for an engineer to come talk to your class or participants. Not only is this great for all students but it is especially good for girls to see women engineers and understand the profession from a woman's viewpoint. In addition, from the contacts you make, you may be able to arrange for some students to job shadow. Many SWE sections are already doing outreach activities and you may find out about an opportunity to be involved in ongoing events hosted by SWE throughout the year.
To find your local section, visit: http://www.swe.org/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=65&ssSourceNodeId=5
If you are an engineer, get involved by joining your local branch of SWE.
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Powerful Pictures
 | In March, when attending the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) meeting in Boston, I had my picture taken in this Space Suit.
It looked easy. I stood in front of a white screen, they snapped the picture using a little digital camera and 5 minutes later, I was an Astronaut! The end result was amazing. They even had words and logos printed on the picture so that I could be inspired and remember the organization that gave me this wonderful memory. The line to get an Astronaut picture was almost 50 deep. Everyone wants memorabilia. If you are running a engineering camp or program for pre-college students, take their picture, put your web site or program name across it and the word of mouth will spread like fire as that student shows everyone their great picture. |