Engineering Sciences

Intro to Engineering Design is the first year of the engineering track taught by Thomas Gamelin. According to the Intro to Engineering Design Syllabus Students will dig deep into the engineering design process, and apply math, science, and engineering standards to hands-on projects. They will work both individually and in teams to design solutions to a variety of problems using 3D modeling software, and use an engineering notebook to document their work.

Principles of Engineering is  the second year of the engineering track and is taught by James Fieberg. According to the Principles of Engineering syllabus, through problems that engage and challenge, students explore a broad range of engineering topics, including mechanisms, the strength of structures and materials, and automation. Students develop skills in problem solving, research, and design while learning strategies for design process documentation,
collaboration, and presentation.

Computer Science Principles is the third year of the engineering track and is taught by Dr. Saied Moezzi. According to the Computer Science Principles syllabus, Computer Science Principles (CSP) curriculum is a full year, rigorous, entry-level course that introduces high school students to the foundations of modern computing. The course covers a broad range of foundational topics such as programming, algorithms, the Internet, big data, digital privacy and security, and the societal impacts of computing.  The curriculum itself does not assume any prior knowledge of computing concepts before entering the course. It is intended to be suitable as a first course in computing though students with a variety of backgrounds and prior experiences will also find the course engaging with plenty of challenges. While it is increasingly likely that students entering this course in high school will have had some prior experience in computer science (particularly with programming), that experience is equally likely to be highly varied both in quantity and quality.

Engineering Design and Development is the fourth and last year of the engineering track and is taught by James Fieberg. According to the Engineering Design and Development syllabus, The knowledge and skills students acquire throughout PLTW Engineering come together in Engineering Design and Development as they identify an issue and then research, design, and test a solution, ultimately presenting their solution to a panel of engineers. Students apply the professional skills they have developed to document a design process to standards, completing Engineering Design and Development ready to take on any post-secondary program or career.

“My favorite thing about the class is it presents you with problems but allows you to creatively answer them in your own personal ways which I always thought was really cool. The begining of engineering it sort of  talks about design and then it moves on to give you a snippet of every single little individual specialization of engineering, that’s the 2nd year which is really cool. And then the third year teaches you coding so in your 4th and final year you just put it all together to do one big project.” said senior Braden Cornwall.