2009-2010

A.J. Moore Academy – Waco, Texas

• Design a Solution
  Teacher: Ronald Tipton
  Students will be divided into ten design teams. They will research an area that they are interested in, find a problem, design a solution, and build a prototype solution to their problem. They will then test their prototype, and give a formal presentation to a panel of engineers.
  Students: 21
  

• FIRST Robotics Competition
  Teacher: Richard J. Kissane
  School with acquire an extra programming system which will allow more students’ participation in the programming of robots as they prepare to participate in the FIRST Robotic Competition.
  Students: 30
  

• FIRST Robotics Lone Start Competition (Project Photos)
  Teachers: Larry Pickens, James Moore, Ray Gatlin, Deborah A. Jaques
  Students will build and compete in the FIRST Robotics Lone Star Region Competition and in so doing will be given opportunities to express their individuality through these projects. This is an opportunity for these students to discover rewarding career opportunities in engineering or technical research.
  Students: 50
  

• Civil Engineering Day at Princeton University
  Teacher: Wandy Chang
  9th grade students will be given an opportunity to visit Princeton University Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers. These students will be introduced to residential college engineering programs and create awareness of different fields of engineering and engineering applications in modern life. Princeton University students will use activities from their Engineering in the Modern World course to demonstrate practical applications of engineering in today’s world.
  Students: 30
  
  
• Robotics Trip
  Teacher: Rachel Fein
  Students will go on a site visit to Steven Institute of Technology. They will be introduced to a technical college with undergraduate programs in engineering and related fields. They will be exposed to hands-on robotics activities and will interact with college students and professionals for future mentoring. They will leave being more aware of the different fields of technology and engineering.
  Students: 50
  

• FastTrack Race Car League
  Teacher: Mark Kirlough
  Students will come together to form a Fast Track Cars RC race team. This project will inspire students to become science and technology leaders by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills.
  Students: 15
  

• STEM Lessons in CAPSTONE
  Teacher: Kenneth A. Knight
  Students will develop video products that will be used to build cross disciplinary lessons presenting grade level STEM content embedded within the senior CAPSTONE project. Senior students will learn the primary responsibilities of professional geotechnical engineers. Students will meet, in person and through the video, a geotechnical engineer and learn first-hand what this engineer must know to accurately interpret technical data.
  Students: 75
  
  
• Video Development of STEM Lessons by using Video Editing Software
  Teacher: Kenneth A. Knight
  The grant will be used to purchase a copy of Final Cut Pro Video Editing Software to be used by the students to edit raw video as they produce STEM lessons. Students will produce four video lessons; one each for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, related to a specific engineering data analysis task.
  Students: 75
  
  
• Using Project Management to manage Capstone Projects
  Teacher: Kenneth A. Knight
  The grant will be used to purchase and install Microsoft Project software and licenses for 34 students. When installed, senior students will learn project management skills which will benefit them as they move forward in the 2009-2010 Capstone. These seniors will develop individual plans that will become part of their senior portfolios.
  Students: 34
  
  
• FIRST Robotics Team
  Teacher: Danny Adegbie
  Teams of up to 10 students will design, build, and program robots to compete in FIRST Technical Challenge competitions. Teams are required to develop strategy and build robots based on sound engineering principles. Students will receive extensive training in electronics, computer controls, data acquisition, and mechanical controls
  Students: 20
  
  
• Introduction to Physical Computing
  Teacher: Welton MacDonald
  Students will be introduced to the growing open sourced hardware movement. They will develop skills in electronics, engineering and programming through projects using ATmeg chips in the popular Arduino open source development platform and programming environment
  Students: 15
  
  
• Rube Goldberg through Simple Machines
  Teacher: Welton MacDonald
  Students will learn the physics of simple machines and how they can be combined to create compound machines of any complexity. They will build a Rube Goldberg machine and gradually build a project suitable to enter into a National Competition at Purdue University in March.
  Students: 90
  

• FIRST Robotics Vex Competition
  Teacher: Aaron Campbell
  Students will develop logic and analytical skills and mechanical engineering knowledge by designing and building a robot. They will work as a team to design and build a robot in accordance with the guidelines set by the USFIRST Robotics Program. They will manage all phases of the design/building process and organize all efforts to enter and compete in competitions throughout the region.
  Students: 35
  

• Discover Engineering
  Teacher: Cynthia Wu
  Students will learn engineering concepts through project-based learning. The grant will provide interesting and exciting hands-on activities for potential and current engineering students through after school projects and engineering competitions. These activities are being planned with the main purpose of engaging students and getting them to seriously consider engineering as a career.
  Students: 104
  

• Shockwave Electric Cars
  Teacher: Dan Weir
  Students will research the history of transportation energy to learn more about alternative fuels. The outcome of this research will enable them to see the significance of using alternative energy they will have an opportunity to see how alternative energy is related to engineering and its effect on creating a healthy environment.
  Students: 92
  
  
• Balsa Towers
  Teacher: Dan Weir
  Students will learn basic engineering principles. They will have the opportunity to research how some of the world's most famous architectural designs have sustained for many years and have become historical works of art. They will also have a chance to see how a topic in engineering and architecture can be integrated with math and physics calculations.
  Students: 92
  
  
• Trebuchet Challenge
  Teacher: Dan Weir
  Students will research the physics and history of the trebuchet. They will be placed in teams and will be given two weeks to build a trebuchet with specific dimensions. After which a trebuchet competition will be held and the trebuchet with the longest range will be the winner.
  Students: 92
  

• The Dark Side of Technology
  Teacher: Lisa Granger
  9th grade design and technology students will write proposal on a technology-related cross-curricular project after they have done research. They will analyze peer survey and graph information and create digital images of a public service campaign. They will then get the opportunity to present a group portfolio and exhibition to peer groups and a panel of industry professionals which encourages them to complete their projects as perfectly as possible.
  Students: 65
  

• Programming Robots (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Roberto Carballo
  Students will be placed into teams to build two robots. They will utilize basic programming commands in "Easy C" to program these robots to write their team names on a poster size sheet. They will be required to utilize and implement geometric and mathematical concepts which will allow them to have a better understanding of what can be accomplished using computer programming.
  Students: 22
  

• Using the Interactive “Time Engineers” Software (Project Photos)
  Teachers: Steve Oranchak, Gavin Romzek, Bob Schauer
  This grant will be used to purchase Time Engineers which is an interactive, 3-D software program to be used by students in the engineering program. Students will learn engineering principles and how engineering has been vital through the ages. They will see how engineering problems were solved during different time periods from ancient to modern time.
  Students: 190
  

• Site Visits to Louisiana Engineering Colleges
  Teachers: Regina Devillier, Stacy Addison
  Sophomore engineering students will visit Louisiana colleges offering engineering as a major. They will meet with college students, faculty members, and participate in class activities with engineering students. These visits will enable them to familiarize themselves with entrance requirements, college campuses' size, registration process, scholarship availability and students organizations.
  Students: 51
  
  
• Engineering Expo for Incoming 9th Graders
  Teachers: Beatrice Arvie
  Incoming 9th Grade students and their parents will attend an Engineering Expo. They will participate in hands-on STEM activities and also meet staff and other engineering students. Parents will participate in a workshop where they will be shown engineering websites as well as receive handouts and engineering brochures.
  Students: 65
  
  
• Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Night
  Teachers: Iris Nettles
  A Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) night will be held where parents and students will participate in hands-on STEM activities with current engineering students and be given an opportunity to meet with staff. Parents will rotate through activities in each of the STEM areas.
  Students: 400
  
  

• Go Green: Eco Design of Engineering Systems
  Teachers: Sabrina Finkbeiner, Matthew V. Wykoff
  Students will collaborate to design and create an eco-friendly balsa wood home models that uses power derived from wind and solar systems to run fans, lights, and home security alarms.
  Students: 92
  
  

• Digital Traffic Light Controller (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Clarence McCollum
  Sophomore students will work on a counter sub-system and a combinational logic encoder sub-system to be wired to a digital/analog interface that will drive and control a traffic light. Students will be taught current principles and techniques of modern digital systems which will develop their critical thinking, communication, and team building skills.
  Students: 180
  
  

• Transforming Classroom Theory into Real World Applications
  Teacher: Steven G. Walker
  Students will visit the Wright Patterson Air Force Base and Space Museum. They will participate in lectures and will be given the opportunity of viewing the different types of aerospace engineering from the beginning of flight to the present space shuttle. Before going on this visit students will research how green technology will change the future of flight
  Students: 30
  
  

• Engineering the Future for Inner City Minority Students (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Erika Allison
  Through a curriculum designed by the Museum of Science in Boston called "Engineering the Future", minority students and girls will be introduced to engineering. This will assist students to better understand the designed world and the wide variety of career paths in designing, manufacturing, maintaining and using technology. They will be given examples of how different branches of engineering can bring creative ideas to life.
  Students: 60
  
  

• Automation and Robotics Unit using LEGO® MINDSTORMS (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Yolanda Baquet
  Students will use LEGO® MINDSTORMS to plan, test, and modify sequences of instructions for a variety of life-like robotic behaviors. These middle school students will benefit by learning how to apply real world math and science concepts, learn critical thinking, team-building and presentation skills which will motivate them to pursue technology and engineering classes in high school.
  Students: 12
  
  

• Rockets for Schools (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Susan Vosberg
  Students use the principles of aerospace engineering to design, launch and collect data from 6 feet tall high powered rockets that carry payloads. Students working in teams will learn how to use simulation software prior to actual construction to produce optimum results.
  Students: 10
  
  

• The Multidimensional Student (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Monique Bates, Jason Key
  Students will use the rapid prototyping equipment to learn and understand processes involved in product design, development, and construction. The goal of the project is to motivate students and ignite an interest.
  Students: 80
  
• Students will attend a STEM PLUS program at Discovery World. This outing will be used as a motivating factor to ignite student's interest in the fields of Math, Science and Engineering. The STEM PLUS program is aligned with current standards and promotes innovation. The grant will also be used to customize a wonder lab deigned to enhance the 3-D design and modeling unit.

• Aquaculture and Coral Propagation (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Armando Dominguez
  This unit is dedicated to the set up and maintained and control of a marine environment will provide students the opportunity to interact with live sea creatures and recreate their optimal living conditions. By incorporating content areas into an aquaculture unit the students will be have a better opportunity to get a first row view of what can a future in a biomedical or marine engineer career. They will have an increased understanding of the delicate balance of the marine ecosystem and its relationship as a result of human actions.
  Students: 20
  
  

• The Great Car Race (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Lynn Rinderle
  Each 7th & 8th grade Project Lead the Way student will receive a Yeast Mobile Kit to explore an alternative energy source and hydraulics. By designing, testing and improving their Yeast Mobile Kit Car, students can be exposed to bio fuels as an alternative energy source. Student will also learn diverse methods of powering devices.
  Students: 170
  
  

• Wildcat/Badger University of Wisconsin Visit (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Jake Haskell, Kelly Kulinski
  Students from the PLTW Engineering & Biomedical Programs will visit the University of Wisconsin Engineering Math & Science building. At the STEM buildings the students will visit classrooms labs, lecture halls and university student gathering points where classes are being conducted. A professor and university dean will give welcome speeches including what it takes to be accepted at the university.
  Students: 40
  
  

• Engaging Students through Engineering Dragsters (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Marti Jones
  Students will be constructing their own Dragsters on a CAD program and physically making it out of wood. The objective of this project is to have students increase their skills in measurement, have a better understanding of basic engineering and have more motivation to pursue engineering in the future.
  Students: 80
  
  

• Reverse Engineering Model Building (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Cullen Carey
  This is a collaborative project across curricular areas. Students in the PLTW Introduction to Engineering class will construct and dissemble scale model objects. Students from the IED class will work with the students from the FIRST Robotics club to construct and draw the modeling components. They will utilize and implement standard business practices to share, evaluate, and assemble the drawings into a final working assembly
  Students: 40
  
  
  
• FIRST Robotics Team (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Ulices Sepulveda
  Students will design, construct and program a 125 lb., 6 foot tall robot. While building the robot, students will gain practical experience in the basics of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer programming. They will learn advanced computer control programming skills, increase math skills, how to work with pneumatics and advanced manufacturing skills.
  Students: 39
  
  
  
• Virtual Dissection in Biology (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Andrew Sershon
  Students have previously participated in dissection labs of simple and more complex organisms. With this grant the they will be able to do virtual dissection. Students will participate individually or in pairs, providing more active engagement. The idea is for students to successfully experience a rigorous grade nine biology unit deeply embedded with technology.
  Students: 122
  
  
  
• Principles of Engineering Tool (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Christopher Levas
  This grant will be used to purchase tools that will enhance students’ learning. Students will use multiple power tools in the classroom to maximize student learning through building projects. Students will be placed in group where they brainstorm, produce blueprint, and then build a computer animated model of their device before they begin construction.
  Students: 78
  
  

• South Technology Outreach Program (S.T.O.P.) (Project Photos)
  Teacher: Sombath Bounket
  Students will meet twice per week after school to work on digital robots and refurbish outdated broken computers to make them fully functioning high quality machines. The refurbished computers will then be given to students in need, classrooms and non-profit organizations.
  Students: 12