Scrum!

What is "Scrum"? Let's learn more about this "agile" development practice:



Here are a few scrum related links:
scrum.org
"Learn Scrum"

The 4th Annual Cardboard Canoe Challenge!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to the 4th Annual CHS Cardboard Canoe Challenge. Do you have what it takes to design and build this year's winning watercraft?


(I lost all my photos from last year so imagine this is a cardboard canoe!)


Overview
Your class will break into teams to compete. You will design and build a solution to compete in the Challenge based on the bellow Criteria and Constraints. Safety is the number one priority in this event!


Safety
***Swimming is an “opt in” activity. No one has to swim if they don’t wish to. Swim only if you have the ability to do so. Appropriate attire is required for swimming. Adhere to the swimming facility rules. Safety is the top priority at all times.***


Criteria
• Build a watercraft that allows you to traverse the CHS swimming pool.
• Your "boat" must float at least one student through the course of the competition.
• Protect your workspace from damage!

Constraints
• You may only use Cardboard and Duct Tape for this event.
• All Staples or other foreign material must be removed from your cardboard. If we trash the pool, we will not be invited back for other activities during the year (yes, we have other activities in mind for 2nd semester).
• Cardboard must meet our quality standard and be approved by the instructor (more info to follow)
• Each boat must have a minimum of a 3" tall "sidewall" (no completely flat designs).
• All exposed cardboard must be covered in duct tape (this will reduce cardboard disintigration in the pool).
• Each team will be provided one "versa table" cardboard box piece and three 60yrd rolls of duct tape. Any materials beyond this (likely need more cardboard) need to be resourced by your team.


Achievments
Create a comprehensive post on your blog that justifies the Achievements you've earned for this challenge.
Make sure you claim the total number of achievements you've earned at the top of your post!



Design Achievements:
• Define the Problem and Brainstorm Solutions - State the problem you are designing a solution for. List at least 20 ideas you have regarding your solution.
• Big Brain - The individual student with the most brainstorms listed will earn a bonus achievement.
• Criteria & Constraints - List or reference the specified Criteria and Constraints you're designing for. List at least one implied criteria. List at least three implied contsraints.
• Sketch Ideas - Draw 3 different sketches for possible designs. Label at least 3 key features for each sketch. Describe the feature's functionality so a viewer understands why the called out feature is important.
• Prototype Ideas - Craft physical prototypes (models) of each of your three sketches. Use a notecard or post it note to call out at least one key feature on each model. Post the images to your blog and describe the key feature that you've pointed out on each.
• Select an Approach - Generate feedback (+, change, ?, !) and make a decision matrix regarding your sketches/prototypes. Specify the approach you've chosen and justify your selection.
• Surface area! - Calculate how much surface area you can cover with your given duct tape. How many sf can you cover with one roll? How many can you cover with all your rolls? What % efficiency do you think you can achieve with your overlap?



Build Achievements:
• Build It! - Build your watercraft. Your build must meet the standards of construction (100% covered in Duct Tape). Document it with a presentable photo.
• The Early Bird Gets the Achievement - Awarded to the team with the fastest build.
• V-Bottom - Earn this by building a non-flat bottom



Test Achievements:
• The Fastest - Awarded to the first team to reach the far side (25yds)
• The Farthest - Awarded to the team that can travel the furthest (laps)
• The Longest - Awarded to the team with the watercraft that floats the longest (multiple teams may be awarded this achievement if multiple boats remain afloat at the end of our competition period).
• Balance Master - Awarded if you can have at least one person stand for 5 seconds in the boat (you must conduct this away from the edge of the pool so that non one falls over and hits their head)
• Videographer - Take video of the challenge and post to your blog.



Reflection Achievements:
• Feedback - Generate ten items of feedback for your effort (from the design/build process and/or the actual product). Make sure you include at least one item of feedaback in each of our four feedback areas (+, change, ?, !)
• How Low Did You Go? - How low in the water did your canoe sit (roughly)? Was it suprising how little your boat went down in the water? What is the unit weight of water in pounds? How much did your pilot weigh (roughly)? Use math to help explain the depth that your boat sat in the water.
• Redesign - If we were to do another Carboard Canoe race next semester, what would you build? Draw from everything you experienced in your class and propose the most competative solution. Include a sketch with key features and dimensions labeled.
• (Make Your Own Achievement) - Make an achievement of your own design that you can award yourself for something awesome your team did. (Example "Transformer" - although our canoe sunk, our team was able to convert it into a surfboard style design and continue competeting!)

"For the Last 17 Years We've Been Pursuing Stuff That Other People Told Us To Do"

This piece on the NPR TED Radio Hour is at the heart of what I'm attempting to give you with the flexibility of our Engineering Projects course...

My First Post!

We're getting all of our 2013-2014 students set up with their blogs. These will serve as an online portfolio of your engineering experiences.

Please Complete the following to make your blog:
1) Sign in to your Google account. Create one at www.google.com if you don't already have one.
2) Create a blog through www.blogger.com
3) Name your blog. Choose any school appropriate name that you like for your online portfolio. Since this is something that we hope will serve as a reference, please choose a title/web address appropriate to include on a resume. Consider the use of words like "Engineering", "Design", "Problem Solving", your name, etc.


Assignment for your first Post:
1) Title your post "My First Blog Post!"
2) Type some text greeting people that visit your blog.
3) Insert a photo of something you're interested in (hobby, sports team, technology, etc.)
4) Include a sentance or two of text before or after the photo explaining your interest.
5) Insert a link relavent to the photo.
6) Use the spell check feature to check your spelling.
7) Make sure your post is formated in a presentable way.
8) Add a Label to the post

Dice Factory! - Robotic Assembly Line Challenge (Intro to "Agile Development")

The Engineering Projects class will construct a modular assembly line to simulate the marking and preparation for shipment of a product. This challenge is team based and each team must collaborate both amongst themselves and with the other teams in the class to achieve success. Formal and informal leadership opportunities will present themselves over the course of this experience.



Snake-eyes Dice Inc. is looking to improve their manufacturing process. Lean Six-Sigma consultants have identified their dice marking and shipment process as being a major contributor to inefficiency. Snake-eyes Dice has hired our class to design, prototype and test an assembly line based solution for them.


Challenge:
The class will simulate the marking of each side of a dice using an assembly line process. Once the dice are marked they'll be arranged for shipment in groups of 6.

Criteria:
Each section of the assembly line will perform one of the following roles and be completed by a seperate team in the class:
-Dispense simulated "dice" individually from a group for marking
-Mark the "1" side
-Mark the "2" side
-Mark the "3" side
-Mark the "4" side
-Mark the "5" side
-Mark the "6" side
-Arrange simulated dice for shipment as a group of 6
"Markings" may be approximations based on our material constraints.
All eight of the assembly line sections must function together to complete the job.


Constraints:
-All processes will be automated and controlled by software.
-Fischertechnik robotics kit parts will be used to implement the hardware solution.
-Ask Mr. Olson for approval of any marking solutions proposed.
-Programming will be done in the RoboPro visual programing environment.
-Each step of the process must occur on its own section of the assembly line (this is a team event!).
-Each "Dice" will be simulated by a 2x2x2 puzzle cube piece (1.5" x 1.5" x 1.5").
-Once the class challenge has been completed, two regular periods or one block day will be allowed to clean/organize the room and complete your portfolio entry.


Grading:
We will use an open ended achievement based grading system.

You will earn one point for every achievement you earn.



Achievements:
You must display evidence in your online portfolio of having completed the achievement in order to score them. The total number of Achievements that you earn is your score for this challenge.


Class Achievements:
"Implementation" - Implement an assembly line system that meets the criteria and constraints of the challenge.
"Fast!" - The system is able to complete a cycle of 6 dice in less than 3:00.
"Faster!!" - The system is able to complete a cycle of 6 dice in less than 2:00.
"Gosh Darn Fast!!!" - The system is able to complete a cycle of 6 dice in less than 1:00.
"The Clan with the Plan" - Develop a master schedule for completion of the project.
"Ninja Elite" - Meet the master schedule to the day.
"Good Enough for Government Business" - Meet the master schedule to the day or by +/- one day.
"No Half Stepping" - Complete the design and implementation phase of the challenge in less than three weeks.
"Don't Dilly Dally" - Complete the design and implementation phase in less than four weeks.
"Stewardship" - Return all Fischertechnik to appropriate storage upon completion of challenge. Leave the room cleaner than before the start of the game.


Team Achievements:
"Flash of Inspiration" - Brainstorm a solution for your section of the assembly line with a sketch.
"If you Build It..." - Implement a solution for your section of the assembly line.
"Proof is in the Pudding" - Implement a solution for your section of the assembly line that successfully operates with adjacent sections.
"Round and Round We Go" - Iterate on your initial implementation. Explain the challenge you discovered off the first effort and what you did to overcome it.
"Round and Round We Go... Again" - Iterate again on your implementation. Explain the next challenge you discovered with your design and what you did to solve it.
"Videography" - Capture video of the project in action.
"No Soliciting" - Generate at least one item of feedback from other teams relating to your solution for each of the four feedback types (Sustain, Change, Question, Idea).
"Tool Time" - Document an aspect of your solution using our Inventor CAD software. The rendering must include atleast three parts.
"Dimension It" - Label/Dimension your Inventor rendering.
"Lab Rat" - Collect data related to your implementation. Explain what you collected and how you used it.
"Show Me" - Visualize your data in a useful format. Explain your choice of presentation.
"Leave no Trace" - Return your fischertechnik to their appropriate storage locations/clean your work space.


Individual Achievements:
"Share It" - Provide feedback (Sustain, Change, Question, Idea) for another team. Who did you provide feedback to and what was it?
"Keep the Customer in Mind" - Your blog post is formated in a readable, professional manner. Writing is short and concise. Spacing is used to break up thoughts/concepts. Lists and/or bullet points are used as appropriate. No "monolithic" paragraphs.
"Nice One!" - Identify a student from outside of your team that was most helpful to your efforts. Be specific about how they were helpful.
"Helping Hand" - List a student that you helped outside of your team. How were you helpful to them?
"Meta Gamer" - Based on our grading system for this challenge, explain the benefit of earning the class achievements, even though everyone scores them when earned (use math to justify your case).
"And the Winners Are..." - Recognize class participation by selecting one person other than yourself for each of our five activity awards (Initiative, Sportsmanship, Collaboration, Humor, Service)


Level Up!!!:
Capture your experience by posting to your online portfolio. You will have two class sessions (or one block day) to complete these tasks once we've completed our class assembly line design.

Organize your post as follows:
-Title
-Image/Video of class solution.
-Breif overview of challenge.
-Image/Video of your team's solution.
-Breif overivew of how you approached the design of your system.
-Total number of achievements earned.
-Breakout of achievements earned by section (Class, Team, Individual) with appropriate proof displayed (picture/data/explanation/etc.).

"Party Forever 2013"

Congrats 2013! What a great year (3 years for some!!!) :)

"Earn This"

I've been trying to share some thoughts with the seniors this week. Mr. Tanaka's speech brilliantly captured the spirit of what I was trying to get at... Had I known this was the talk he was giving I would have adjusted my approach as "what he said" :)

"Fail Early, Fail Often..."

Mr Mueller didn't actually use those words but that was the theme. Pretty inspired to hear his thoughts align so well with our design ethos :)

2nd and 3rd Period Final!

Greetings Engineers,

Here is a final engineering design challenge to wrap the year up with a bang!

You have the next two hours to exercise your creative and technical skills on this problem.


Challenge: Many members of the CHS Senior class will be heading off to college in the fall. Once at school, bicycles will be the primary mode of transportation for most. Student housing is often cramped. How can students store their bike inside without impacting their and their roommates living space?





Design a Bicycle storage system that allows a student to keep their bike indoors without taking up major space in their living areas.

Utilize the design process we've learned this year to generate a solution to this problem.


Post the following to your online portfolio (9 points):

-Define the Problem (1pt)
-Brainstorm Solutions (1pt)
-Define Criteria and Constraints (1pts)
-Generate Sketches (3 options with labels) (1pt)
-Select an Approach: Use a Decision Matrix to justify your approach (1pt)
-Model your solution with CAD software: Post an Isometric view of your assembly and a multiview drawing. (3pts)
-Use the 4 Quadrant Feedback technique to assess your model (1pt)

6th Period!

6th period always marches to their own drum so we had a spontaneous choice of a different location for our class photo. Thanks for a great year!

5th Period!

What a class! Thanks :)

4th Period!

Legends! Thanks for the many years of participation :)

3rd Period!

What a year, thanks!

2nd Period!

Thanks for a great year!

Toy Train CAD Project

My Engineering Design classes are going deep on our CAD Train project. There are some fantastic videos available on Youtube to help you complete the work.

This one has been receiving universal praise in class as being very helpful. Click through to Youtube to find more from this user:

Party Time!

2nd Period has organized more parties than any other class I've had. Today was an ice cream party!

Your Online Portfolios...

AP Computer Science

In case you hadn't heard, I am teaching AP Computer Science next year. "Computer Science" is kind of a fancy name for programming. Make sure you sign up if you'd like to have some neat skills for the interactive future!

Good Luck APers!

Lots of AP tests going on. Here we have Putnam, Jason, Kacie and Conner about to head over to AP Physics :)

"College Ready"? How about "Innovation Ready"?

Our class operates differently than many others. There is a method to our madness! If you'd like to get a third party perspective on why we do things the way we do, you can read this article here. :)