By Araceli Galarza Posted November 13, 2018
Over the summer the freshmen science teachers were required to take a class on how to teach engineering. They decided to go with engineering over Intro to Physics as the required freshmen course.
In past years freshmen would have been taking Intro To Physics, which taught the basics. The curriculum included metric conversions and a crash course in Chemistry as well an introduction to Newton’s Laws.
Mrs. Shelby Ruff, who teaches one of the new engineering classes, is excited about the new course. She is excited about the new concepts being introduced to the freshmen through the new engineering course.
“At the beginning of the year, we focus a lot on what engineers do by researching branches of engineering, watching a video of a real design team working on a civilian spacecraft, improving an existing product, or researching an invention and how it has changed throughout history,” said Ruff. “Students apply their knowledge of the engineering design process by competing with each other in mini engineering challenges.”
The engineering class will use the engineering standards and the science practices from the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
According to the Project Lead the Way website, “Students dig deep into the engineering design process, applying math, science, and engineering standards to hands-on projects. They work both individually and in teams to design solutions to a variety of problems using 3-D modeling software, and use an engineering notebook to document their work.”
Students taking this course have mixed feelings about the class. Sharon Morfin, a freshman in Engineering, would have preferred to have a choice.
“We should have the option to take physics or engineering, that way it can help us in the profession we are planning on pursuing,” said Morfin.
Some sophomores who did not have the opportunity to take the new class would have preferred the engineering class over the Intro to Physics course they were required to take.
“I’ve always been interested in engineering. I would’ve liked to have it when I was a freshman, it seems interesting,” stated Jovanie Bernal.
