JFK Engineering Technology February Newsletter

6th Grade

Ankle/foot orthosis

In this activity students worked in teams to solve an instant design challenge. Teams worked to understand and define the needs of a person with a physical challenge, then design, build, and test a prototype to help that person. 

Students were able to:

• Work in a team to solve an instant design challenge.
  
• Design, build, test, and modify an orthosis that stabilizes the ankle and foot.
• Safely use a variety of tools and machinery
• Explore the steps of a design process.
• Use a decision matrix to evaluate product prototypes.

Skimmer                                                                                                                         

In this activity, you will compete with your friends to see who can create the best   skimmer, a small vehicle that will glide across (or “skim” over) the floor. The more accurate your measurements are, the better the skimmer will glide and the farther it will go. Figure 1 shows the sketch of the main body of the skimmer.

Students were able to:

• Use the U.S. Customary and metric systems.
• Use a ruler to measure accurately.
• Read dimensions on a sketch.
• Use a dimensioned sketch to build a paper skimmer.

7th Grade

Truss Bridge Challenge

Students designed, built, and tested their truss bridges! 

Students were able to:

• Show how the components of a structural system work together to serve a structural function. (Truss Bridge)  
• Identify the components of a structural system (truss Bridge) 
• Explain the difference between live vs. dead load
• Observe and explain forces; tension, torsion, compression and shear
• Construct a prototype of a solution to a given design problem

8th Grade 

Design and build of Tray or Shelf

Students safely used machinery and tools to craft either a custom tray or Shelf. Students also designed and operated our CNC machine. 

Students were able to:

• Illustrate that materials maintain their composition under various kinds of physical processing; however, some material properties may change if a process changes the particulate structure of a material.  • Examples of physical processing can include cutting, forming, extruding, and sanding.
• Use the basic processes in manufacturing systems, including forming, separating, conditioning, assembling, finishing, quality control, and safety. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of human vs. computer control of these processes.