Andy Bruening is a science teacher at Metro Early College High School, one of the STEM schools in the Ohio STEM Learning Network. Yesterday, he tipped us off to a great event coming up on Friday. We asked a few follow-up questions about the program and how it’s connected to student learning. Please note, Friday’s event is open to members of the media.
What’s happening on Friday?
This Friday we will be having Rob Church, an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) expert and marine archaeologist, as a guest in our class as we begin our next big design project. Our students, from Metro Early College and Dublin City Schools, are beginning to design and build underwater ROV’s as we take on the challenge of designing new mechanisms for collecting samples from an ROV. Rob Church will be our guest content expert as we kick off this challenge. Rob works for C&C Technologies as a Marine Archaeologist where he works on archaeological assessments mostly for Industry (e.g. oil, cable, and coastal construction).
For people who aren’t familiar, what’s a design challenge?
Design challenges bring real-world problems into the classroom allowing students to use the design cycle to develop a solution to the problem. The beauty of the design challenge is that there is not one “right answer” but rather solutions which can be as unique as the teams of students that work on them. Design challenges require students to work in multiple content areas at a time, as well as pushing them to work collaboratively mirroring real life.
What will students be challenged to do?
The students are given the challenge to design and test mechanical manipulators that will be used on underwater ROV’s for collecting a variety of biological, geological and archaeological samples from the sea floor. As a final component of the challenge, in May the students will demonstrate their final designs at COSI in the dive tank which is a part of the Oceans exhibit.
What are some of the things students will learn in through this design challenge?
Throughout this design challenge students will learn about the challenges associated with designing mechanisms that are able to withstand the harsh conditions associated with marine research. They will also learn how to apply their knowledge of mechanical systems, electrical systems, programming and fabrication as they design, build and their unique solutions.
Who sponsored this design challenge?
This challenge was presented to us by the PAST Foundation.