These life-sized ergonomically correct chairs are among the many things students are designing and building in Ed Allen’s engineering and computer-aided design classes at Three Rivers Local School District. The long-time teacher says it’s important for his classes to learn the real-world possibilities of engineering.
Here’s something Ed Allen hears a lot from new engineering students: “I’m pretty good with computers.”
What that usually means, he says, is that they’re good at gaming and online searches. “But less than one percent have any idea what CAD does—unless they’ve got a parent or a relative or a friend who is into this stuff.”
Mr. Allen, a teacher at Three Rivers Local School District, has been into this “stuff”—engineering and CAD (computer-aided design)—for 14 years. He has the experience of a veteran and the enthusiasm of a first-year teacher, describing project after project and pointing out how engineering skills can prepare students for so many different careers.
“Anything that’s created in 3-D—movies, gaming, building structures—is done using 3-D modeling CAD software,” he says.
To ensure that his students grasp the possibilities of engineering, as well as the technical skills, he creates as many opportunities as he can for them to explore the concepts and master the techniques.
He teaches grades 7-12, starting off with Google SketchUp lessons, in which his younger students create basic digital 3-D objects—cubes, cylinders, etc.—and move on to designing virtual houses and furniture.
When they get to high school, they’re tackling more complex projects, using CAD software to engineer blueprints and actually build what they’ve designed—anything from a paper tube that can catch an egg from a three-foot fall to a life-sized, ergonomically correct, cardboard chair.
Mr. Allen also emphasizes the interpersonal aspects of the trade. “They work in engineering teams,” he says. “Like they do in the real world. They learn about the different fields of engineering and learn to work cooperatively. It opens up the real world of what it’s really like to be an engineer.”
He’s even collaborating with the University of Cincinnati to give his juniors and seniors an opportunity to earn two college credit hours by taking a class called “Engineering Your Future,” in which they learn about engineering research, design, and prototyping, among other things.
Mr. Allen says he hears from past students that what they learn in his class gives them a solid foundation. One student told him that he took an engineering class at UC and was demonstrating to his classmates some of the techniques he learned in high school—even though they were using completely different CAD software.
Educational technology experts would say Mr. Allen’s students are well-prepared because he uses software and computers as tools to help them learn broader concepts, which makes his curriculum more about the outcome than the technology.
He does believe in the importance of fundamentals: “If you know the basics of technical drawing, of what the lines and symbols on a blueprint look like,” he says, “you know exactly how the part’s supposed to be made.”
And then if you can become “pretty good with computers,” you might turn into an engineer.