How to Teach the Metric System

Technical Drawing for SECME submissions

Technical drawing, also known as drafting, is the technique of creating engineering drawings done with compasses, rulers, and computers. Coach Ed Batchelor has created a pamphlet on technical drawing to introduce SECME students to technical drawing. Click here for the Technical Drawing for SECME submissions PDF.

Click here for a fast, Flash based introduction from Engineering the Future. I especially like how EtF handles orthographic projections.

Drawings which contain all the information needed to make the object you have designed, including dimensions and details of components, materials and assembly instructions, are called working drawings. Although working drawings for simple products may sometimes be done in isometric or planometric projection, the normal drawing technique for working drawings is orthographic projection. The BBC GCSE Bitesize has more.

NASA for Kids: Intro to Engineering

Palm Beach Atlantic U. Math Competition

Below is a link to a diagram of the Palm Beach Atlantic Campus. The contest will be in the second floor of #24 on the map. Guides will be there to direct you to the registration area. Parking could be in the lot on the corner of Dixie and Pembroke, west of #24, in the lot just east of #24 off Okeechobee Blvd, or in the Parking Garage at the corner of Dixie and Pembroke. The gate code for the parking garage is two-two-four-six-star. Registration will begin Saturday morning at 8:00 am, with introductions and directions starting at 8:30 am. There will be coffee, juice, and muffins/danish available from 8-8:30. Also, lunch will be provided after the third and final round of the contest. Calculators are permitted, but cellphones need to be turned off and not used during testing. I look forward to seeing you and your students on Saturday morning.

https://a248.e.akamai.net/akamai-cache.trustedpartner.com/docs/library/PalmBeachAtlanticUniversity2010/PDFS/Parents%20Council/NewMap1.pdf

Dr. Steve Selby
Mathematics and Computer Science Department Chair
Palm Beach Atlantic University

Seminole SECME 'Hawk Talk' newsletter Fall 2012

In the Fall 2012 issue of the Seminole SECME 'Hawk Talk'  newsletter

- Engineering Family Fun Day (EF2D) 2012: Maps, Math, Magnets and Mars
- South Florida Science Museum Signals Space Station, Astronaut answers Palm Beach Students Questions
- Figure This! KenKen — Puzzles That Make You Smarter
- SECME Spotlight: Priscilla Cerqueira
- XCKD.COMics “1125—Objects in Mirror (Edwin Hubble's Car)”
- Hawks Host Water Rocket Seminar at Acreage Library
- Adopt Seminole SECME online: thank you to our sponsors

Click here to download the attached PDF copy of our Seminole SECME 'Hawk Talk' newsletter Fall 2012 issue
Hawk Talk Fall 2012

EF2D: Maps, Math, Magnets and Mars

Seminole Ridge SECME inspired an interest in the areas of science, engineering and math during the fifth annual Engineering Family Fun Day was held Saturday, November 3rd in Dreher Park, in West Palm Beach. Students and their families, teachers and counselors enjoyed a fun-filled, free educational event focusing on opportunities available in engineering. Each of the eight sponsored booth presented a hands on engineering related activity by which the students, parents, and engineers can interact with each other. For example, the Water Bottle Rocket involves aerospace engineering.

Last year, Seminole Ridge SECME students challenged children to learn the physics of projectiles by making a popfly launcher with paint stirrers, a PVC pipe coupler and a ping pong ball. The mini-catapults were sponsored in part by Lowe's Home Improvement of Royal Palm Beach, store #0654.

This year, SECME students senior Sam Smith and his brother freshmen Nick Smith, and coach Erich Landstrom invited event attendees to learn a little more about maps, math, magnets and Mars, by becoming “Inspector Detectors”.

Families had to make a magnetic field detector from simple objects like steel wool, scissors, and scraps of cardboard. They used their magnetometers to map for the magnetic anomalies, like the upcoming MAVEN mission to the planet Mars. People who correctly predicted the locations of magnets hidden beneath a model of Mars received a passport stamp and a piece of candy. The "Inspector Detector" activity was adapted from the upcoming “Beyond the Moon” guide written for NASA by the PBS show Design Squad.

The Society of Women Engineers Southeast Florida Section and the Palm Beach Alumni Extension of the National Society of Black Engineers are co-hosts.  The goal is to inspire an interest in the areas of STEAM (science, technical, engineering, artistry and math) fields in students in grades four through 12.
 

20121103 EF2D

(Click on the first picture to flip through a photostream of Seminole SECME at Engineering Family Fun Day 2012)