Milan: Year One
Milan High School in Milan, Michigan is in the middle of its first year offering PLTW courses to its students through technology teacher Jeffrey McVeigh. PLTW sat down with students Jared Mullins, Ben Northrup, Kylle Dryden, Doug Carpus, and Troy Porter and asked them directly about their teacher and their projects.
Jeffery McVeigh shows his students how to connect the
electrical wiring they will use to make robots.
PLTW: In December, Mr. McVeigh brought you to Eastern Michigan University to present your class projects at a conference for 40 guidance counselors and school principals who were considering adding PLTW classes to their own curriculums. What was that like?
Jared: Nerve-wracking. Yeah, my face was red.
PLTW: What projects did you present?
Jared: I did architectural engineering research. I showed a slide show and talked about the research.
Ben: I showed the design for a school locker organizer that made things more efficient. I added a slot in the locker door so teachers could put notes for a student into the locker.
Kylle: I talked about our SMET project. That stands for science, math, energy transfer. It’s a Rube Goldberg machine. It had pulleys that moved a wedge that got a car rolling which went on to do other things. We didn’t bring the machine. We only showed pictures of it.
PLTW: The SMET machine is built in sections by different teams, how did your section turn out?
Kylle: We were trying to make a hair trigger so a marble would set it off but it didn’t work. So we came up with the idea of a little bottle of sand at the top of our pulley held upside down so the sand ran into a wine cup. It made a big mess.
For Kylle Dryden, PLTW has made math more understandable
and school more exciting to attend.
Doug: The first two groups, their projects worked flawlessly. Ours with the sand kept fouling up. Kylle and I, we were ready to give up on the sand. We were saying, “You should just skip us, ours isn’t going to work.” But we noticed little things that we hadn’t noticed in the beginning, so we modified it here and there. In the end, our project worked perfectly every time. I was really happy. I didn’t think it would ever work.
Kylle: It took three class periods of testing and 30 tries.
Troy: They still got sand on us.
PLTW: How do you feel about the PLTW class?
Jared: It’s challenging. I wouldn’t say it’s too easy. I’d say it’s just right for me. You’re not going to get projects right on the first try so you have to go back. I can handle that.
Kylle: I like it. It’s all really interesting to me.
Ben: It’s a fun class. I think it’s a good use of class time and I think I learn more in this class than in other classes where you just have to listen to a person drone on and on for an hour and a half. McVeigh [all the students drop the salutatory and simply call their teacher “McVeigh”] tells you what’s to be done and you figure it out on your own.
Ben Northrup, in front of his design for a school locker
organizer, hopes to design video games in the future.
PLTW: Does the PLTW class differ from your classes with other teachers?
Troy: I like hands-on type of work, not just reading in a book.
Doug: We’re a small group working on specialized projects. In bigger classes, we have very general projects that we don’t work on for very long. I’m putting a lot more effort and design into my work here and making things better than they would be if I were working on them for only a few days. Also, McVeigh is open to a lot of different ideas and changes in projects.
Jared: We can relate to McVeigh. If you have a problem, he’ll give you little hints so you can figure it out yourself. If you still can’t fix it, he’ll show you so you really understand.
Doug Carpus recommends PLTW classes
“for everyone going into engineering.”
PLTW: Has the PLTW class changed the way you feel about school?
Kylle: I’m more excited about school now.
Jared: I’m not necessarily more excited to come to school, but this is definitely one of my favorite classes and I do enjoy coming to this class.
PLTW: Has taking the PLTW class helped you in your core math and science classes?
Kylle: It helped me to “get” math. I always struggled with my math. In here, math’s not put in mathematical terms; it’s put in engineering terms which I can understand better. It’s put in real life situations I can understand.
Jared: This class encourages you to do better in those [core] classes because you need to know that material to become an engineer.
Jared Mullins looks forward to a
career in civil engineering.
PLTW: Is there anything the PLTW class should be doing differently?
Doug: I think the class is run like it should. It takes everything we’ve learned from all our other technology classes throughout high school and it’s applying it to all the projects we’re doing now.
PLTW: Would you recommend PLTW courses to other students?
Kylle: Yes, yes.
Doug: I’d recommend it to everyone, all the students going into engineering.
Jared: Yes. You learn a lot. It’s a lot of fun.
PLTW: After you graduate from high school, are you going on to become engineers?
Kylle: I’m going to Washtenaw [Community College] to get my pre-requisites done. It’s cheaper that way. Then I’ll try to go to Eastern [Michigan University].
Doug: I’ve been accepted at Western [Michigan University] to go into their mechanical engineering program.
To see a video clip of the Milan class’s SMET project in operation, follow this link to YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebqcLr-CW_c