Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
Introduction to Engineering Design - A course that teaches problem-solving skills using a design development process. Models of product solutions are created, analyzed and communicated using solid modeling computer design software. This was West Harrison's first PLTW course offered. We began offering it in the fall semester of the 2005-2006 school year.

This class does many projects; one of the latest projects is to design a Christmas toy for area children. This class started off by brainstorming ideas, drawing their ideas, and building their projects on the computer. Then there was a class vote to decide on which toy would be made by the class. The winning toy, a sports tractor, is going to be made by the class.

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The West Harrison School is sponsoring a new program this year that teaches pre-engineering. This is sponsored by Project Lead the Way , a national engineering program that is recognized for creating future engineers. Both the University of Iowa and Iowa State are affiliated with this program.

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The class divided into groups and planned both the building and the distributing process. Once everything was all planned, the class went out to the shop and built the fifteen tractors.

The engineering class will be distributing the toys to the less fortunate children in the Harrison County area.