** SPRING SEMESTER ONLY **

In this one-semester hands-on engineering class, students become real-world designers and problem solvers. They learn how engineers plan, build, test, and improve structures that interact with the natural environment.

Students will explore how forces, materials, weather, water, and landforms affect the design of large structures like dams, tunnels, skyscrapers and bridges. They will learn how engineers make decisions based on science, safety, cost, and environmental impact.

Throughout the semester, students will choose a keystone engineering project—either designing a dam or a bridge—and work step-by-step through the full engineering process. This includes researching real-world locations, selecting materials, creating models, testing their designs, and improving them based on results.

Students will:

● Learn how real engineers solve problems using science and math

● Study how materials behave under stress and environmental conditions

● Investigate water flow, terrain, weather, and ecosystem impacts

● Build and test scaled engineering models

● Collect and analyze data from experiments

● Improve their designs through multiple testing cycles

● Keep a scientific engineering journal documenting their work each week

The course ends with a final engineering showcase where students present their project, explain their design decisions, and demonstrate how their structure performed during testing.

This is a very hands-on, project-based class where students learn by doing. The focus is on thinking like an engineer, using evidence to make decisions, and improving designs over time.

Required Text: Engineering Fundamentals: An Introduction to Engineering (Grubbs/Pearson)

Tuition: $250 per semester