Engineering Club Workshop #1

Event Coordinator

Date

02/16/2006

Description

Date: Feb 16, 2006
Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Place: Room 202 (Mr. Hoffman's Room)

All club members are invited to attend our first Engineering Workshop. This is a chance to get together with friends and have fun while doing hands-on activities.

EQUIPMENT DISSECTION

Do you like taking things apart to see how they work? We will have several pieces of broken equipment that small groups of students can take apart. Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Snyder will be there to help you identify various components and understand how they work.

We already have a couple of broken inket printers for students to take apart. We are working on getting some additional items. If you have an item that you'd like to bring, please check with Mr. Hoffman first to make sure that it would be appropriate. We are going to be very safety conscious at the workshop. Students will be required to wear safety glasses.

ROBOTICS

Do you want to learn about robotics? We now have two LEGO MindStorms kits, so two groups of students can get out the kits and explore the possibilities. Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Snyder will be available to answer questions and give pointers.

ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM

Mr. Hoffman recently received a number of educational kits designed to help students learn about electricity and magnetism. These will be available for students to explore during the workshop.

YOUR PARTICIPATION IS THE KEY

If we have a good turnout at this event, we can start having them on a regular basis, perhaps once every two weeks or so. There is an unlimited supply of broken equipment in the world for students to take apart. We are also working on getting funding for one or two Electronics Kits that would allow students to build simple circuits such as audio amplifiers, oscillators, timers, event counters, etc. We are also working on getting some West Branch graduates with engineering backgrounds to attend our workshops and serve as mentors. If you're thinking of going into engineering, or if you just enjoy learning in a practical, hands-on environment, then be sure to mark this event on your calendar. It's guaranteed to be fun for everyone.

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The following people attended the workshop:

Jaime Quick and her father
Wesley Boyd
Usama Khirji
Tim Smeal
Crystal Smeal
Janie Weitosh
Arnold Pelka
Dan Bumbarger
Matt Snyder
Mr. Hoffman
Mr. Snyder

Most of the students chose to perform equipment dissections. Several usable DC motors were harvested and tested using a DC power supply. Crystal and Janie learned about the internal construction of an electrolytic capacitor that they harvested from a piece of audio equipment. Arnold dissected a CD-ROM drive and went online to learn more about the optical components that he found. Usama started to build a LEGO MindStorms robot and then signed out one of the robotics kits for the weekend.