Upcoming Event: MS Final Challenge!
In the Providence Middle School, fourteen 7th and 8th Graders are working busily on their capstone project for the semester: the Intro to Engineering Final Challenge! Every semester, the students in this elective are given a game-style challenge to complete, which involves designing, building, and programming a robot using LEGO Mindstorms EV3 sets. This semester’s challenge […]
Guest Speaker: Nathan Gates
Last Friday, our Foundations of Engineering II group was privileged to hear from retired aerospace engineer Dr. Nathan Gates. Dr. Gates has worked for many years at Astro Aerospace, based in Carpinteria, and is recently retired. Dr Gates shows a telescoping boom design that he worked on Dr. Gates’ impressive career was mainly focused on […]
Grant Awarded: EnergyPartners Fund
As part of their Community Design Project, the six members of the Advanced Engineering I class worked jointly on a grant request to a local organization, the EnergyPartners Fund. This grant, totaling $1,500, was aimed at purchasing the necessary raw materials and tools for actually building the planned play structure. Just to be clear, it was Jake, […]
Bridges, Cranes, Robots
After some humble beginnings to the semester (Newton’s Laws, basic structural mechanics, and gear ratios), we have had a string of exciting projects in our middle school engineering elective. Within the last few weeks, students have built railway bridges, designed high-torque crane systems, and are now writing code for simple three-wheeled robots. Mr Meadth stands […]
Robots and Steel
We had two exciting experiences recently in the high school Academy. Firstly, in the 9th/10th Grade Foundations of Engineering group, we decided to take a break from the rigours of trigonometry to see some robotics in action. Scott Gary, a Providence parent, brought in his Battle Bot–The Piecemaker! The Piecemaker has competed in several events about fifteen […]
Advanced Engineering: Community Design Project
We’re in the fourth week of school now, so it’s a great time to unveil our Big Idea for the 2016-2017 school year. The Advanced Engineering group, comprising Tys, Aaron, Sarah Jane, Kylie, Jake, and Caleb, have been given a momentous task to accomplish. From left: Jake, Caleb, Aaron, Tys, Mr Meadth, Kylie, Sarah Jane,and […]
Engineering at Providence: The First Few Weeks
As we step into the 9th day of classes, I’d like to give an update on all things engineering at Providence. With eighteen high schoolers in the Academy, fourteen middle schoolers in the elective, and three different classes between them, there’s a lot going on! In the high school, we talked about how all technology […]
Educational Design Project: Part III
Summer update time! Take a break from all that relaxing and read on… Today marks an important milestone: the Providence Engineering Academy’s Educational Design Project finally had all student designs approved by their clients! Mrs McLemore in the 1st Grade was able to confirm that the latest iteration of Isabelle’s pencil clip was in fact suitable for […]
Field Trip: CMC Rescue
Last Friday, the Providence Engineering Academy was given the opportunity to visit CMC Rescue in Goleta. CMC Rescue designs, tests, manufactures, and assembles a wide range of safety and climbing gear, such carabiners, pulleys, harnesses and rope. The class was warmly received by Tyler Mayer, their Engineering Manager, along with several other members of the engineering team. The […]
Educational Design Project: Part II
Back in March, we described how the students had recently submitted their Educational Design Projects. These student designs were in response to a range of briefs submitted by various Providence teachers, from Bible class to Chemistry to Social Studies to Geometry. We already mentioned Alec’s cone/cylinder and pyramid/box volume demonstration, Eva’s LEGO robot game piece […]