Biography

This is a course for students interested in studying advanced topics in engineering and science, students who envision a career in science or engineering, and/or students who are curious about how things work. The first semester students will explore electric motors, atmospheric science, the engineering of space travel and a craftsmanship project. Specifically, students will build a multi-phase electric motor and launch a payload via weather balloon high above the Earth’s atmosphere into space. This course is student centered and student driven. Students have great latitude in their choice of the topics, experiments, and projects. Students will learn the design, prototyping process and how to take and analyze data in order to optimize their projects. Students will also learn how to read and write engineering and scientific papers. In the second semester, they will specialize on one topic of their choice. This can be a research an engineering project or a science project. Possible topics range from what makes a baseball curve, building 21st-century prosthetics, green energy projects, to building a Tesla coil to particle physics to your idea. At the conclusion of the 2nd semester each student will write a science or engineering paper and give a final presentation at the Menlo Maker Faire.

Prerequisites: Complete Physics and Accelerated Chem with a B+ or Conceptual Chem with an A- or get permission from Dr. Dann.

View student testimonials for this course and other science courses here.