Engineering

Introduction to Engineering Design (IED) is a high school-level foundation course in the PLTW Engineering Program. In IED students are introduced to the engineering profession and a common approach to solving engineering problems, an engineering design process. Utilizing the activity-project-problem-based (APB) teaching and learning pedagogy, students will progress from completing structured activities to solving open-ended projects and problems that require them to develop planning, documentation, communication, and other professional skills. Through individual and collaborative team activities, projects, and problems, students will solve problems as they practice common engineering design and development protocols such as project management and peer review. Students will develop skills in technical representation and documentation of design solutions according to accepted technical standards, and they will use current 3D design and modeling software to represent and communicate solutions. In addition, the development of computational methods that are commonly used in engineering problem-solving, including statistical analysis and mathematical modeling, is emphasized. Ethical issues related to professional practice and product development are also presented.