7th Graders Attend Engineering Design Class At Glenbrook North

From District 30: Maple School’s Project Lead the Way (PLTW) teacher Kristen Leverson took her seventh-grade Automation and Robotics (AR) students to visit Glenbrook North's PLTW classes on May 1.

They had an opportunity to judge "Automata Box" design projects in GBN's Introduction to Engineering Design (IED) PLTW class. An automata box uses simple mechanisms to move visually appealing objects throughout the machine. IED students were given the problem of designing and building an automata box from scratch, and our seventh-grade students served as the clients.

"Our students observed several high schoolers putting the finishing touches on their projects. Students learned how 3D modeling software, laser engraver machines, woodworking equipment, and 3D printers were utilized to create each element of the automata boxes. At the end of our visit, our students voted on the best designs. The high school students worked very hard to make their designs appealing to Maple students!" said Ms. Leverso.

Two of the high school PLTW teachers (Jason Berg and Christi Rose), along with a former Maple student and lab assistant Daniel Fliman, also gave everyone a tour of the PLTW and Tech Ed classes. Maple students then had the opportunity to ask questions and share constructive feedback about the project