AMPED in West Valley - Math Should be Useable

Amped Teachers Highlighted in Newsletter

Teachers Jed Watters and Patrick Murphey were highlighted in this week's Construction Math and AMPED Newsletter.  Read below and go to the AMPED website to learn more about Math in Context. 

http://contextuallc.com/  

Geometry in Construction & AMPED Newsletter

 

 

 

Hello Jedediah,   Welcome to 2021! Hope it has started positive with a bright future. This is the 2nd of 4 newsletters this year and it is full of ideas for the classroom/shop. You can read about: ·    Two schools adaption of AMPED on Algebra during the Pandemic ·    Tools, gadgets, and curriculum enhancements to improve reaching and teaching kids in both Geometry in Construction and AMPED ·    Information about this summer's in-person and virtual workshops ·    Media stories about GIC/AMPED programs from across the country

Yakima WA AMPED students working on their 3D car lab

 

 

Adaptations for AMPED on Algebra During Covid The AMPED on Algebra curriculum is based on students running a manufacturing business of some type. The business can be anything from CNC signs, apparel manufacture, metal working, laser engraved promotional materials, etc. Here is what one school did to keep their manufacturing business afloat during Covid times. This also demonstrates how AMPED can adjust on the fly to whatever circumstances present themselves.   With t-shirt orders at a minimum during remote/hybrid learning, we pivoted to selling custom COVID-19 related stickers and signage (see samples on the left). Students design, produce and install these "signs of the time".   As a CTE class, we are able to bring in small groups of students at specific times during the school day. Students volunteer to come in and work and it is amazing how many students can/really want to come into the production lab to work. Not all students can come but all of them participate in the financial/algebra/business/design side of maintaining a profitable business.

 

 

Yakima WA Teachers' Success During a Pandemic West Valley Junior High in Yakima, Washington offers AMPED to 7th and 8th grade students. The class is team taught by Patrick Murphy - algebra teacher and Jedediah Watters – engineering teacher. Typically, students start the year by designing and making plexiglass desk nameplates (shown at left) using ShopBot CNC routers. Since students were remote, they were unable to use the computer program Vcarve which is on school computers. However students were able to use the program Easel by Inventables on their Chromebooks. It was a great way for students to design and see a simulation of their nameplate while not at school and able to actually operate the routers. (Upon returning from Christmas break students were able to start making their nameplates on the CNC routers). Throughout the activity we are continued to try combining the skills and abilities that are being picked up through the engineering projects with math concepts. With the nameplate project, students were asked to complete a cost analysis of their product. They compared the costs involved in creating the nameplate, both fixed and variable, before identifying a realistic price point for the project. Using the values that were discovered through this process, students were introduced to the idea of linear functions and, later, to solving systems of linear equations.  Students learned about the engineering process and CAD through flipped classroom lessons. We used the CAD program Onshape as it works well on Chromebooks. They used the CNC router to make about 200 plastic barriers for the school district that were used in classrooms to keep students safe.