Principles of EngineeringTM (POE) is a high school-level survey course of engineering. It is one of two foundation courses in the Project Lead The Way® (PLTW) high school engineering pathway. This course will expose students to some of the major concepts that they will encounter in a post-secondary engineering course of study. This class focuses on problems that engage and challenge. Students explore a broad range of engineering topics, including mechanisms, the strength of structures and materials, and automation. Students develop skills in problem-solving, research, and design while learning strategies for design process documentation, collaboration, and presentation. POE gives students the opportunity to develop skills and understand course concepts through problem-based learning and hands-on activities.
The course applies and develops secondary level knowledge and skills in mathematics, science and technology. Students will be working with Autodesk Computer Aided Design (CAD) software, Vex robotics kits, Arduino, and state-of-the-art rapid prototyping technologies such as 3D printing and laser cutting to build their projects. In this course, students will be designing and creating machines and robots to demonstrate their understanding of the course curriculum. In addition to creating design solutions on the CAD software, students will use it to perform structural analyses of their designs.