Senior Thesis - Engineering
This webpage has been created for senior engineering students to access information for the 2020-21 school year. Please check back frequently as this page will be continously updated with resources and additional information and expectations for the engineering thesis. This is a time for you to use the skills you have learned for the past 3 years and apply them to your thesis project. You are expected to spend class time each day and make a significant effort to make this a positive experience for yourself and for me. This is not a part time class and should not be viewed as an additional study hall for other classwork.
Basic Information:
The Engineering Senior Thesis was created for students interested in pursuing careers in engineering fields beyond high school. It was not intended to be an experimental platform to create gadgets that have no practical purpose beyond entertainment value. In our class we want to solve real and justifiable problems. We are working on Problem Based Learning and not Project Based Learning at this stage. I encourage you to look for real world problems and work on a solution to those problems. A good place to see the top problems facing the world today is www.globalgoals.org. For example, let's take hunger as our problem. While it is probably not feasible for our students to solve world hunger in one school year, is it possible that we could help solve some of the hunger issues within our local community? When we empathize with others, then our project becomes more meaningful for those who are affected. You are not restricted to the global goals, and you can choose any problem that can be justified, just make sure you know "why" you are working on that problem.
What is my "WHY" ? - Before starting your thesis, I encourage you to figure out your why. I like this video to help explain what it means to "Know Your Why?". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytFB8TrkTo
Here are some additional questions to ask yourself.
* Why do I care about this problem?
* Is someone I know directly affected by this problem? Do others have the same problem?
* What solutions have been created so far and what limitations do they have for solving this problem? (this is your research and the Review of Literature section of your written thesis)
* Is it possible for me to solve this problem in the time that I have available? You are required to have a prototype in January, testing and evaluation in February, and have it all ready to present by Spring Break.
* What is my budget and can I afford to solve the problem?
* What resources do I need to help me solve the problem? This would be the materials, money, people, or anything you need to be successful in the completion of this project.
* Do I have a mentor or person I can rely on to help me with this problem? This is someone who will give you unbiased and objective opinions about your work.
RULES FOR THE ENGINEERING SENIOR THESIS PROJECT:
1. You can work alone or with one partner - the partner should be in your same class period, not another class period. My experience over the past 10 years has shown me that when partners are not accountable to each other on a daily basis, the quality of work suffers. If you think you need to work with someone not in your class period, you will need permission from me before I will allow that partnership. You will need an action plan to show how you will be accountable to each other as well as a plan to meet on a daily basis.
2. You must have a mentor before school starts. This mentor must be willing to meet with me virually or in person if needed to outline what the mentor responsibilities will be for the 2020-21 school year.
3. Your parents must sign off on your project and be willing to financially support your project.
4. You will develop a website that highlights your senior thesis project. This website will follow the engineering design process. This website should be started before the first day of class. You will be asked to submit your web address when school starts.
5. You will create a 3-5 minute video that follows your entire process from start to finish. I will go over this in more detail during the first weeks of class. You will be making monthly video updates that chronicle your project and the progress you have made for that month.
6. You are expected to work on your thesis each day in class. The class is not a study hall for other subjects.
For additional information regarding the Senior Thesis and expectations from the English teachers, please click on the link provided here: https://central.rcschools.net/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=764544&type=u&pREC_ID=1927589
CMS Resources for Students - this will be updated before the new school year begins
Click the link above to view the handbook. This handbook should answer any questions you have as it relates to the entire thesis process (mentors, due dates, structure).
My Expectations for you when you come to my class in August:
* Have a problem that you know you want to work on. This is not just an idea, but a genuine problem that you can justify with research (Who says it is a problem?) from experts and adequate journal resources to identify what has been done to help solve the problem.
* Have at least 10 sources that you have researched and summarized that support your chosen problem.
* Have a mentor (Name, Address, Email, and Phone Number) who will help you with your problem.
* Develop a anticipated budget of what it will cost you to solve the problem.
* Have a website started for your project. The details about your project may change once school starts and that is understandable if you partner with someone else and use their project idea.
* Create a list of questions that you need to answer to help you with your project idea. This list will be questions that come up during your research.