Day 01 - Organize Teams

Our first day of the Vector Graphics unit won't get far into vector graphics content because we need to spend much of today working through the expectations of the course instead. Last year we relied on Google Classroom to keep the course organized. We'll still be doing that, but more of the content is going to move off of Google Drive and on to this Website. On our daily slide I'll still show you our learning goal, our word of the day, and our agenda, but the details should play out here on the Website.

Similarly, if you miss a class, you should check the Website to see what was missed. If you ask me, I'll just point you to the Website, right? So skip the middleman (me) and go right to the source as needed. Many (most?) of our assignments will still take place through Google Classroom, but all reference materials should be here on the Website.

The Website still looks pretty crude and mostly empty, but that's because I am building it over the course of the year as we push through each unit. I apologize for any confusion as things get moved around, restyled, and occasionally broken or lost. I used the Engineering Design Process (EDP) to establish the framework for this Website and I'm iteratively improving it by defining one problem at a time to solve, continuing to employ the EDP every step of the way.

Do not expect that the STEM 3 class Mr. Bridges is running will mirror our experience here. Most of our projects are shared, but there are a few things I do that he doesn't do and there are a few things he does that I don't do. If they're doing something that you think is very interesting, just wait. We'll probably be doing it soon enough. Our core content - that is, engineering principles - is the same, and all STEM 3 students will have to demonstrate competence in things like the factor-label method (dimensional analysis), using and documenting the EDP, and so forth. On the whole, the level of "fun" is the same in each class; only the details of how we get there sometimes differ.

We need to set up our Google Drive to keep our work organized this year. In Drive, create a folder and name it "STEM 3 - Your Name" and be sure to use your real name instead of "Your Name" when you name it, otherwise you'll look a little foolish. Remember, a core principle of STEM is being able to think critically about the information you're given, and that includes being able to read between the lines in instructions to determine what the author really intended for you to do. Make sure you share that folder with me and give me editing rights to it.

Now I need you to form your teams. As with last year, each team needs to have 3 or 4 people in it. I will assign anyone who takes more than 2 minutes to team up. Come up with a team name made of an adjective and a noun with which that adjective does not sound quite right. Like "giant pebbles" or "speedy slugs." One person on your team will create a folder with the team name and share it with everyone on the team. Put this folder in your STEM 3 folder. Theoretically, that will automatically share the team folders with me.

Expect that on various projects I will require different team members to take on specific roles. Ideally, your team will have a variety of talents within it. If you all have the same strengths and weaknesses, you're going to find projects difficult to complete.