7th Grade MEPI: Discipline Exposure
7th Grade Schedule | Meet the Facilitators
The seventh grade program strives to build on the foundation laid by the sixth grade program. During the program sessions, emphasis is placed on hands-on experience in specific projects and understanding engineering disciplines. Five project sessions are held at the Children's Museum. These sessions, along with two field trips, were conducted one or two Saturdays a month for four hours.
Saturday Sessions
- Industrial Engineering - students are exposed to the diverse roles of an industrial engineer through various activities. They are instructed on the use of an engineering scale, and then utilize the scale to design the layout of a house, given specifications and constraints. They also learn the concepts of production, quality, efficiency, and work-in-progress by doing an exercise to illustrate work flow (assembly line) improvements.
- Electrical Engineering - students are introduced to Ohm's Law (basic equation for electrical engineering) and several components of electronics (resistors, capacitors, relays, diodes, etc.). They then build several circuits utilizing the components. Finally, the students construct a circuit to illustrate how power is used to illuminate a light bulb.
- Mechanical Engineering - students are introduced to the theories of linear and rotational motion, angular velocity, friction, and momentum by building a battery-operated car, built from the wheels up using ordinary household materials. During the session, students learn about traditional roles of mechanical engineers, inventions made by African-Americans, and project management.
- Chemical Engineering - students conduct a series of experiments that allow them to explore the properties of thermal conductivity, density, pH, oxidation and buoyancy. The second segment of this session involves the purification of muddy water (i.e. distillation process). The concepts of evaporation, condensation, and humidification are introduced.
- Civil Engineering - students construct a bridge from several materials of construction based on relative cost and associated strength. The bridges are built based on principles such as deflection, geometric strengths, load distribution, and tensile and compressive strength. The bridges are then loaded with weights and judged based on a cost-to-strength ratio.
- At the end of the year, students are required, either individually or in a small group, to give a presentation. Topics are chosen in January and range from skits and monologues to debates on current events/issues concerning youth. This activity allows the students an opportunity to show their creativity and voice their opinions.
Gretchen Horne Trenetta Pinkney Bill Scott Brandon Paschal
Damuane Journey Walter Harper Thomas Reives
Sylvester Smith Serena Macklin Katrina J Moseley
Alessandra B Ennett Christopher Lee Jordan
Otis L Williams Reginald Taylor Mo Behbahani