Project Lead The Way

2008 Design Contest

Revised 2/25/2008

By Tom Weiss - Affiliate Director PLTW, Penn State Berks

"I'm learning this stuff, but how do I use it?" Have you ever heard this from any of your technology education students? Students from eight Pennsylvania Project Lead The Way (PLTW) high schools gathered at Penn State Berks in Reading, PA to get a chance to "use this stuff". The first Pennsylvania PLTW Design Contest on February 20, 2008 celebrated Engineer's Week. Participating high schools were:

Teams of five PLTW students arrived at Penn State Berks with no idea what they were going to design, build, and demonstrate to an outside panel of judges. At 9:00 am, all teams received a box of identical construction materials and a Design Challenge Brief. Construction materials consisted of items such as pulleys, rubber bands, wooden dowels, paper clips, glue sticks, and other similar items. All teams had three hours to complete the project and prepare a short presentation and demonstration. Students would need to use skills learned in the first two PLTW Foundation Courses, Introduction To Engineering Design and Principles of Engineering, to complete their task.

The Design Challenge was to model and construct a "pumpkin picker"; a machine that would help pick pumpkins from a field and load them into a "truck". For this contest, the pumpkins were golf balls, the field was a large plywood sheet, and the truck was a plastic container. Only one student could demonstrate the picker. Students presented sketches of several design ideas and a final detailed sketch of their solution. If their design did not perform as intended, students also provided a redesign statement indicating what they might do differently given the time. A successful design had to load at least three pumpkins into the truck without a failure.

Four categories of awards were available. Attending PLTW teachers judged the Best Teamwork category. Penn State Berks Engineering Technology seniors selected the team that made the Best Presentation. Engineers from Carpenter Technology, a leading manufacturer and distributor of specialty alloys in Reading, PA, selected the Best Design and Best Overall Solution.

Award Winners:

Parkland High School, Allentown, PA 

Best Teamwork 

Best Presentation 

Best Design

Twin Valley High School, Elverson, PA

Best Overall Solution

About Project Lead The Way

PLTW has developed a four-year sequence of courses called Pathway To Engineering. When combined with college preparatory mathematics and science courses in high school, Pathway introduces students to the scope, rigor and discipline of engineering and engineering technology prior to entering college. Introduction at this level will attract more students to engineering and engineering technology, and will allow students, while still in high school, to determine if engineering is the career they desire. Students participating in PLTW courses are better prepared for college engineering programs and more likely to be successful, reducing the attrition rate in these college programs, which currently exceeds 50% nationally.

In addition, PLTW has developed an exciting Middle School Technology Curriculum. Gateway To Technology, designed for grades 6 - 8, shows students how technology and engineering solves everyday problems.

For more information about Project Lead The Way in Pennsylvania, please contact:

Tom Weiss, Affiliate Director - Penn State Berks Telephone: 610-396-6313 Email: tsw10@psu.edu