Week of April 20

This Week in DE
DE will wrap up the initial state machine (candy machine & 4 digit display) design on Tuesday and then start work on the copier jam circuit Thursday.  In this project, you will interface the circuit that you are making with external sensors since all circuits are designed to get information from the outside world (sensor), make a decision, and control an action (motor).

Agendas for this Week:
Tuesday: Complete Phone Number Display
Thursday: Copier Jam Detector

Field Trips/Conferences

This Thursday is the deadline to sign up for two exciting field trips available to engineering students.  Cedar Ridge High School will host the 4th annual Youth in STEM conference this Saturday (THIS Saturday, April 25).  It is from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and doesn't cost anything to you.  There will be several companies there to demonstrate the exciting and new things that engineers are doing in their work.  There are also several exhibitions to allow attendants to get their hands dirty with engineering, game design, robotics, drones, and much  more.  Below is a partial list of the some of the exhibits that will be there.  Bring some canned food to donate to the local food bank for a chance to win an iPad or a Lego Mindstorms kit.

• Dell Alienware – Gaming Technology
• GeekBus (STEM mobile trailer out of San Antonio) - http://www.geekbus.com/
• Steve Wolf (“Science in the Movies”) - http://www.scienceinthemovies.com/
• KingsIsle Entertainment (Gaming Software) - https://www.kingsisle.com/
• Flat Iron Pre-College Academy (Drones) - http://precollege.flatironschool.com/
• AT&T (Fiber Optics)
• Texas A&M (Engineering)
• ACC (Gaming, Electronics, Auto Cad, and Computer Science)
• Texas Board of Professional Engineers (Professional Organization)

You must sign up by Thursday at the latest at the conference web site.

Then, on May 12, we will take 20 students to visit Samsung's Austin Semiconductor plant.  It is a fascinating trip, and students always enjoy the day.  You will get a chance to peek inside of an operating, fully-automated modern semiconductor plant, interact with their engineers to find out about engineering and college, tour the museum on the history of semiconductors (aka electronics or computers), and get fed a good meal.  There is no cost to you.  Just sign up (below), turn in your permission forms, and meet us at school on the morning of May 12.  We will take you to Samsung and return to campus around 2:00.  You will miss 1st, 2nd, & 3rd periods and should be back before 4th period starts.  That is the day of the French Language, Spanish Literature, or the US Government AP exam, so you won't be able to go if you are taking those.


  

This Week at RRHS
Other than a faculty meeting Thursday morning, it is a pretty normal week.  Even Thursday will follow the normal bell schedule, but there will be no Thursday morning tutorials before school because of the meeting.

This is now the last "six" weeks of the year.  Although, it is really 8 weeks long.  Things get really busy from here on, so keep on top of things.  Starting May 4, AP and STARR (or EoC) testing will cover two weeks and affect a number of our classes.  Not long after that, you should look for exemption information and start preparations for the final exams.

College Recruiter Visits
Wednesday - The University of Houston

Week of March 9

This Week in DE
We will be finishing up the unit on asynchronous counters this week by making a circuit to display a "Now Serving" number like one you used to see at the Department of Motor Vehicles or Baskin Robbins.  The circuit will actually combine 2 different asynchronous counters: one for the 1's digit and another for the 10's digit.  Together, they will drive 2 seven segment displays (on the PLD board) to display numbers from 00 up to 99.


Agendas:
Tuesday & Thursday: Now Serving Project


This Week at RRHS
I probably don't have to tell you that this is the last week before spring break!  Let's work hard and stay on top of things so that we can all enjoy a much-needed week off.  I hope that you all have fun plans for your break.

Being the 4th week of the six weeks, Interim Progress Reports will be distributed this Friday, just before the break.  Look for those to come home so that you can be aware of any issues that need to be addressed once you come back.  After the break, we will still have 3 more weeks because this six weeks actually is seven weeks long.  The end of the reporting period is April 10.

Thursday will be a late start for students as teachers will be in a department meeting.  There will be no tutorials Thursday morning, and 5th period will begin at 9:25.

College Visits This Week:
Thursday: Texas A&M Corps of Cadets Information Session

Week of Feb 8

This week in DE
Students will finish their Date of Birth designs and breadboards on Monday.  If you are not finished by the end of Monday, please make plans to do so outside of class so that you can complete the next assignment on time.  

CTE has duty this week, so I will not be available for morning tutorials.  I will be here, however, every afternoon.  You can work on Inventor in Mrs. Saksena's room 603, if you need to work in the morning.

Agendas: 
Monday- Complete DOB breadboards.  Video before next class.
Wednesday - Programmable Logic Design
Friday - Date of Birth on PLD.

Edison Lecture
 On Feb 17, next Tuesday, engineering students can attend the Edison Lecture Series  at UT.  The buses will leave RRHS at 10:15 so that you will have time to visit UT engineering students and faculty showing off their current projects and activities.  Following that, we will attend the lecture on the topic of Big Data, which I can only guess has to do with the technology of storing data; how that has changed; and how it has enabled much of the technology we know today.  We should return to campus in time for C lunch (2:00).

If you are interested, be sure that you sign up on this form, so that I have the needed information.  You also need to complete the RRISD permission form, which requires signatures from your parents, teachers, and yourself.  You can print the linked copy or get one from me.

This week at RRHS
This is the final week of the 4th six weeks.  The year is really flying by quickly.  Be sure that you have all work caught up and turned in to me by Friday so that I have time to get it  graded before grades are due next Tuesday morning.

College Recruiting Visits
Tuesday - Oregon State
Wednesday - US Navy
See your counselor for specific information or to sign up.

Week of October 27

DE will work this week on the Majority Vote Project.  In this project (which counts double weight compared to other grades), you will use your logic implementation and Boolean algebra skills to write a logic expression for a situation given to determine the decision to be made by a four-person board.  You will definitely want to simplify that expression so that your breadboarding activity is as simple as possible.  No one wants to have to wire up any more gates than is absolutely necessary.

There are no videos for Majority vote since it isn't new material.  There won't be a new video until Friday when we will begin the next unit on other logic implementation and simplification methods.

Agendas this week
Monday - Begin Majority Vote - Write and Simplify a Logic Expression
Tuesday - Breadboard Majority Vote

If you are interested in the A&M Spark Conference on November 22, you should sign up right away.  I have already started registering teams from RRHS, and the deadline from A&M is November 7.

This Week at RRHS
This is Homecoming Week, and you can check out the schedule of events including "dress up days", the parade and pep rally on the RRHS web site.  That means that a pep rally is on Friday, which means pep rally schedule.

Also, we are at the middle of this grading period.  Expect progress reports to come home on Thursday.  You also need to be aware that this "six weeks" period is only five weeks long.  That means that there are now only two weeks and at most a week and a half after you get your progress report before the end of the six weeks. One week after that starts our full week of Thanksgiving break.  The year is certainly going by quickly.

Key Dates:
November 7 - End of 2nd six weeks grading period
November 21 - RRISD Thanksgiving holiday begins
December 1 - School begins after the holiday
December 15-18 - Fall final exams.  School releases for the Christmas holiday starting December 19.

College Recruiter Visits This Week
Tuesday - University of Houston
Thursday - Texas Lutheran University
Friday - University of Houston at Victoria

Week of Oct 13

This Week in DE
DE classes will continue studying AOI or combinational logic this week and will begin by building  simple circuits created using And, Or, and Inverter (AOI) gates on the breadboards.  This will introduce some analysis tools (Logic Probe and Chip Tester) to help make sure that your circuits are functioning properly.

We will also have a binary numbers, logic expression, & truth tables quiz in class on Tuesday.

I also may have a replacement for EdPuzzle.  Some have reported issues accessing the videos through EdPuzzle, and it has been frequently difficult at school.  I will introduce you to Blendspace on Tuesday. It works very similar but seems to be more reliable, at least by comparison at school, than was EdPuzzle.  To sign up, go to Blendspace.com and sign up using the class code "lzwm" (without the quotes).

There is an opportunity for some lucky juniors to participate in the High School Aerospace Scholars  program through NASA.  I have more detailed information on this on the Internships page linked above, but applications are now open.  High school juniors can apply to participate in a number of online sessions throughout the school year and then attend a summer internship/camp at NASA in Houston this summer (2015).  The culmination will be to participate on a research project with NASA engineers and to present your project results in front of NASA staff and media.

Agendas This Week
Tuesday - AOI Logic Implementation - Video
Thursday - This is actually an A day since Wednesday is PSAT testing
Friday - Boolean Algebra Simplification - Video

This Week at RRHS
If you look at the calendar, you would think there is a mistake with both Wednesday and Thursday being listed as an A day.  That is, in fact, actually the case - sort of.  All sophomores and juniors will take the PSAT test Wednesday morning, and the seniors and freshmen will be involved in related activities as well. Therefore, the only "normal" A day schedule will be Thursday.  Tuesday and Friday will be regular B days, and the schedule will return to normal next week.

Other than that twist, the schedule is normal.  No late start or pep rally schedules to contend with.  The six weeks, however, is not normal.  We will have only 5 weeks in this six week grading period, so staying on top of grades is even more critical than it normally would be.  The progress reporting period will end next Friday, and you will have less than 2 weeks from the time they come home before the complete end of this six weeks.  The school year is flying by quickly!

College Rep Visits This Week
None.  The next scheduled visit by a college rep will be Concordia next Tuesday.

Week of Oct 6

This week in DE
This week, we will start understanding the building blocks of digital electronics, combinational logic, often referred to as AOI logic for the 3 basic logic gates: And, Or, & Inverter.  Be sure that you watch the video in Edpuzzle so that you can take the embedded quiz.
I am beginning something new.  I can link the agendas for each day here on this site, and the agendas contain links to the pages for each individual lesson.  In that way, you can get access to Powerpoint and video instructions for the lessons as well as the assignment itself from anywhere you have computer access.  This should make it easier for you to keep up with the work and to know "what we did when I missed class".   If the agenda for each day of the week is not here at the start, check back as the week progresses since I will update this page as information central.  You will also find a link to the agenda on the calendar entry for that day.

If you are interested in the Spark conference at Texas A&M on November 22, you need to get your full team registered (or yourself, if you are not part of a team) right away.  Registrations are filling up.

Agendas for this week
Tuesday: Combination Logic - Video
Thursday: Writing Truth Tables from Logic Expressions - Video

This week at RRHS
Grades are due (for me) first thing Tuesday morning, so I will need all assignments from the last six weeks on Monday.  Also, expect report cards to come home Wednesday or Thursday.

Thursday is a late start day, with school starting at 9:25.  All teachers will be in department meetings before school Thursday, so there are no tutorials.

Next Monday (Oct 13) is a student holiday, so enjoy your 3 day weekend.

College Visits
Wednesday - Baylor Univeristy
                      Le Cordon Bleu
Friday - Texas Christian University (TCU)

Week of Sep 29

This Week in DE 

DE classes will start understanding basic logic circuits and building working circuits. On Monday, we will learn about binary numbers and basic logic circuit design steps, followed by a soldering exercise and then briefly introduce sequential logic circuits. For the rest of this year, we will dive deeper in to those types of circuits.

Agendas for the week:
I am going to start linking the agendas for each class day of the week on this page.  Those agendas also have a link to the specific curriculum page in Canvas that contains instructions and the assignment.  You would have to have your Canvas login to access the material.  Wednesday's agenda includes a list of all of the items that need to be completed before Friday for this six weeks' grade.

Videos for this week:
Monday: Binary Numbers
Wednesday: Soldering
Friday: Finish soldering
The agenda now links to the files in Canvas if you need access to them at home.  You have to log in to access the curriculum, the the link will work once you have logged in.


Every year, we send teams to the Texas A&M University Engineering Expo, this year named the Sparc Conference. Students will form teams and compete against each other and teams from other high schools around the state in two of six competitions. The conference is held this year on Saturday, November 22. If you are interested, talk to your friends and start forming a team of at least 6 but not more than 8 students. If you can't build a team of 6 on your own, I can add you to one of our other teams or combine smaller teams. Fill out this interest form so that I can register the teams. There is no cost to you to enter the contest or even transportation. We will provide a bus to take the teams to the A&M campus.


You can choose to compete in one of the following 6 competitoins:

ReservWars - Challenge competitors to understand the structure and function of petroleum reservoirs, as well as how to “clean up” when the war is over (after an oil spill).
The Boat Float - Have you ever wondered how huge ships made of steel float in the water? Explore the principles of buoyancy and density by designing a boat that will float!
Galaxy Glider - Do you want to put your knowledge of airplanes and physics to the test? Then come and join the Galaxy Glider Contest.
Bottle Rocket Cars - Propel your way to the top of the bottle rocket car racing circuit! Design a car that is propelled by a fizzy reaction and watch it beat the clock!
Code to Survive - Survival is an unforgiving game, and it's your job to keep your organism alive. You must program a brain to gain competitive edge!
The Egg Express - Can you deliver the goods? Your engineering team must construct a casing for an egg that will withstand free fall to a hard surface from various heights, as well as have the capability to float.

See me if you have any additional questions, but I need to register teams this week before registration fills up.

This Week at RRHS
No special schedules this week; just the normal routine except that this is the last week of the first six weeks. Make sure that you are on top of all assignments and grades as I will need the weekend to get any work graded and entered before report cards come out next week. .

College Recruiter Visits This Week:
Monday - University of Alabama
Wednesday - Johns Hopkins
Friday - Southwestern University
               The University of Chicago

Check with the counselors' office to sign up if you are interested in speaking with representatives of one of these universities.