Makerspace vs. Engineering Class Curricula......Ideas?

[u/Alternative-Exit-450]

I was told at the end of the last academic year that I would be teaching "my makerspace thing" which was my principals way of saying I'd be teaching a makerspace/fab-lab class for 12th grade.

Yesterday I was informed I am teaching, classes titled, "Makerspace Lab" and "Engineering" separately. Everyone's curricular plans were due today and I had created curricular plans, unit plans, pacing guide, and weekly lesson plans for a singular class based off of my prior proposal for what I'd pitched as a fab-lab that was explained as a pbl centric intro to engineering/fabrication course for seniors that would build towards the completion of a comprehensive capstone project. We're a modern art high school and I wanted to give seniors an opportunity to learn about the scope of engineering, the engineering design process, developing ideas, identifying whether there's a market need for their idea/product/etc, determining if any copyrights exist for their idea, then onto r&d, prototype design, refinement, and eventually a portfolio and final product that they'd pitch as a shark tank type event. I am/was very excited about what I'd developed.

Now, in 2 days I am supposed to have moved the entirety of my lab(all of my own personal lab equipment), setup my room all over again, and split what was one curriculum into 2 noticeably different ones before monday.

I do have some kids in both my engineering class and my makerspace class. Therefore, I'm trying to determine how to make them fundamentally different classes while not having to "reinvent the wheel" with such little time.

My initial idea was to focus more on the scope of engineering, the mathematic/physics/chemistry theory throughout engineering(some pre-calc, applied math, trig, etc) as well as material science fundamentals, drafting, AutoCAD, etc. I'm struggling with how to make it engaging and how to order it.

Makerspace I'm thinking I will mostly use the curricula I'd made already.

Any ideas, thoughts, suggestions would be very appreciated.

[u/SignorJC]

First, tell your boss to get it the fuck together and give you more time. Their lack of planning does not create a crisis for you.

Second, there are some engineering orgs that have curricula you can look at for support. IEEE has one as does Siemens. Siemens is very CAD focused.

[u/Alternative-Exit-450 → u/SignorJC]

I couldn't begin to describe the cluster f*$k that we refer to ask a school I work at. If I didn't love my colleagues and our kids so much I'd have been long gone. Additionally, our kids are from the poorest areas in chicago and, as sad as this may sound, they are so excited and thankful for what I feel are fundamental lab experiences. They'd seen the 3d printers I'd bought and lost their minds so it's hard to leave kids who make me feel like I'm doing something worthwhile. Admin makes everything more difficult but I'm thankful for people like yourself who are willing to share info, resources, etc.

[u/UnicornTech210]

I can connect you with someone who can send you a lot of engineering labs (and also the materials) 

[u/Alternative-Exit-450 → u/UnicornTech210]

I would be SOOOO incredibly thankful. I sincerely appreciate it if that is something you would do. I'd be happy to share anything that might help in return. I've got plenty of chemistry, physics, biology content, curricula, etc. I've created over the years.

[u/UnicornTech210 → u/Alternative-Exit-450]

I am going to send you a message

[u/PNWGreeneggsandham]

What in the charter school is this? Personal lab equipment?? So when a student breaks your materials you’re SOL and the school will prob not reimburse you.

I’d be more worried about a student injuring themselves in your personal equipment and the school saying they are not liable as it was your machine and leaving you on the hook for damages. There was just a case nearby where a student sued the district and teacher for a welding accident saying the welder wasnt up to new safety requirements.

[u/Alternative-Exit-450 → u/PNWGreeneggsandham]

You probably wouldn't believe half of the sh*$ that goes on where I work. I'd worked at a very well respected HS in the suburbs prior to where I am now. During my time at the suburban high school my mentor/best friend has been the science dept chair for the last 15 years and helped prepare me for an administrative role. So, while I still have a lot to learn I believe I'm a fairly capable department chair thanks to him.

When I began at the charter school I'm at now I asked about chemical hygiene plans, lab safety protocols, lab storage, etc and they hadn't the slightest clue what I was talking about. In fact, I was initially told that all science teachers are to develop their curricula using the ACT science standards and not to "worry about" NGSS.

When I'd tried to explain that the state delegates all HS science classes are obligated to be NGSS aligned I was told that wasn't accurate. I tried to point out that the ACT science standards aren't even written to be learning standards in place of NGSS. So, I reached out to the individual in charge of STEM academics for Chicago Public schools who sent me a gem of a reply stating in no uncertain terms that anyone suggesting NGSS can be replaced with ACT science standards is objectively wrong.

This is pretty aligned with the stupidity, incompetence, egomaniacal administration I work under.