SCIENCE
TBAISD Career-Tech Center provides students with the opportunities to earn academic credit in science. There are currently two highly-qualified teachers in science, teaching in the Manufacturing Technology Academy (MTA). Chemistry Physics, and Advanced Physics are course offerings available to the MTA students. In addition, the students in the Agriscience/Natural Resources program have the potential to earn Biology credit as a result of the alignment of the curriculum to the Biology standards and the fact that the instructor of this program is certified to teach science. Students in Allied Health I and II also have the ability to earn 3rd year Science credit because of their involvement in the program and the fact that the instructors are also highly-qualified in science.
Sample project materials, from the MTA's Chemistry and Physics classes, appear below as links, along with short descriptions of these project materials.
TBAISD Career-Tech Center provides students with the opportunities to earn academic credit in science. There are currently two highly-qualified teachers in science, teaching in the Manufacturing Technology Academy (MTA). Chemistry Physics, and Advanced Physics are course offerings available to the MTA students. In addition, the students in the Agriscience/Natural Resources program have the potential to earn Biology credit as a result of the alignment of the curriculum to the Biology standards and the fact that the instructor of this program is certified to teach science. Students in Allied Health I and II also have the ability to earn 3rd year Science credit because of their involvement in the program and the fact that the instructors are also highly-qualified in science.
Sample project materials, from the MTA's Chemistry and Physics classes, appear below as links, along with short descriptions of these project materials.
- ALLOY PROJECT: The alloy research project/presentation, used in MTA's Chemistry and Physics classes, is the final, culminating assignment where students incorporate and apply the basic metallurgy skills learned earlier in a unit that comprises the manufacturing and engineering curriculum for materials science. Woven throughout are the applications of chemistry and physics. The final presentation requires students to demonstrate their mastery of some of the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts. Utilizing the resources of local business partners, the students tour AlcoTec and Century Sun in Traverse City which adds an increased dimension to the unit, as students can see where the skills they have learned are applied.
- RACE WITHOUT HASTE: The “Race without Haste” project challenges students in the Honors Physics class to use identical kits of LEGO parts including beams, gears, wheels, pulleys, battery packs and motors to design and build a battery-powered vehicle that will travel a specific distance (35 feet, for example) down a hallway in a specific amount of time (3 minutes, for example). The students use gear and pulley ratios and the linear velocity equation (v = 2pr/T) to convert the rotational velocity (frequency) of their motor (in rpm) to linear velocity (in feet/second) and calculate the gear-and-pulley gear reductions necessary to achieve the linear velocity that will get their vehicle to the finish line exactly on time.