Projects for PolyMet

Earlier in the summer I was told of an opportunity I may have to work on some projects for PolyMet at part of my work as a summer intern for IRE, and that day came yesterday. I went out to the PolyMet office in Hoyt Lakes and met with Paul Brunfelt and Dave Hughes. They told me of two projects I can help them with. The first involves digitizing and graphing electrical measurements from the last 6 months. This will take a lot of time and organization using Excel. The other project has me working with Bob Soular, a very experienced mine worker, from whom I can learn a lot. We are searching out, measuring/identifying, and recording materials left in the tailings basin area. I look forward to this opportunity to work with engineers and mine workers, and learning what I can about this area of engineering.

STEM Camp

Today we helped the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) Camp students with their models. In teams they have designed systems to address a need, with a main focus on renewable energy. They all had creative ideas including installing solar panels on the roof of the local mall and building more wind turbines in the area. I think they all had fun today building models that match their designs. They are also making Powerpoint presentations and will later present their ideas to the group of faculty involved.

Construction Update

The construction crews recently finished demolition on our new space. Electricians have been working this week on updating the electrical system. The ventilation guys have also been working hard to finish their project. We have a long way to go and only a few weeks before we will be moving in, but with all everyone working hard it should come together even better than last years project.

MN Cup

Whoa! That is about all I can say about the last couple weeks. We have been spending almost all of our time preparing our business plans for the second round of the MN Cup. As a refresh for some people, the IRE interns had two projects that made it past the first round of the MN cup. They were the "Pedal Powered Canoe" and the "Power Trowel Solution Applicator". Much time has been spent meeting with consultants, who have been helping us with the business aspect of the project. As well as meeting with our clients; discussing where we are at on the projects, getting their input, and doing some prototype testing with them. Right now our biggest focus is getting the business plans done for the second round of the cup. These documents are due July 23^rd, which is just around the corner. From there we will find out if any one of the project are a finalist.

S.T.E.M. Camp

Today, as part of the summer science and math camp, they had a guy from Boulder Blasters come and teach the kids how he breaks boulders. He also taught the the difference between compressive and tensile strengths of rocks. Since a rock is ten times stronger in compression it is much easier to break the rock with tension. Rather than use a large machine to pull the rock apart, they use a small explosive to break the rock from the inside out. To do this he used a pneumatic jackhammer-like drill to create a hole deep into the rock. Then he filled the hole to the top with water and inserted a small explosive, very similar to a shotgun shell. Then, attached to a string, a firing pin on a steel block was set on top of the hole. When he pulled the string the firing pin plunged into the water, setting off the built-in firing pin in the explosive. When this explosive went off it split the rock into three pieces from the inside out. It was a very impressive and entertaining demonstration.

Weekly Schedule '10-'11

During a recent design review we learned what our weekly schedule would look like for the upcoming school year. The schedule divides our time so half is focused on learning and half is focused on projects. We are maintaining a schedule that resembles the work week, planning to be in class from 8-4 on weekdays. When we come in on Mondays in the early morning our design group will get together and have a meeting addressing what we will need to get done this week on our project. Tuesday and Thursday are planned to be project workdays, while Wednesday will be a time for design reviews, including preparation and presentation. We are also planning to have a guest speaker come in once a week, inviting them to speak to us over a lunch prepared by a group of students. We will have plenty study time supplemented by group learning conversations. This learning will prepare us for the learning portion of our design review as well as for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, taken once a semester, and for a new round of weekly evaluations. Instead of all being lumped together in one week our concept inventories and several other evaluations will be spread out over the course of the semester. With this schedule, we will have plenty of time for both learning and producing, without too much time lost in transition, while allowing enough time for evaluation, community outreach and visits from engineers in the field.

Proofed by Deric Phillips

Business Plans

We are continuing to work on the business plans for the Minnesota Cup. It is a different type of work than we are used to. Instead of using Pro-E and crunching numbers we are conducting market studies and researching patents. We're trying our best to get a rough draft finished so we can receive feedback from our business mentors. I believe we are on track for the July 23rd deadline. Aside from this, tomorrow we are watching a slab being poured. We will finally get to see our power trowel system in action. We will be able to gather important information to use to improve the efficiency of our system.

Proofed by Deric

Problem Based Learning Speaker at ASEE

In the end of June while at the American Society of Engineering Education national conference in Louisville, I attended a distinguished lecturer presentation by Dr. David Jonassen from the University of Missouri. He spoke about the power of problem/project based learning.

Near the end of the speech, he made this statement: "Problem Based Learning is the single greatest advancement in education in the last 25 years". The focus of the presentation was on transforming the way we teach engineering students. Another quote: "The nature of the problems that engineers solve is quite different from the problems we ask engineering students to solve."

Dr. Jonassen continued to completely make the case for the IRE model of engineering education. Additionally, he gave me several ideas for improving the way do business. Here are some more comments I took from the workshop:

• engineers solve ill-structured, non-standard, unanticipated problems
• argumentation is one of the most powerful learning tools
• understanding is closely related to students' abilities to ask meaningful questions
• work to get our students to articulate how they think
• teach students to use concept maps to represent relationships
• pbl brings authenticity, intentionality, and conceptual anchoring to the learning process
• experts base everything they know on their experiences...students need to begin building their experiences...stories are a way for students to gain experiences from practicing engineers

and lots more!

• Dr. Jonassen has a new book coming out: Learning to Solve Problems: A Handbook for Designing Problem-Solving Environments.

I am going to get a copy as soon as it is released.

Ron

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Last week was a busy week of internship. Deric, Andrew, Nick, Cory, and I took a quick trip to the big cities for a presentation on what to expect for the second round of the Minnesota Cup, as well as tips from previous winners on how to write a successful business plan. Also in the week, a design review detailing what the next steps will be as well. Between the discussions from advisors and mentors on how to formulate and write the ten-page plan, and the actual writing of the plan, last and this week have kept everyone on their toes.