Teacher: Bill Meyer School: Kittatiny Regional High School, Newton, New Jersey Impact: PTC and teacher stimulate CAD interest through coursework and state and national competitions
When Charlie Woods learned that a scheduling conflict bumped him out of his first choice sophomore year elective, computer programming, he was disappointed and settled instead on taking Bill Meyer's "Computer Aided Design" course. Little did he know that in only nine months, he would win first place in the state Technology Student Association (TSA) competition and second in the nation in "CAD engineering."
Sophomore Leo Inglima enrolled in the same CAD course as Charlie as a way to become familiar with the teacher and computer programs he will be exposed to when he takes his favorite subject, architecture, in the following year. Later the same school year, Leo won the state TSA competition in "CAD 3-D modeling," and placed third in the nation.
Both students entered and won trophies in the Technology Student Association's state (qualifying round) and national (final round) competitive events in their respective divisions of CAD engineering and CAD 3-D modeling. Charlie and Leo attribute their successes and trophies to their technology teacher, Bill Meyer, and to PTC's Pro/DESKTOP software, which gave them the power to triumph in their respective competitions and come home champions.
Design the Foundation - PTC's Design & Technology in Schools Program
Charlie and Leo entered the Kittatinny Regional High School design and technology program through Bill Meyer's "Computer Aided Design." The program is built on Pro/DESKTOP, easy-to-use 3D software PTC makes available to schools for free through its Design & Technology in Schools program. In addition to the software, the program makes affordable teacher training and instructional materials available to more than 5,000 middle and high schools worldwide.
"During my 29-year teaching career, I have never seen a company do as much for education as PTC," said Bill Meyer. "PTC makes it simple for teachers to incorporate Pro/DESKTOP into the classroom. The free software is a complete package, not a slimmed down evaluation model, and it is easy to teach. Aside from learning CAD, Pro/DESKTOP has really helped my kids with their math and problem solving skills."
In his "Computer Aided Design" course, Bill Meyer introduced Charlie, Leo and their classmates to the world of 3D modeling and helped them learn the language of engineering drawing. The students became proficient in PTC's Pro/DESKTOP during the first quarter of the school year and quickly progressed to use the software for design and problem solving.
"We don't waste a whole year trying to get them to use the program," said Meyer. "We teach them the basics in the first marking period and then get them into real design projects in a short timeframe."
One of Charlie and Leo's first assignments was to respond to a newspaper article about how bicycle handlebars cause bodily harm during crashes or falls. The students designed a new type of handlebar that could help children withstand a fall and avoid further harm. First, the students collaborated on various ideas and approaches. Then, they moved to the computer to use Pro/DESKTOP to create their solutions (see Picture 1). In another assignment, students created their own chess set (see Picture 2). Through the combination of creative design challenges, the students gained a firm foundation of CAD and design engineering with Pro/DESKTOP.
Picture 1: Handlebars, designed by Bo Lawson
Picture 2: Chess Set, designed by Bienne Frey
Execute the Design
As a result of their comfort level with the software through Bill Meyer's CAD course, Charlie and Leo chose to enter the Technology Students Association's state competition. In February, the assignments for the CAD-3D modeling and CAD engineering were released. The students decided to participate in March and turned in their entries just two weeks later to meet the April deadline.
Leo's CAD-3D modeling contest was to design a "Johan Von Duseldorf Memorial Trophy" commemorating the fictional eccentric automobile designer who described his cars as "having the power of an orangutan and the grace of a freshly-extruded pretzel." Using Pro/DESKTOP, Leo designed one large trophy that embodied all of these elements: 2.5 pretzels (representing the 2.5 cars Von Duseldorf manufactured), lightening bolts (symbolizing power), one swan (demonstrating grace), and a generic car, which he named Von Duseldorf. Leo built each of the components separately as Pro/DESKTOP drawings and then assembled them together in one large file using the mating and aligning tools (see Picture 3).
"Pro/DESKTOP was very helpful, and the work we did through the year really helped get me on my feet to be able to use the full functionality of the program," said Leo. "In the state competition, the judges were familiar with Pro/DESKTOP and were impressed that I was able to use it to design my trophy. Pro/DESKTOP also gave me an advantage because the quality of my design output was better and more realistic than my competitors and I was able to show multiple views and perspectives in correct proportions. OK, my design wasn't as graceful as other trophies, but Pro/DESKTOP gave me the edge I needed to win first place."
Picture 3: Leo's trophy
Charlie's CAD engineering state contest challenge was to design a toothpaste tube holder that could also be used to push the paste out of the tube. Charlie had a plan and with Pro/DESKTOP, was able to make that plan come to life. First, Charlie modeled the toothpaste holder using features including extrusion, sweep and revolve. Then, he put it into a drawing and used Pro/DESKTOP to dimension it and make adjustments needed to ensure his product would work in the real world. Charlie printed out several views of his product from different angles and laid the designs out on poster board for judging (see Picture 4).
"Pro/DESKTOP was really simple to use and had a lot of good features that made it easy for me to develop my entry," said Charlie. "My favorite feature was being able to model something, then call it into a drawing to view it from different perspectives. It was so much easier to design a product this way than by hand."
Picture 4: Charlie's toothpaste dispsnserAdvance to Nationals
With their first-place wins in New Jersey, both Charlie and Leo advanced to the national competition in Denver in June 2002. Unlike the state competition, where the students had weeks to prepare their entries, the national CAD competition was a timed, on-site event. Students were split into the respective categories and had four hours to complete their entries based on their unique challenges. They could bring whatever tools or software they thought they would need; Charlie and Leo brought laptops with Pro/DESKTOP.
Charlie's CAD engineering competition required him to draw a part using given dimensions and show it from multiple views in less than four hours. He used Pro/DESKTOP to enter the dimensions and model the object. Then, he called it into a drawing and dimensioned it to make sure he returned back to the original figures. Charlie won second place in the national competition for his drawing, demonstrating his proficiency in CAD engineering.
"I finished faster than most because of Pro/DESKTOP," said Charlie. "It was pretty straightforward and I'm glad I was able to have practiced the functionality from Mr. Meyer's class before having to do it under pressure. I'm definitely going to enter the competitions again next year."
Leo's 3D CAD challenge was to reproduce a given part on the computer exactly as it appeared in real life, lay it out into different views, and dimension every part of it. Armed with Pro/D, Leo jumped right in with enthusiasm. Unfortunately, after the first two hours, Leo's computer crashed and he lost everything. He did not give up. Instead, Leo rebooted his computer, redesigned his part, laid it out, and dimensioned it. Leo finished third in the national 3D CAD competition.
"The work we did in class really helped me in the national competition," said Leo. "I didn't have to guess about how to do anything because I already knew how to use Pro/DESKTOP. With something like dimensioning, it can be really hard, but with Pro/DESKTOP, it was easy. Without Pro/DESKTOP, I wouldn't have been able to finish after my computer crashed. It worked out well for me and I was really happy with the results."
"One of the reasons why the kids did so well is that they were using a real product - one that approaches these challenges in a professional way," said Bill Meyer. "With other software programs, our students couldn't have learned the ins and outs within a year well enough to rank in the top categories of a national competition. When the competition was over, they had demonstrated proficiency in using the software as a tool for design and communication."
What's Next for the Champions?
Charlie and Leo, although proud of their accomplishments, have not let their victories cloud their judgment. Both students remain focused on their academic careers. Charlie, who hadn't considered CAD as a course or career option in the past, has enrolled in "CAD/Animation" to learn more about opportunities in design engineering. Leo is taking his architectural design course with Bill Meyer this year, and is staying current on Pro/DESKTOP in preparation for this year's state and national competitions.
The Technology Students Association will post the criteria for the state competition in February 2003 [http://www.tsawww.org/competitive_events/] Charlie and Leo are eagerly awaiting their assignments so they can capture the gold and advance to the national competition for the second year in a row. No matter what the challenge, the students, under the guidance of Bill Meyer, who has led teams to the national competition for 15 years (the last four years using Pro/DESKTOP), are designed to succeed.
"It's great to see that a corporation finally understands that for schools to offer kids the highest-quality education, companies need to start to get involved," said Bill. "PTC's Design & Technology in Schools program is the first program that lets me take limited resources and spend them in other ways to help the students because the software and support materials are taken care of already. Everything PTC has done so far has gone beyond what other companies have done. The company doesn't just make promises and then walk away. PTC really follows through for its schools, teachers and students."
