Wild Willow Farm Exhibition

The students completed their EPICS project for the Wild Willow Farm and Education Center, furthering the farm's educational mission through a public exhibition on environmentally sustainable engineering.

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The Students' Message to the OLP Faculty

The students are enjoying EPICS at OLP, and they would like to share their thoughts on EPICS with the faculty.

Our Large Panel Oven is Ready for Testing

The large panel oven is fully illuminated on our school's lower plaza.

The solar oven above is a collaborative effort between the engineers and artists at OLP. The view shown in the still photo illustrate's the oven's operation, and the video below provides a glimpse of the beautiful artwork that adorns the back of each reflective panel and calls us to become better stewards of the earth.

Personal Solar Ovens in Action

The students are well into testing their solar ovens. A sunny day provided just the right conditions for things to heat up!

An array of personal solar ovens sits on the patio.

The personal parabolic oven stands tall on the lower plaza.

The large panel oven reflectors are ready for testing!

The panels are focused on a single pillar, can you tell which one?

Completed Toolboxes

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Harvesting a Parabolic Dish

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Mrs. Russo and the maintenance team at OLP. Walter, Victor, and George headed to El Cajon with me on Saturday morning to pick up a rather large satellite dish from a local donor. The students will be using the dish to create a parabolic solar cooker, and as the video below shows, disassembling the structure was no small feat. Thanks, again, gentlemen!

Toolboxes: Day 2

The girls are making rapid progress with their toolboxes. Some have finished and moved on to painting their Mason Jars for their solar cooker prototypes; others remain focused on perfecting their toolbox builds. Videos and photos from today's class are below.

On Monday, 1/11, we explored innovation within the context of video game controllers. Being a huge fan of video games, I brought in the bulk of my collection of game controllers. The girls were able to go through about 35 years' worth of video game controller design, and they took notes on their observations. The overall goal was for them to connect deep content knowledge (understanding the history of a product's design and use) with innovation of that product. As they progressed through their tour of controller technology, they also inspected my controller prototypes, which are discussed in detail on my projects page. Below, you'll find video of students discussing what they see as well as a slideshow from the activity.

Toolboxes: Day 1

The girls began working in pairs on their first engineering project on Thursday 1/7, building toolboxes out of cardboard. Each toolbox is built to hold each of the items on the list below. As the girls discussed their work, I was struck by their conversations. They made comments about how it would be great to use some of their knowledge of geometry, and they had a lot of productive exchanges about how best to design and build their toolboxes. As the pictures above indicate, the girls were on task throughout the duration of their work time, and they had a lot of fun!

Toolbox Contents: 

• 1 Roll Packaging Tape

• 1 2 oz Bottle of Black Paint

• 1 1-inch Foam Paint Brush

• 1 Box Cutter

• Two 2-inch Clamps

• One 2-foot by 2-foot Piece of Hardboard

• One 12-inch Ruler

• 1 Hot Glue Gun

• Several Hot Glue Sticks

• 2-3 Regular Glue Sticks

• 1 Mason Jar

• 1 Glass Thermometer

• 2 Oven Bags