Engineered for success

North Allegheny SD recognizes the value of learning to follow detailed instructions and attend to careful design measurements and drawings. Each year during middle school, students learn technology and engineering skills. Recently, students at Ingomar Middle School went home with a handmade gift that most of us would lack the skill to manufacture. The gift was a stool that included hinges for folding flat. In order to make this project, students were challenged to crosscut material using a table saw and band saw. They used a series of fixtures to accurately place holes and over several weeks, they followed detailed instructions including cutting chamfers and rounding the ends of legs freehand. They painstakingly prepared all surfaces for finish with abrasive paper and then finished the project with a personal design engraved on the top. Students took their projects home with a sense of pride in their accomplishment and the teacher, Jennifer Smoller, said, “I saw the students pay more attention to detail and work meticulously throughout the entire project. They were invested in it!”