Demographics
Curie Metropolitan High School has 3000 students in grades 9-12. It is a 1+ school in the Chicago Public School (CPS) District and holds 93.1% of the students below the poverty level. Thus, Curie Metropolitan High School students are eligible and do receive free lunch and breakfast. The school is located on the southwest side of Chicago, a few blocks from Midway Airport. Academic year 2018-2019, the Career Technology and Education Program (CTE) introduced the first year of a 4 year Pre-Engineering major using curriculum from Project Lead the Way (PLTW). The first year, the students take a class called Introduction to Engineering Design (IED) where the students learn how to use the Computer Aided Design Program Autodesk Inventor make drawings and execute the building of half a dozen small projects and a final design project. The second year of the pre-Engineering program is called Principles of Engineering (POE). This course has a section on “Energy Sources and Applications” where this unit will be included. I was hired by CPS to lead and develop the pre-Engineering program. I have completed my first year of teaching High School after making a career change as a contributor in the Pharmaceutical Industry as a Chemical Engineer improving manufacturing processes to reduce costs as well as an Analytical Chemist developing methods for the quantitation of active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug products. At this time, I have 2 POE classes for the 2019-2020 academic year, each with 30 students and 1 IED class. One POE class will be sophomore students and the second junior students. The pre-Engineering major requires the students to stay in the program the entire duration of their high school years. The class meets for 50 minutes every school day. This unit is planned for three weeks with activities first and understanding the principles after each activity.
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