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Kevin Chen

KEEP SEWING. Senior Ruth Mellin crafts a prototype of a bag that will be used as a reference when creating the final product.

Teachers Scot Hovan and Kate Lockwood are engineering a new course. This semester, students who have taken Principles of Engineering and the other Advanced Topics in Engineering course will be able to take Advanced Topics in Engineering: Products.

“I would say product engineering is a little bit broader but a little bit more in depth at the same time. And what I mean by that is, in like, aerospace engineering, for instance, the students are given particular topics, and like, maybe they’re going to design a rocket that can fly to a certain altitude. But in this particular course, I give them a problem for the first project, And that is ‘How can we help the Lower School students be more successful at carrying their winter gear?’” Hovan said.

Lockwood created the idea of the Lower School winter gear project, the duo focused on teaching techniques in design thinking, research, and physics to have a direct impact on the SPA community. This design thinking is incorporated into the beginning of the course with readings from Don Norman’s “The Design of Everyday Things,” which takes a step back from physics for a moment to consider the fundamentals of design, making something intuitive and functional. The students also take part in research by brainstorming their ideas and going directly to the Lower School to interview teachers and take video footage of students using their winter gear. However, the freedom of the class allows students to study different techniques, .such as learning 3D printing and using software like Fusion 360.

Hovan is interested in the potential of this class.

“I’d love to see as this continues to run. I think it’s supposed to go every other year. We’ll see how that plays out. But I’d love to have it connected to the community where we could actually solicit ideas from community members about problems that we could actually work on,” Hovan said.

With its focus on engineering principles, open-endedness, and connection to the community, Products Engineering is a welcomed addition to the course list.