Principles of Engineering (POP & POE) is a foundation course of the high school engineering pathway. This survey course exposes students to some of the major concepts that they will encounter in a postsecondary engineering course of study. Through problems that engage and challenge, students explore a broad range of engineering topics, including mechanisms, the strength of materials and structures, automation, and kinematics. The course applies and concurrently develops secondary-level knowledge and skills in mathematics, science, and technology. This course is a required course for incoming ninth-grade students and due to trimester scheduling is split into two different trimesters, Principles of Physics and Principles of Engineering. Both trimesters are required to count as POE for PLTW national.
Students have the opportunity to develop skills and understanding of course concepts through activity-, project-, and problem-based (APPB) learning. By solving rigorous and relevant design problems using engineering and science concepts within a collaborative learning environment, APPB learning challenges students to continually hone their interpersonal skills, creative abilities, and problem-solving skills. Students will also learn how to document their work and communicate their solutions to their peers and members of the professional community. It also allows students to develop strategies to enable and direct their own learning, which is the ultimate goal of education.
The following is a summary of the units of study that are included in the course for the academic year. Alignment with NGSS, Common Core, and other standards is available through the PLTW Alignment web-based tool.
POE Unit Summary
Unit 1 Energy and Power (30%)
Unit 2 Materials and Structures (24%)
Unit 3 Control Systems (28%)
Unit 4 Statistics and Kinematics (18%)