GWTIP Educational Transfer Plan - … will show students Fortessa’s Travertina plate and Lucca ... dialogue, how to use a certain function on a ... Transfer Plan School

GWTIP Educational Transfer Plan

Teacher Information

Name Claudia Allen‐ Williams

School Seneca Ridge Middle

Grade Level and Content 6‐8th to 8th grade

Email [email protected]

Companies Visited Washington Dulles International Airport, Inova Loudoun Hospital, Telos, Fortessa

Observations Classroom Connections

Chris Brown, Vice President and General Manager of the Washington Dulles Airport explained that development has been strategically undertaken and accomplished in phases. These developments are directly driven by the growth in the population of the Washington/ Dulles corridor.

Revamping our 8th grade Rainbow Bay project by having students design the following as they consider the population and housing development for each town in the city of Rainbow Bay:

1. A state of the art hospital with at least 2 unique features.

2. Education facilities at the different levels. 3. A cost effective and environmentally friendly

roadway system. 4. A transportation system for various income

groups. 5. Manufacturing and Retail zones 6. Tourist attractions 7. A state of the art airport 8. Civic buildings 9. Create a website to generate publicity for the

various developments occurring in their town. 10. We would also ask Chris or a member of his staff

to discuss with our students the ways in which population growth has influenced the airport’s development.

Mr. Ralph Buona, Senior Vice President of Corporate Business Development at Telos spent some time giving us insights into the Bid and proposal process flow for government contracts. He specifically mentioned that at times there are protests whenever a project is awarded. These protests usually originate from the other companies who were not successful in their bid.

Students would be required to create a protest component to their presentations if their company was not awarded the contract. This is an excellent way to add realism to the project as well as give students the opportunity to develop or fine tune these system skills.

Scott and Eric Hamberger, CEO and COO respectively of Fortessa, as well as their entire staff, stress the importance of a. Innovative ideas b. Using every day experiences as inspiration for

design ideas c. Creating products based on arising societal needs. d. Using state of the art marketing techniques such

as social networking, instead of expensive advertising campaigns to publicize their brand.

e. Use focus groups to ensure market appeal and demand for product and specific design features.

We will use their company as inspiration to make our 6th and 7th grade Pencil Company a more realistic one by having each company do the following:

1. Create a unique, interesting, and appealing logo and slogan.

2. Create resumes and later interview for the various positions in each company.

3. Use their own daily experiences as inspiration to generate workable project ideas.

4. Use focus groups to make final decisions on product designs and consumer demand.

5. Create marketing campaigns which include utilizing the various social media.

Logo and slogan samples could be pitched to the marketing department as well as the management of Fortessa, so they give our students professional guidance. As an extension to our Invention project our students could also create a design for a Fortessa plate and submit them to the company for their critique.

At Inova Loudoun Hospital there is a very vibrant PR team led by Mr. Tony Raker, Director of Public Relations and Marketing. Mr. Raker explained the importance of having both negative and positive PR for the hospital.

Students will be required to establish a public relations position for both Rainbow Bay and Pencil Company. They will also devise various negative and positive scenarios which will organically occur at critical points of both simulations, to which their PR personnel will have to effectively respond. We will also ask our partners from the PR staff of Inova Loudoun Hospital to allow students to visit to see their work as well as provide guidance to conceptualize both the positive and negative scenarios as well as craft their PR responses.

At all the companies visited, Inova Loudoun Hospital, Fortessa, and Telos the staff discussed with us the importance of maintaining a simple, streamlined, almost ‘home town’ feel, but at the same time maintaining a dominance in their field and earning a world class, high tech reputation as the best at what they do. I was intrigued by the juxtaposition of both elements.

Students will be required to form writing groups to create murder mysteries which take place in settings like the companies we visited:

1. A high tech company like Telos 2. A world class company like Fortessa 3. A state of the art ‘hometown’ hospital like

Inova Loudoun Hospital Each mystery will feature at least one high tech gadget.

Groups will work in secret to craft their own mystery.

Completed mysteries will be exchanged among the different groups for solution on our MYSTERY DAY. Students would visit these companies and have dialogue with their staff to prepare for their various tasks.


Teacher Information

Name Katherine Dalland

School Seneca Ridge Middle School

Grade Level and Content 6th grade Language Arts


Companies Visited INOVA Loudoun, Fortessa, Telos

Educational Transfer Plans


At INOVA Loudoun, I saw Renee Brohard’s PR Portfolio, which included all the print and online articles that resulted from media releases she had written and dispersed.

I will require a new component to students’ writing portfolios: students will include samples of peer writing that they have influenced. Students will annotate the peer samples using the Review—New Comment tool in Microsoft Word. Annotations will explain how the student affected their peer’s writing, for instance, “I helped Jake decide to add more dialogue here.”

INOVA Loudoun displays LCPS student art in the hospital halls. The hospital uses wooden frames that permanently hang, and student work cycles through.

I will look for public spaces where student poetry can be displayed in a similar manner to student art. I will include students in the process of brainstorming public spaces that would be enhanced by poetry displays and writing proposals to gain permission and suggesting designs for the displays. Before writing poetry to display, for instance, at the hospital, I will expose students to poems and other texts that relate to themes of healing and grieving. Students’ poems will evolve from responses to these texts.

At INOVA Loudoun, I learned that the field of Public Relations involves coordinating with multiple people to communicate information via various mediums.

I will turn the classroom into a “broadcasting company” at the end of a unit. Students will work in small teams to compose and publish media messages that convey what they learned and produced in a unit. Examples of varying group assignments include: writing a press release for the principal; writing a newsletter using Microsoft Publisher aimed at a parent audience; writing and recording a podcast script for a peer audience; writing and recording a video news script to replay in class. Students will elicit feedback from PR contacts at industries before sharing their work with audiences.

At Dulles Airport and INOVA Loudoun, I observed redundancies in place to keep their services activated under emergency situations.

I will apply the concept of redundancies to make the editing process more concrete and thorough for student writers. We will discuss the types and necessity of redundancies and I will link the discussion to the concept of editing your writing with multiple lenses before publishing for an audience. I will set up several locations in the classroom where students will engage in different stages of the editing process. The computer station will be designated as the place where students sit to revise for fluency by reading aloud their work in Audacity. At other stations students will revise for punctuation, spelling, etc.

I learned how Fortessa has created three different brands which they market to different customer tiers.

I will design a project where students create two different catalog brands that advertise books. One will be aimed at a peer audience and the other at a younger audience. Students will select popular books to include in the catalog, create a brand name, design the format and graphics to appeal the audience, and write blurbs about the books that are age appropriate.

At Fortessa, new design ideas are sometimes sparked by everyday materials.

I will show students Fortessa’s Travertina plate and Lucca metalware, explaining how the design ideas came from a stone wall and a wristband. Students will select something they want to design (metalware, a shoe, etc.). I will take students to the outdoor classroom, and they will sketch natural objects that give them design ideas. Then I will lead them through writing prompts that show how the same natural objects can spark poetry topics.

Fortessa and Telos both list integrity as their central core value.

I will lead students in a word study of the etymology and meaning of integrity. After each short story, novel or biography that the class studies, we will choose one character and examine (through discussion and writing) how they did or did not model integrity. Students will periodically write reflections on their personal integrity.

Telos uses several modes of social media to connect with clients and share their company image. Sometimes it’s a challenge to write a message while constrained by the media (especially tweeting).

I will assign students to write book summaries and book reviews according to the style, tone, length constraints and format of several social media forums. Students will begin writing a multi‐paragraph blog entry, then a Facebook‐style post, then a tweet. Their writing will be shared on the class website so students can connect with each other when selecting new books to read.

Telos employs technical writers.

When students finish their work early, I will give them a technical writing assignment. They will type up a how‐to guide relating to our current studies (how to punctuate dialogue, how to use a certain function on a computer program, etc.) that will be posted on our class website.


Teacher Information

Name Jennifer Doiron

School Park View High School

Grade Level and Content 11‐12 Environmental Explorations


Companies Visited MWAA and Lockheed Martin (2011), Loudoun Water and REHAU (2012)



The George Washington University campus participates in a waste reduction program, featuring pictures of recycled items explaining what they will become and how they are reused.

Students will choose an item Park View recycles, find out its recycle or reuse process and half‐life, then create a display such as a poster, video clip, or interactive station to share with the school. (Energy Conservation, Renewable Resources, Energy Production and Consumption)

At MWAA, we saw how quickly and effectively their employees needed to respond to uncontrolled variables, such as thunderstorms.

During a field investigation, students will be given a task where the teacher has purposefully manipulated their materials to provide an uncontrolled variable, such as missing supplies, improper equipment, of misleading directions. (Scientific Method, Natural History of Loudoun County, How to be a Naturalist)

Much of the success of Loudoun Water comes from their ability to analyze data, predict trends, and extrapolate water needs for Loudoun County that extend out 40 years in to the future.

As an introductory activity students will write down their future goals, describe their action plan to accomplish their goals and correlate what skills and content they hope to obtain from Environmental Explorations that will help them execute their plan.

Before they can begin any project, Loudoun Water needs to obtain the proper permit.

Students will research and choose a community service project that will directly benefits the Park View or Sterling Community and write up a proposal to obtain permission from the correct authority before they can implement their service project. (Natural History of Loudoun County, Bioethics, Conservation)

Mark Mullins of REHAU is the Vice President of legal affairs, and is responsible for understanding and implementing all legal action in REHAU’s North American region: Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Students will be broken into 3 teams (Canada, US and Mexico) to investigate the migratory patterns, life cycle, and laws concerning the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) from the perspective of their country. The 3 teams will then come together to create a unified action plan to conserve and protect the Monarch and its habitat. (Ecology, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environmental Law, Bioethics, Natural History of Loudoun County)

At REHAU, we learned that energy efficiency in Europe is mandated by law.

Students will write a letter to the federal, state or local government providing arguments as to why funding should be provided to convert our school to a net zero school. (Energy Conservation, Renewable Resources, Energy Production and Consumption)

At Loudoun Water and at REHAU water conservation was stressed as a major concern. In their quarry A site, Loudoun Water will be able to store over 1.25 billion gallons of water. In India, REHAU is developing systems for collecting and treating storm water runoff from monsoons to save for the drought seasons.

Students will work in small teams to come up with a unique design to solve the world’s water crisis. They will develop a prototype (model or drawing) and create a presentation to share with the class and business partners. (Populations, Limiting Factors, Watershed Ecology, Water Pollution, Storm Water and Water Treatment, Conservation, Alternative Energy)


Teacher Information

Name Felecia Fisher‐Caruthers, CTE Department Chair

School Tuscarora High School, Leesburg (Loudoun County)

Grade Level and Content 11th & 12Th Marketing


Companies Visited Lockheed Martin and DBI Architects



Sancha Flynn, Project Manager at DBI, told us about how they rebranded their image and documentation of their company. Marcia Brazda, Executive Producer, Creative Services talked to us about how TV Production has become a part of branding for Lockheed Martin.

Re‐Branding/Personal Branding I am going to use this to have the students market themselves as leaders. They are going to create promotional items that are constructed around the image that will be portrayed to others. The students will create a logo; self SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis; self‐descriptive slogan or saying; business cards, Facebook page, website and Twitter. The students will create their mission statement, vision statement, and “elevator” speeches.

Alan Hansen of DBI Architects and the Loudoun County Design Cabinet discussed the Signature of Loudon Design Excellence Program.

Signature of Loudon Design Excellence Program As the Department Chair, I am going to use this information to work collaboratively with my Technology Education department to get students the opportunity to join the jury on the "Students' Choice Award" and critic the designs from the Signature of Loudoun Design Excellence Program. This will foster a mentorship relationship between the architects and the students involved.

Martine McCluskey, Architectural Products Specialist, from DBI discussed issues of the channels of distribution for getting furniture made and distributed to the customer.

Channels of Distribution Activity Companies use Distribution Channels to move their products from the factory to the end consumer. In this activity, students will move a product ‐ an Eggman ‐ through a customized distribution channel starting in the factory in Italy and ending in a retail store in Virginia.

CeCe Link, LEED AP Senior Account Executive, from Design For Business Interiors talked to us about the software that she uses to furnish the office space of her clients. The marketing department from DBI talked about how they decide to go for business; using the Go/NO‐GO Decision Form.

Teknion Systems – DBI Open office conceptThere will be a hands‐on activity, students will develop a new product concept for a company of their choice using Teknion.com’s website. In groups, students will conduct market research using surveys or focus groups. After conducting the market research, the groups will each create a new product based on their findings.

All our business partners stressed the importance of verbal communication skills and developing professional presentations.

Presentation SkillsPresent a mini‐lesson on creating professional PowerPoint Presentations and effective verbal skills. Record student presentations and have students critique themselves.

Cecilia Miller, the Ethics Officer, from Lockheed Martin talked about Ethics in the workplace.

Ethics – Lockheed Martin Students will create mini lessons and videos on ethics in the workplace. They will create an ethics game for the rest of the class.

Lockheed Martin created a STEM Panel that we had the opportunity to ask questions from young engineers.

Advisory Board Invite the business personnel to become a part of the Tuscarora Advisory Board, which aides in organizing mentorships for the teachers and students with an interest in a particular field of business.

Collaborative and creative problem solving was something all of our business partners stressed as a very important part of their jobs.

Industry ChallengeI will collect sample scenarios from business partners, present them to students as RFPs, and have students work collaboratively in groups to propose solutions. This will be used across the CTE department. Business partners will watch the presentations in person, via Skype, or via recorded video and provide concrete feedback.


Teacher Information

Name Mark Fletcher

School Battlefield High School / PWCS

Grade Level and Content 11/12th Criminal Justice I & II


Companies Visited Fortessa, Inc., INOVA Loudoun Hospital, Telos



At Fortessa, they believe that with the right attitude and motivation, employees can be engaged at the workplace. Adding value to the workplace and constantly challenging the employees helps make this company successful.

Create a police department – (Deb Taylor – Director of Operations) Your goal is to make a police department and present your town and department. Locate and print/transfer a photo or create your own police station, justify why you picked the building you did. (Apply your own Brand for your police dept./make it your own) Scott Hamberger CEO. (possible use of Auto CAD or Google sketch‐up)

At Fortessa, they are looking at new ways of doing things such as: how do we make it better, faster, stronger, and the driving points for the company.

Design your department uniform, to include a description of the items you will have on the officer’s gun belt. Be prepared to justify your uniform choices. (Deb Taylor suggested‐have the girls design a uniform and have the guys design a uniform, then put the two groups together and have them compare the differences between their designs.)

Fortessa sends employees to many of their different locations in order to monitor quality and productivity. From the Warehouse tour ‐ Show the photo of the Warning sign “Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.”

Students will research the US Code Sections listed on the picture and identify the meanings and purpose for the posting of the sign. (Charles Daniels – Director Logistics)

At INOVA Loudoun Hospital, we learned about Job Skills Analysis‐Human Resources Dept. / Looking for a challenging career? Put yourself to the test. Understanding the elements that will get you hired. 1. Leadership/Managership/Followership 2. Human Resources People 3. Critical Thinking 4. Technical Skills

Have students conduct mock interviews for a security job. A peer panel interview will conduct the process applying what they learned from Job Skills Analysis. (Phyllis Ahurn – ED Director)

Volunteer Services at INOVA ‐ Junior program is designed to educate and acquaint the student with the hospital environment and encourage an interest in health care careers.

Do age group specific booklets. The pages of the book can be crossword puzzles, word search, Sudoku, SOL items or create a design of your own. (Joan Reif – Volunteer Services Supervisor)

Telos – is a secure solutions company that deals with; secure communications, identity assurance, information assurance and secure networks. Business areas include; Cyber observations, Communications and Identity.

Create a new useful device that will assist law enforcement in streamlining stolen vehicle recovery. (John Wood – CEO) Examples; Lo‐Jack, On Star, License Readers, etc.

The license readers instantly check plates and the names of vehicle owners against registration records, fugitive warrants, and criminal data bases ‐‐ giving police critical information.

Telos – Tabletop activity: after observing the “Seven” program system demonstration, I can make a classroom connection by performing a Smartboard tabletop exercise. (Lisa Kimball – VP DMDC Operations)

Prepare and organize a tactical deployment to a certain area located in the county. Create an operational order to conduct a mass response to a natural disaster, i.e., flooding after a Hurricane.

Organize:

‐safe escape routes (L/E and citizens) ‐staff relief and back‐up if necessary ‐issue supplies and/or reissue supplies ‐electric power issues ‐vacant home vandalism and/or theft ‐after the water recedes issues ‐people returning to homes ‐conclusion After completing this exercise, have the students exchange their final product for comparison and/or changes by other teams.


Teacher Information

Name Nathalia Hardy

School Freedom High School, South Riding (Loudoun County)

Grade Level and Content 10th Grade English Honors/12th Grade AP English Language and Composition


Companies Visited Neustar and Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA)



Neustar and MWAA require employees to work collaboratively and use creative problem solving skills to delivering quality products in a timely

fashion.

Incorporation of Agile Project ManagementUsing aspects of the Agile process, students will more clearly define project tasks, roles and deadlines, use daily standup meetings to track project progress and troubleshoot impediments. This will teach effective team communication, distribution of responsibility, early troubleshooting of problems and collaboration skills. Teams will also conduct retrospectives of the groups work to assess what worked, what didn’t and what needs to change on a personal and group level. ( SOL)

Dulles Airport’s life‐size hologram acts as a virtual assistant to International Arrivals passengers.

Hologram ActivityWorking in teams students will develop signage for the International Arrivals Terminal considering the following stakeholders: Passengers, Airlines, Customs Border Patrol, TSA, Concessions, Taxis and Hotels. Students will consider the needs of the various stakeholders in design, including culture, language, financial considerations, safety and time constraints. (SOL….)

Jim Rogers, Director of Marketing for Enterprise Services at Neustar explained that his group

creates Powerpoints that will be used by others. They record a video providing examples and the information necessary for the user to effectively

give the presentation.

Communication/Presentation Skills Students will research and create a Powerpoint for a literature unit. They will then create a video enabling another student to effectively give the presentation. (SOL )

This video shows employees throughout the company with a wide background, including

computer sciences, and accounting, talking about the significance of communication in their

company.

Cross Curricular‐ Communication Skills

This video will help students understand how 21st Century employers require all students, not just English majors to be able to write well and speak effectively.

21st Century Companies actively use social media to market and advise customer of their business

activities.

Social Media Skills

Students will draft tweets and Facebook press releases focusing on message and audience.


Teacher Information

Name Jarrod Haselbauer

School Patriot High School – Prince William County Schools

Grade Level and Content 9‐12 Engineering (Project Lead the Way)





Both Lockheed Martin and DBI Architects stressed the necessity for verbal and written communication skills. The “RFP” (Request For Proposal) process was discussed often and as a necessary part of the process of acquiring new business and contracts.

A RFP Project with the need specified by school administration or a business partner would give the students valuable experience as a design team for meeting deadlines, written & oral communications, presentation skills and other applicable content knowledge.

My school will offer a “Civil Engineering & Architecture” class in the 2013‐2014 school year. DBI Architects is a national leader in the field

DBI’s expertise in both field knowledge and software expertise will be invaluable. This can be applied to both content knowledge and possible career resources. For instance: BIM, Master Planning, Revit, etc.)

David, DBI’s IT brought up many usable ideas from open source software and spoke of the usefulness of cloud storage

Audacity, GIMP, Libre Office and other open source resources can be invaluable help for students as well as instruction.

Justin, DBI’s BIM (Building Information Modeling) Specialist spoke about the nuances of BIM and also spoke of a project he did with students in the classroom of a friend of his.

BIM will apply especially well to the CE & A class my school will be offering. Ideas from this process can be applied to many other projects in others classes I teach.

The Lego Activity can be easily adapted to my class. I give each group individual models and have the groups disassemble, draw and write descriptions of each of the pieces and how they object fits together. Exchange the notes between groups and have another group try to model the pieces and assemble the object in Inventor.

mailto:[email protected]

Speaking with all of the individuals from the different companies, many have discussed the use of a collaborative group discussing how to improve “the product”.

I would like to establish an advisory board for my program and get individuals from the school community, business, industry and higher education to participate and give ideas and provide help and feedback to help improve the program.

Working knowledge of several software programs not commonly used or improperly used in schools (Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) is extremely useful in the business world.

Using the Advisory or Flex class time, do mini‐projects involving each of these programs and teach the use of the programs from a basic level to more advanced proficiency over time.

Several of Lockheed Martin’s speakers gave me multiple ideas for projects and learning extensions that would be of personal interest to students, but are not included in normal class content

I have been thinking of starting a Technology or Problem‐Solving Club that would give students the opportunity to work on any related interests that we don’t cover in class but is related to my content and are valuable skill. This would be a great place to use volunteers and mentors from different engineering and technology related firms to help building student knowledge and relationships with high‐end industry in the local area.

Lockheed Martin has several displays with alternative energy and smart power grids and resources. (Tidal energy & OTEC)

I teach a unit on power supply and energy sources. There are several methods Lockheed Martin talked about that are not discussed in my current information and would be valuable to add in, since they are better and new uses for inexhaustible and renewable energy sources.


Teacher Information

Name Nicole “Nikki” Kezmarsky

School Loudoun County High School (Leesburg, VA)

Grade Level and Content Mathematics 9‐12, Department Chair


Companies Visited Neustar & MWAA (2012), MWAA & Lockheed Martin (2011), Telos & Fortessa (2010), Telos & PPI (2009)



At Neustar, we saw the Agile process for software development.

Developing math review materials

Teachers will work in teams to develop materials to help students struggling in math. In subject teams, teachers will develop study materials based on the Virginia Standards of Learning. Teams will hold a weekly “stand up” meeting to set goals and report on progress of material development.

At Neustar, we spoke to several employees who are active in mentoring young people and we

heard about a need for more people qualified to work in engineering and technology fields.

Future Engineering Society

Create a future engineers society (possibly females) and bring in volunteers to meet monthly with groups of students. The volunteers would speak to students about careers in engineering and/or lead engineering and technology‐based activities.

At Neustar, we saw many presentation strategies and tools.

The “flipped classroom”

Design lessons that incorporate video, audio, and technology to create a “flipped classroom.” Short instructional segments will be created and viewed by the students prior to class via the web. During the following class, students will complete practice exercises and/or activities related to the instructional segment. This will allow students to work together and get additional assistance as they work to master course concepts.

At Neustar, we were introduced to an in‐house innovation competition (NeuDev).

RaiderDev Competition

Students will compete in a school innovation competition. Given a week, students will design a project and develop a proposal for something that will improve the school. They will present their ideas to a panel and the panel will vote on which will receive funding for implementation.

At MWAA, we visited the ASIG Fuel Farm and learned about the processes used to get jet fuel

to the planes at Dulles Airport.

Calculus at the Fuel Farm

AP Calculus students will go on a field trip out to the fuel farm for an overview and tour. Fuel farm applications will be incorporated into class examples when discussing Related Rates and Optimization.

At MWAA, we saw many departments where data analysis is a necessary component of daily

operations.

Statistics at the Airport

In teams of 3 or 4, Statistics students will visit various MWAA departments and design a data analysis project based on the data they acquire during these visits. The students will create and present the projects to airport representatives.

At MWAA, we saw the Metrorail bridge over Tyson’s Corner constructed from 10 foot concrete

segments.

Limits on a bridge

This is a great example to use in Math Analysis and Calculus classes when introducing the idea of a limit – the bridge appears to be a smooth curve, but it is actually made up of discrete segments.


Teacher Information

Name Beth Lukas

School River Bend Middle School

Grade Level and Content 8th grade Physical Science


Companies Visited Loudoun Water, REHAU



Loudoun Water and REHAU both rely on engineers to design new products based on market need. Engineers are expected to collaborate on the designs and creation of the products and also on the troubleshooting aspect of the design process. They are expected to effectively communicate these ideas to various departments within the company (marketing, human resources, finance, etc.) to ensure the product meets the market need while still being cost effective.

Students will design a roller coaster using the Engineering Design Process. Students will be expected to work collaboratively in small groups to design the coaster on paper before actually building it. Each piece of tubing and masking tape will have a cost. The goal is to create a coaster that has the best aesthetics and is the most cost effective. Each coaster will have to contain specifics (i.e. 2 loop‐de‐loops and 1 corkscrew). Each group will be surprised with an uncontrolled variable (i.e. sand poured down their coaster, etc.) and required to troubleshoot after being confronted with this unexpected variable. Each group will have to “sell” their coaster to the class and the one with the best aesthetics and cost effectiveness will be chosen for the park. In addition, students will be required to show knowledge of potential and kinetic energy, speed and acceleration.

• PS.1.b, PS.1.l, PS.6.a‐c, PS.10.a

A common skill heavily practiced in both operations is non‐routine problem solving. It is inevitable that a problem will arise with a specific product or on the factory line and this will cause unexpected and puzzling challenges with the end result. A valuable skill is the ability to come up with possible solutions on the fly and then create and test solutions to quickly and effectively solve the problem. Time is money!

Students will be put into small groups and given the following scenario,” you walk into a room and flip the light switch but the light does not turn on. What are the possible reasons for this?”. Each group will come up with a variety of answers and report out, but no one group can say the same idea as another. After this is discussed, students will be given a variety of circuit building supplies (part 1). They will be given a diagram of an “end result” and will have to build that circuit (series circuit) using teamwork and safety skills. However, I will have sabotaged a piece of equipment and they will have to work collaboratively to figure out how to fix the system so that all bulbs light safely. The students will repeat the process but the second time they will build a parallel circuit. At the end of the lesson, the group will need to write out who took on what roles, what problems and solutions they came up with and how that circuit works. PS.1.a, PS.1.k, PS.1.l,

PS.1.m, PS.11.a

At both Loudoun Water and REHAU, the 5s system was utilized for organization throughout the company (sorting, stabilizing, sweeping, standardizing and sustaining the practice).

1. Organize my classroom this way. 2. Have students complete all activities/labs using the

5s system based on the scientific method and safety rules. Have students brainstorm why this method was effective and see if they can brainstorm other careers that would benefit from this system.

• PS.1

Intercultural management is a crucial part of REHAU’s infrastructure. REHAU looks for employees who are willing to learn about other cultures in order to make business for REHAU as successful as possible.

Heather Mason (Manager of HR Development) had us play a card game called BARNGA where each group of 4 had a different set of rules but did not know it. Players were not allowed to verbally communicate‐ they could only use draw symbols and use hand signals. The winning pair had to rotate to play another winning pair without communicating the rules. Discuss with students why this nonverbal communication is important to our interpersonal skills.

• PS.1

Problem solving/idea sharing/troubleshooting is a skill that Loudoun Water and REHAU value in their employees. We saw this in the chemistry lab at Loudoun Water and in the marketing/engineering areas of REHAU. For example, if an automotive product at a REHAU plant is defective, why and what can we do to creatively and efficiently solve this issue?

Give students a materials list for a specific experiment (conservation of mass, acid/base identification, etc.) and have them work collaboratively to write a procedure that demonstrates that concept. Have students carry out their procedure, record their data and share their findings with other groups.

• PS.1, PS.6, PS.10

At Loudoun Water, we were introduced to a filtration process that uses ZEEWEED. It is a long strip of tiny straws that separate the water from the microorganisms.

Have students travel in groups around the room to figure out what various items in the lab are used for, include ZEEWEED in this activity.

• PS.1.l, PS.1.n

Loudoun Water taught us how water moves in and out of the water towers using pressure, potential and kinetic energies.

Have students discover how the water moves in and out of the towers using the terms pressure, potential and kinetic energies. Have students relate this to how a roller coaster completes a track and how electricity moves through a circuit.

• PS.1.n, PS.6.a, PS.11.a


Teacher Information

Name Denise McKenna

School Seneca Ridge Middle School, Sterling VA

Grade Level and Content 7th grade Life Science





At both Loudoun Water and REHAU, the importance of being able to communicate with different audiences was critical. At REHAU, we learned that employees needed to be conscientious of communication differences between engineers and marketers. At Loudoun Water, information transfer was critical between the engineers and operators. Additionally, a REHAU practice for job hiring is to have candidates to make a presentation. This allows them to evaluate preparation skills and other job related competencies. Loudoun Water is also using social media to communicate with the public.

Students need to practice formal and informal language to communicate content ideas. For a unit review strategy, students will make a presentation that would be appropriate and targeted at peers (such as a comic or text message style review cards or a twitter newsfeed) and a second presentation that is more formal. In the second presentation, they will be challenged to make a presentation that would get them hired in a job that requires that unit specific content knowledge. (LS. 1)

Loudoun Water has summer interns who are helping with summer maintenance projects and learning about the community water systems. The interns are current college students that said some of the struggles they experienced in professional and higher education settings were related to time management. They felt they needed more preparation in budgeting their own time and deciding on their own responsibilities.

In order to help students be better at managing themselves, for three successive group projects, they will do tiered group work. In the first project, the roles and assignments of each group member will be defined by the teacher. In the second project, the roles will be defined by the teacher, but the students will self select their assignments. In the third project, the students will be given a task to complete as a team and need to assign their own roles and responsibilities. (LS. 1)

At REHAU we met with Sue Martin who gave us a lot of insight about REHAU as a brand. During her presentation, I immediately realized that every REHAU item has a cohesive format: anything in bold red text was a title, and green thinner text was a major concept. Branding offers consistency and

In classroom handouts, I plan to utilize a consistent format that will help students stay organized. LS. 1 h


makes it easy to access information.

At Loudoun Water, a consistent theme was redundancy. In every situation there was a backup plan, and then a backup plan for a backup plan. For example if the power went out at a community system, there was a generator. If the generator failed, there was a storage tank that would temporarily mitigate the problem until the power could be revived.

At REHAU, David Warren discussed creative problem solving. A problem in a REHAU factory is solved by gathering everyone and having each individual propose a possible solution, even if it is obscure or random. For example, if a light bulb switch did not turn on a light bulb, every member of the room would need to propose a different reason why.

This year in my classroom, we will be implementing a hydroponic garden. Students will develop backup plans for uncontrolled variables in the hydroponic system. We will use the REHAU method of presenting potential causes of the problem, calling on each student to present a different idea. Students will then work (as the Loudon Water team did) to present a redundancy, or backup plan. (LS. 1 e, I, j)

At Loudoun Water, the reason that reclaimed water is such high quality is because of the multi‐step filtration process. The ZeeWeed membranes that complete the last steps of filtration are permeable to water molecules but not to other contaminants, because of particle size.

I will show a sample of ZeeWeed membrane to my students. The ZeeWeed is a selectively permeable membrane that will only allow water to enter into the body of the straw, leaving waste and other contaminants behind. This is an industrial application of something cells naturally do, which will increase student interest in this process. As an extension activity, students will be challenged to find a new application for the ZeeWeed technology to clean or filter another type of water. Students will explore the limitations of why ZeeWeed is not currently used in a more widespread fashion and propose alternative ideas. If there no prohibitive reasons exist, students will need to pitch their solution to an agency or group. LS. 2, LS. 3b, LS. 5


Teacher Information

Name Lisa McKinney

School Metz Middle School

Grade Level and Content 7th grade Life Science & 8th grade Physical Science





A graphic of overall daily water usage at Loudoun water. We discussed their plans to implement a new water meter reader system that will send data hourly from each residence instead of monthly. We also discussed how much less space needed to send that information versus the amount of data that is needed for graphics or video. Simple binary code.

Students will be broken into five groups. Water usage data will be collected for 30 days in each of five different 2‐hour spans. For example, one group will be given the 2‐hour span of 5‐7 AM and the next group will be given the 2‐hour span of 9‐11, etc. After 30 days, each group will have enough data to calculate the mean, the standard deviation, z‐scores for particular piece of data in the future, etc. Students will have access to graphing calculators and each group will need to report out verbally. Finally, each student will need to use each GROUPS mean score, to draw a curve on a graph to represent the nature water usage versus time over a 24‐hour period. Individually, students will write a graph story. (LS.1, 6, 7 & 8 and A.9, 10 & 11)

We saw a model of a community well filtration system.

Students will be broken into five groups. The goal is to build a water filtration system to sell to individuals. The criteria will be to research, design, build, and market to sell this piece to the team teachers. Parameters will be set out such as that each person will only be allowed to spend $3 of their own money to purchase materials. (We have a small storehouse of recycled materials in our tech room.) Time limits for filtration, etc. will be established. They will give a sales pitch demonstration to team teachers. (LS.1, 6, 7 & 8)

Liz from Loudoun Water talked to me about a project she had to do in college or high school concerning building bridges. Also, every person at Loudoun Water was concerned with redundancy. Back up pumps, generators, people, water supplies. They continued to ask “What if...”

From an earlier project, in which students in groups of two, built cars using materials from children’s engineering. Criteria were set out. For example, it must roll at least ____ meters and support a 2‐L of soda, etc. Using these cars students in 2 groups of 2, will build bridges to transport the soda bottles from one desk to another. Bridges are only allowed to be made of two materials and they must be pre‐approved, not more than 1/4 the distance between desks, etc. Between the desks, which will be a specific span, is a gorge. Students must plan for the bridge to be hit by a plane. They must develop a “back up” plan to transport bottle from one side to the other. (Engineering)

At REHAU, we were put through a sort of simulation in which German engineers had to work with an American Marketing team.

Student will be put into four groups. Each group will be commissioned with making a part of an overall design of a product (which I haven’t thought of yet, it should only have four integral parts.) Then, one person from each group will come together to make one product. Each team’s precision is critical to the overall performance of the product. It is a blown up jigsaw. The secondary group they are in must make the product work. (Engineering)


Teacher Information

Name Barbara Musselman

School Broad Run High School (Loudoun County)

Grade Level and Content English 10 Honors (British lit./comp.); English 9/10 Honors for students attending the LCPS Academy of Science (AOS)





At DBI, we were told that buildings are being built increasingly with sustainable designs and LEED certification. In the future, many of these “green” building options will become accepted practice in building design.

Floor Plans with Sustainable Designs As a “hook” to my Brave New World unit, my students already collaboratively draw floor plans of what a typical Ashburn house will look like in the future. I will add to this idea by having them research what makes a house “green” and then add those features to their designs, which they will present to the class.

Strong written and verbal communication is imperative in the business world. Both Lockheed Martin and DBI employees stressed the importance of writing powerful and convincing proposals. At LM’s Global Vision Center, employees effectively showcased their company’s products through their technical knowledge and their enthusiasm.

Selling a Product Using Research and Communication Skills

Students in my Academy of Science English class will choose a new product to research in the field of electronics, defense, or space exploration. In groups, they will research the product’s assets, along with its earlier versions, its current competition, and its future importance. Collaboratively, they will create a Power Point proposal for purchasing this product and will present it to the class. The class will then decide whether this product is a good investment.

Even though DBI is a modern interior design firm, its designers draw upon the historical foundations of architecture.

Historical Architectural Research Groups will each research one era of British history (to correspond with our units of British literature), determining how the era’s architectural style responded to the needs, the values, and the style of that era. The groups will create visuals and present to the class.

Both Lockheed Martin (celebrating its 100th anniversary this year) and DBI have changed their logos and their brand over the years in order to project an appealing image to the public.

Denotation and Connotation with Logos

Given a list of companies and products, groups will choose five and research their past logos vs. their present logos. The groups will discuss what each logo denotes and connotes, and they will discuss the intended audience. They will then create a new logo for one of the following: the sophomore class, a school sports team or club, or the town of Ashburn. Other groups in class will determine both the denotation, the connotation, and the audience of this new logo.

Employees at Design for Business Interiors stressed the importance of complex problem solving and team collaboration in choosing work spaces and furnishings.

Problem Solving in Interior Design (Furnishings and Work Spaces)

Given qualifications by an imaginary company, groups will create an interior design plan for the company using the Teknion.com website. They will make design decisions collaboratively and will present their finished product to the class. Then they will each write a reflection piece evaluating their group’s dynamics, addressing how their group came to a consensus.

The field of Architecture/Interior Design combines both mathematical precision and artistic talent, with a strong emphasis on the collaboration of ideas.

Using Collaboration to Redesign the Classroom

In groups, students will measure and draw the dimensions of the classroom, reconfiguring existing furniture layouts. Students will discuss and choose new colors, fabrics, and textures for the room from a box of “finishing” samples. They will create a visual display featuring the floor plan and their choice of samples. The class will vote on the best proposal for the room.


Teacher Information

Name Cathy Rudd

School Heritage High School

Grade Level and Content 9‐ 12


Companies Visited REHAU



REHAU Communications and Marketing department produce product marketing materials in both electronic and printed format. This requires knowledge of certain software programs, good proofreading skills, and layout and design skills. Collaboration between product development and engineering is also very important.

Students are paired up. One student designs a product on paper and writes up the product description. (What it is and what it does.) The second student is then given the task to develop a brochure and a press release for a specific product using MS Word and MS Publisher incorporating the logo and slogan. Both students then proofread the documents to make sure the information is correct. Changes are made if needed. (CTE Competency 6632‐9, 6632‐19, 6632‐18,6632‐40, 6632‐41, 6632‐42, 6632‐43, 6632‐44, 6632‐44, 6632‐45)

REHAU trains their employees on the importance of intercultural management.

Intro to Business students will research common international business protocol for a specific country. Students will create a PowerPoint presentation and present this to the class. (CTE Competency 6615‐58, 6115‐59, 6115‐60, 6115‐61)

REHAU’s branding has changed over time.

Have students pick a certain company’s logo and slogan to create new ones. Then students will present to the class to explain why they selected the colors, logo design, and slogan.( CTE Competency 6632‐39, 6632‐40, 6632‐41, 6632‐42)


Teacher Information

Name Jean Scarborough

School River Bend Middle School

Grade Level and Content 7th Grade Life Science/ 6th Grade Science (Earth/Space/Weather/Conservation)


Companies Visited MWAA, INOVA Loudoun, Fortessa and Telos



At Telos, they discuss LOE’s, the level of effort and the length of time it should take to complete a task, in order to set goals and maintain efficient productivity.

When beginning a project or activity, have students discuss their team LOE’s and set goals which focus on assignment completion. This process will foster self‐management and empower engaged, on‐task teamwork as students chuck their work into steps and set their own deadlines.

At INOVA Joan from volunteer services stated that it was important for students to have an appropriate e‐mail address which states their name. She said she had 100’s of applications and sometimes she used e‐mail addresses as a way to weed out those students who might not be as serious.

When students with inappropriate e‐mail addresses e‐mail me remind them of what an appropriate email address is and why it is important they use it.

At INOVA there were several Creative Solutions boards hanging up. These were boards where employees could post various ideas about how to improve any existing procedures or suggest a new procedure.

Post a Creative Solutions board in the classroom for the students to use. The board will be adapted to empower students to take ownership of the classroom community by suggesting problems and then brainstorming and enacting solutions.

At INOVA the use of acronyms is extremely common.

Have students utilize acronyms in classroom to memorize information and study for tests.

At the INOVA Cornwall location there were signs on the wall labeled Men’s and Women’s. When you looked at the door under the Women’s sign it was just a solid wooden door but when you looked at the door under the Men’s sign there was a see through glass panel which showed a staircase located behind the door.

Show students a picture of the signs and then ask them to make inferences and observations about the picture. Then show them a picture of the doors and have them make inferences and observations again. Discuss why their inferences changed from when they saw the first picture to when they saw the second picture. Then reveal to the students that the Men’s bathroom is behind the door it is just beside the staircase so you can’t see it through the glass. This will help students to understand the importance of making observations in science and understanding the difference between inferences and observations. (SOL 6.1f)


At MWAA signs are posted everywhere to remind passengers of different hazards, procedures, directions, etc.

Instead of putting safety/lab equipment away in the cabinets where students can’t see them, leave them out and labeled to help increase students’ familiarity with them. Tools of measurement will also be left out and labeled with their function and the units of measurement associated with them. (SOL 6.1c, 6.1d, 6.1h)

At MWAA the unexpected can always happen (weather, projected changes in the county, medical situations, etc.) and employees must be able to problem solve ways to handle these situations quickly and efficiently.

Give students open‐ended problems/scenarios to solve. In the middle of a project add a disaster they have to work around, or have them start a lab and then half way through the lab throw in another variable they have to work with. (SOL 6.1g)

Fortessa is an environmentally friendly company.

Have students take a look at a company’s plan to protect the environment. Ask students, “Is there anything that this company could do to further protect the environment? Is there something about this company’s plan that you have questions about?” Ask Fortessa if they can answer the students’ questions and summit the students’ suggestions to Fortessa. Then have the students create an environmental protection plan for River Bend Middle school. (SOL 6.5g, 6.6d, 6.6g, 6.7a, 6.7f, 6.9a‐d)

At Fortessa Microsoft Excel played an intricate part of every department.

Students will plot data on each of the 8 planets using Excel. Students will also practice plotting various lab data throughout the year. (SOL 6.8b, 6.1h, 6.1i)

At Fortessa Eric Hamberger mentioned the need to be flexible and be able to design flexible products. Fortessa is always looking for employees with initiative and who also have the desire to be life‐long learners.

Give the students the SOL objectives for the next unit and have the students come up with lessons, activities, or PowerPoint presentations to teach each lesson. The teacher will then choose the best lesson and the student will win a prize. The best lesson will be chosen based on creativity and effectiveness. The student will then be the teacher for a day and will teach their lesson during class. Students may also write down any questions they have about the upcoming unit or write down anything they want to know about the unit. (SOL 6.1‐6.9all)


Teacher Information

Name Martin Schulz

School Tuscarora High School, Leesburg (Loudoun County)

Grade Level and Content Math


Companies Visited Neustar & MWAA



At Neustar, the NPAC manages all phone numbers that are transferred to another carrier.

The total number of 10 digit phone numbers is finite. Based on data from Nuestar, the calculation of this total can be used as part of the unit on permutations in both AP Statistics and Algebra 2. In addition, students will use regression analysis to calculate when the limit will be reached.

Collaboration is part of Neustar’s goals and is built into their corporate culture

The use of collaboration in my classroom can be expanded throughout. For example, students will complete the warm‐up activity, review homework, etc. in teams and then share their results before reviewing with the class.

Neustar uses the Agile software development process to expedite completion of long‐term

projects.

Group projects will be organized by breaking the project into smaller discrete tasks and assigning responsibility to individual students to better incorporate collaborative learning. For example, the statistical inference project requires more than a dozen specific tasks. The individual tasks will be assigned to different students and the overall assignment will be graded accordingly.

Excel is used by virtually all Neustar employees for multiple purposes

Incorporating Excel training into my AP Statistics class will allow students to become more familiar with the software that has become ubiquitous for analyzing and presenting quantitative data in the business world.

At the Tyson’s Corner toll plaza managed by MWAA we observed the tracking and

management of vehicle volumes and money collected.

The volume of cars through the Tyson’s Corner toll booth over a period of time follows a Poisson distribution. This data can be used as a source for Statistics lessons.

At MWAA it was clear that to be successful you must become knowledgeable about all aspects of

the organization

As part of all projects in AP Statistics I will incorporate a cross‐curricular component to demonstrate that becoming proficient in Statistics it requires writing, analytical, communication and collaboration skills (to name a few). For example, the survey analysis project will incorporate a research component that allows students to become subject matter experts prior to the development of the survey questions so that they can produce more thoughtful and relevant survey questions.


Teacher Information

Name Mark Smaltz

School Brentsville District H.S. ( P W County)

Grade Level and Content 9 ‐ 12


Companies Visited Neustar and MWAA



At MWAA we saw the utilities dept. use a HVAC program show the flow of cool air to and from

every building on the airport campus

Have students design their own HVAC route using the symbols that designate the flow of air.

Neustar uses the Agile process. In an Agile process activities are frequently concurrent and often repeated. Team members focus on providing value and using the process and steps that best

support the project.

Use the agile process on a series of projects in my

classroom especially the underwater submarine. The project is 9 weeks in length and consists of building their

own sub, and students are in a 3 person group

Safety and Training division of the Airports Authority Fire and rescue Dept. partnered with the welding class of the Monroe Technical Center in Leesburg to construct upgrades to the live fire training facility. Saving them thousands of dollars.

My students build a wooden (box) that has interior doors, and windows to assimilate an actual fire in a

house. The firemen in training use this valuable info to enhance their knowledge in the spread of fire in a house.

Neustar and MWAA consistently supported that each employee needs to wear different hats. They had to know more than their job. They had to be

versatile in every which way.

In my junior and senior class, I will emphasize the importance of being very flexible in their learning.

Meaning they will have to work in groups, as well as by themselves. I will try to encourage them to try something

new, and not to dwell on it ,if they fail.

Dulles Airport has a life‐size hologram that acts as a virtual assistant to International Arrivals

passengers.

Show students video clip of hologram and explain its purpose. Have students design a hologram for a specific location, being sure to support their design choices with

logical inferences.

At Neustar communications was stressed to us by every employee we met. One employee quoted “

having good skill sets is key, also getting your ideas and communicating them in a digestible

way”

When we begin our projects (group) I am going to have the students draw up their ideas by using Auto‐cad, and

inventor.


Teacher Information

Name Martha Somers

School Broad Run High School

Grade Level and Content 9‐12; CTE (Business)


Companies Visited Nuestar and WMAA (Dulles Airport), July 2012



At Neustar, the software application programs, Access and Excel, are used in many departments for accessing and reporting data, especially in the accounting area and used to prepare quarterly and annual financial reports.

Incorporate Excel, especially in the accounting and adv. Accounting areas beginning at the start of the school year so that students can experience familiarity, confidence and skill in using this program

Dulles Airport has a life‐size hologram (Paige) that acts as a virtual assistant to International arrivals passengers.

Show students clips of Holograms from YouTube.com and have the students create their own holograms to demonstrate verbal communications and as a customer service tool used in business

An ongoing desire at MWAA (Dulles Airport) is to continue efforts to improve in the customer service area to passengers and others who visit the airport to increase passenger travel

After discussing the importance of good customer service to a business, have the students work in groups to come up with a viable customer service plan for Dulles International Airport incorporating items that are currently not being utilized.

At Neustar various departments we visited stressed the importance of effective presentation skills in most, if not all, career areas

Introduce and demonstrate various types of correct PowerPoint presentations to be used as “talking points” and introduce other types of presentation software such as Prezi. Have the students create talking points in presentations rather than reading from prepared slides.

Neustar employs a full time “social networking editor” who manages and maintain the company’s various social networking sites, a position that certainly didn’t exist even 5 years ago.

Have students brainstorm other positions that they can see being brought to the 21st Century labor market in the next 5‐8 years when they are entering the workforce and what skills will be needed for these positions.

MWAA is a quasi‐governmental agency, an umbrella group for the various federal agencies and contractors (fuel farm, concessions, US Customs, TSA, etc.) within Dulles Airport

When studying business structures, have the students identify and examine other existing quasi‐governmental structures and come up with some of the challenges of operating this type of business from a legal and management standpoint involving governmental and non‐governmental entities.

Nuestar has a strong commitment to corporate social responsibility from an employee, environmental and community standpoint

Research and prepare a report on the importance of “going green” and LEED certification and what it means to clients and employees. Why is “going green” not a fad.

Neustar prides itself on its corporate culture and its three success factors: customer focus, drive quality, and execute with urgency

Define corporate culture. Discuss various other companies and evaluate their mission and vision statements that define their “corporate culture” and its importance in the workplace. Finally, write a report on why corporate culture is so important in the 21st century workplace.

Neustar employees have adopted the Agile project process in their collaborative work environment.

Implement the Agile project process to group projects by assigning Project Managers and making each employee accountable for his/her role within the team.

The idea of the importance of making local business contacts through the Teachers in Industry program

Develop an FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) advisory board of business members from the Loudoun/Dulles corridor area.

The Metrorail Project (Phase I) along the Dulles Toll Road will be completed within the next year.

Discuss the economic impact of the Metrorail will have on Western Fairfax and Eastern Loudoun County areas.


Teacher Information

Name Tammy Svitek

School River Bend Middle School, Sterling (Loudoun County)

Grade Level and Content 7th Grade Language Arts





Collaborative and creative problem solving was something all of our business partners at Lockheed and DBI stressed as a very important part of their jobs.

Industry ChallengeI will collect sample scenarios from business partners, present them to students as RFPs, and have students work collaboratively in groups to propose solutions. I would like to send proposals to business partners for feedback. (Possible Scenario from DBI: Use Teknion’s online Planning Tool to design an office space adhering to customer specifications.)

Dulles Airport has a life‐size hologram that acts as a virtual assistant to International Arrivals passengers.

Hologram ActivityShow students video clip of hologram and explain its purpose. Have students design a hologram for a specific location, being sure to support their design choices with logical inferences.

Tom Gordon, Vice‐President of Engineering at Lockheed Martin, told us that risk management is a key aspect of business development.

Risk ManagementUse the game Jenga to model the idea of risk assessment (analyze key components of activity, assess risks of activity, identify strategies for minimizing/eliminating risks).

Our business partners at Lockheed Martin and DBI stressed the importance of verbal communication skills, being comfortable in front of an audience, and developing professional presentations.

Presentation SkillsPresent mini‐lesson on creating professional PowerPoint presentations and effective verbal skills. Record student presentations and have students evaluate themselves.

Lenny Gentile, Systems Engineer at LockheedMartin, shared with us the evaluation process used in the Independent Research and Development department (Heilmeier’s Catechism).

Evaluation CriteriaHeilmeier’s Catechism includes some great questions that students should be useful for students to respond to as they complete projects, especially our PSA unit. For example: What are you trying to do? What’s new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful? Who cares? If you’re successful, what difference will it make?

In the design process, architects at DBI take into consideration things such as environment and company image. They incorporate these elements into their design either directly (example: logos) or figuratively (example: reflecting company’s emphasis on collaboration by creating elaborate common spaces).

Figurative ArchitectureStudents look at various buildings and developments and infer why the architect designed it as he/she did.

80% of DBI’s work comes from client referrals. They pride themselves on their strong network of clients and business partners.

Networking SkillsEmphasize the importance of making a good impression and building relationships. Directly teach students networking skills such as approaching others, joining a conversation, a following up with a thank‐you note.

Justin Benjamin, BIM Specialist at DBI, stressed the benefit in his field of being able to see things in 3D.

Lego ActivityGive each group a Lego structure. Students draw structure. Groups swap drawings and have to try to construct each other’s structure. Students then reflect on how and why their structure differs from the original.

Both Lockheed Martin and DBI have very brief and very meaningful slogans. At DBI, Sancha Flynn (Project Manager) and Kathryn Ciliberti (Director of Business Development) explained the thought processes behind their slogan.

SlogansProvide students with business visions and mission statements. Students create a brief and meaningful slogan for the business.

CeCe Link, Senior Account Executive at DBI, suggested having students present a sales demonstration to get them comfortable with being a subject expert.

InfomercialStudents choose a product that they can demo to the class (how to play the guitar, how to make a bracelet). They will give step‐by‐step instructions on how to use the product and try to sell it. Students will use movie software to create their infomercial.


Teacher Information

Name Sean Welsh

School Woodgrove High School; Purcellville, VA

Grade Level and Content High School Mathematics (Pre‐Calculus, Algebra)





The Marketing Department at DBI Architects uses Google Analytics to analyze website metrics such as visits, and average time spent on site.

Measures of Central Tendency Applications, Standard Deviation, and Z‐Scores‐ Students will use a printout of a Google Analytics spreadsheet to calculate the measures of central tendency including mean, median, and mode. They will also calculate the standard deviation of the given data, and use z‐scores to determine days where there is heavy internet traffic to efficiently and effectively market a business.

DBI Architects uses various computer programs to develops two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional floor plans for their clients.

Lego Activity‐Students will be given an already assembled construction of Lego’s. One student will be tasked with making an isometric and orthographic drawing of the structure. After completing these drawings, the student will break down the structure, and pass the drawing and the blocks onto another student. The next student will then reconstruct the object based on the drawing given to him.

At Lockheed Martin, the Space division designs, manufactures, and launches satellites.

Elliptical Orbit‐The students will gather various information about an elliptical orbit of a satellite around the earth and discuss its various components including the directrix, the focus, center, major, and minor axis.

Lockheed Martin and DBI Architect employees consistently stressed being able to solve problems and work collaboratively as an important soft skill for an

employee to possess.

Collaborative Learning Groups‐Students will learn in groups of four and participate in group problem solving competitions. Following instruction, a practice problem will be given. Students will first work on the problem individually. Next the student will work with a student in his group to defend his or her correct answer. Finally the group will come together and decide on a consensus answer that they have all agreed upon. Groups will be competing against one another within the classroom.

Documents

GWTIP Educational Transfer Plan - … will show students Fortessa’s Travertina plate and Lucca ... dialogue, how to use a certain function on a ... Transfer Plan School