β2 Engineering Notebooks

Philosophy
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Introduction

The engineering notebook, classroom binder, and portfolio are tools to organize student work in a meaningful way. For the purpose of consistency within this curriculum, the description of the content of each tool is shown below. It is recommended that you adhere to these descriptions when referring to these tools in your classroom.

  1. An Engineering Notebook contains all design work completed for a specific design project. It is a chronological documentation of all tasks completed during a design process, including correspondence, ideas, sketches, journal entries related to design, calculations, photographs, class notes, meeting notes, test procedures and data, and other critical information.

In PLTW courses, students may use a single Engineering Notebook to document design work for multiple projects. However, it is recommended that each project have a separate designated section within the notebook that includes pertinent information for that project only.

  1. The course binder is used to store all course materials not included in the engineering notebook such as activities, research, reference materials, and handouts.
  2. A Portfolio is a collection of documents selected by the student for a particular purpose. Portfolios include student reflection. There are various types of portfolios used for various purposes and the teacher may decide which format is appropriate for use in his or her classroom.
    1. A Project Portfolio is a collection of artifacts assembled to document the design process of a single project. This may contain a duplication of some content from the engineering notebook and course binder and is used to showcase a student’s application of the design process. An example is the Puzzle Cube Project in IED.
    2. A Course Portfolio is a collection of selected work which demonstrates the range and depth of experience and skills gained from an entire course.
    3. A Longitudinal or Growth Portfolio shows growth from early to later work in regard to specific skills and extent of mastery. Entries in a Longitudinal Portfolio can span several years and courses.
    4. A Showcase Portfolio shows best work targeting specific skills.
    5. An Electronic Portfolio is a portfolio of work captures in digital media, usually web based.

Students are expected to start an engineering notebook early in the course. This notebook will be used throughout the year and can be a useful validation of a student’s knowledge and skill to post-secondary institutions.

It is important to clarify to students that there are many formats used to document work within an engineering notebook. The notebook format introduced in IED accumulates best practices and presents a standard for the purpose of consistency in the curriculum. As a student gains experience or is employed in a professional capacity, they will improve and enhance their practice and procedures for the engineering notebook to match preference and company policies which vary widely.

There are a variety of methods to maintain an engineering notebook. College programs are one source of guidance. Another resource is BookFactory: Engineering Notebook Guidelines, which can be reviewed at http://www.bookfactory.com/special_info/engr_notebook_guidelines.html Links to an external site.

An engineering notebook, as kept by a professional engineer, is a bound text with quadrille ruled pages. Loose leaf writing paper is generally not acceptable.

Students will be required to keep a bound engineering notebook in PLTW classes. It is valuable to provide a notebook with completed entries as an example for students. The notebook example could have pre-numbered pages, with designated spaces for the dated signatures of the designer and witness for added convenience.

Other types of lower cost, bound, quadrille ruled notebooks are available at most office supply stores, but they generally do not have pre-numbered pages or designated locations for the dated signatures of the designer and witness. If not pre-printed, it is the student’s responsibility to individually write this information in ink on each page before beginning an entry.

Students should be advised to keep all of their course work. Design work related to the design process of projects should be kept in an engineering notebook; all other documents and work should be kept in a course binder. When a portfolio is required, each student can then select work from their notebook and binder to place in their portfolio.