The Way Things Work

We took a break from our Education Revisited assignment in Tech Research A block class and dove into a recurring assignment here called 'The Way Things Work.'

The mission:

Bring in something that's broken or no longer used, dissect it, discover how it works, repair it (if applicable) and then put it back together, and then tell your peers what you discovered.

On occasion we need some parts to repair things. Makes me wish we had a 3D printer ; )

Discovering how things are manufactured, what's under the hood...

Who knows where those skills could lead.

A broken digital camera, photo printer, and dvd player were our first missions.

Can we fix a digital camera? Erin dives in to find out.

James and Russell explore a DVD player that won't read discs that are slightly scratched.

A printer that won't feed paper? Andrew, David, and Matt begin testing.

Innovative Study Projects

Here is a list of innovative projects students in the Research Lab have worked on to date. Each student chooses their own topic, sets their own time frame for the project and all material is archived for future students to use.

Each project must last a minimum of there weeks. Some do two projects per semester. Some do one project per semester. Some extend projects over multiple semesters and even years.

What skills can you learn by immersing yourself in something you love, something you want to pursue? What are the links to writing, research, history, math, science, and professional mentors that can be explored? What will you learn about collaboration, communication, and even learning itself?

3D Design: Unity Engine, Maya, Sculptris
Acoustics
Alternative Energy: Wind, Solar
Anesthesiology

Animation

Amphibious Vehicle Technology

Architecture: Modern Design, Energy Efficiency, Open Housing Project

Astronomy
Audio Editing / Engineering
Aviation: piloting, mechanics
Bass Guitar Engineering

Blogs

CAD design: Google SketchUp (free) and Pro

Claymation
Deep Sea Diving

Digital design: Photoshop, Fireworks, GIMP, Paint.Net. Beginning, intermediate, advanced
Digital Photography

Digital Story Telling
Domestic feline behavior

Education: Evolution, Online Ed, Technology, Theory

Equine Technology

Farming Technology

Fashion Design: Process, design, manufacturing
Fish and Game Wildlife Management

Forensics

Game Conversion

Game Design

Gaming History
Geo-Engineering
Golf Technology

Google Apps

Guitar Design: Pickup replacement

Hiking Technology

History of Computing

History of Sound Recording, Acoustics

Horse / Thoroughbred Management and Nutrition

Humanitarian Relief

Human Intelligence

Hybrid Vehicle Technology
iPhone Technology
iPod Technology

Language Studies: AP French, Italian, German, English

Machinima

Magnetics: Mag lev propulsion
Mixed Media: Mashups, viral video
Mountain Bike Manufacturing and Design
Movie Making

Movie Technology
Music Genome Project
Myth: Monsters and Legend
Native American Reservation

Networking: Security, Hardware: Routers, Switches, LAN/WAN Design

Nutrition
Observatory Refit

One-to-One Laptop Project: One laptop per student

Operating Systems: Windows (XP, Vista), Apple OSX, Linux, Edubuntu, Fedora
Playing the Piano

PC Hardware

Podcasting

Programming: Ajax, C, C++, Flash, Java, Visual Basic, Visual C

Robotics: Scrap, Vexx

Running Technology
Schizophrenia

Ski / Snowboard Technology: Manufacturing / Materials
Small Business: LLC, Non-Profits, Taxes, Business Economy in VT vs other States.

Snow Making Technology
Snow Mobile Performance an Modification
Social Media

Sound engineering: Acoustics, recording techniques, principles
Stem Cell Research
Stock Trading: Market Analysis

Stop Motion Animation
Swimming Technology
Survival Technology
Tennis: Racquet construction, restringing, performance analysis

Theatrical Lighting
Tolkien

Typing: 9 words per minute (in a second language) to 85 ; )

Web Development: Basic web page construction, CSS
Welding: MIG / TIG

Wikis: Wikipedia / Collective Knowledge Editing / Contributions