Stephen Portz MEd NBCT 
  • 28 years as an Engineering and Technology Teacher at Brevard Public Schools
  • 6 years Industrial Experience with Space Program Contractors at Kennedy Space Center:  Lockeed Martin, USBI, Astronaut's Memorial Foundation, USA, Rockwell International, Harris Corp, Knight's Armament Federal Data Corp.
  • M Ed in Vocational Programs Administration and Facilities Design from University of Central Florida
  • BS in Industrial, Technology, and Engineering Education from Brigham Young University
  • Albert Einstein Distinguished Teacher Fellow
  • National Board Certified in Career and Technical Education
  • Certified Solid Works Associate - 3D Parametric Modeling

sportz@weisschool.org
http://systemiced.blogspot.com/ 
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+StephenPortz/posts
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-portz-9360843a
 

 Engineering Instructor at The WEISS School - Grades 3-8

Support the mission of The WEISS School 

SME-COE BY:

Giving students the skills for MAKING

Engineering Design (3D Computer Modeling)

Electronics Development and Prototyping (Breadboarding and Circuit Design)

Open Source Control Systems and Programming (Arduino and Raspberry PI)Teaching
Industrial Design Methods and giving students the tools of the Product Designer.


Providing Students with Product Based Learning Opportunities and Competitions

FIRST LEGO League Team Sponsor

Science and Engineering Fairs

Outreach – First Annual Engineering Day

Product Design, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

Aerospace Product Development – remote control aircraft, drones, CubeSats emulators using Raspberry Pi, and robotic moon landers and rovers.

Electives courses taught:


Mechatronics

What is Mechatronics?  The intersection of Electronics, Mechanics, Computer Control, and Design.  The Study of mechatronics is empowering because it grants students access to the future of innovation, open source electronics, the internet of things, desktop manufacturing, and product development.

Isn't mechatronics just a fancy name for robotics?  Not really.  All robotics activity fall under the heading of mechatronics, but not all of mechatronics are robots.

In our mechantronics course, students will learn everything from electronics and circuit design, to mechanics, mechanical design, 3D modeling and prototyping, computer control and programming.  Yes! your student will learn how to solder in this class

Here is an example of a WeDo project in Scratch:


Above is an Arduino project for tracking the sun, or other bright light source to assure the highest voltage output for the solar panel.  This project was funded from a grant by FPL in 2015.

Here are some Lego Robotics that students will be able to work with:


AND, just for fun a useless box that I built for my father's birthday:



Robotics

Robots are ubiquitous with advancing technologies and the future.  Anything that can be automated will be automated and our students must be fluent in robotics, robotics design, and programming.
Extensive use of LEGO MindStorms Robotic Kits and in subsequent years - VEX Robotics Systems, will be used to bring our students up to speed before launching out into custom robotics design and advanced development.

http://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms

http://www.vexrobotics.com/

After School Clubs Offered:


FIRST Lego League Competitive Robotics Team
Will meet after school at least once a week (probably Monday)  Have the goal to participate in at least two tournaments which are held all day long on Saturdays (be mentally prepared).  By next year, our goal is to attend the State Tournament.  By year three, our goal is to take a team to Nationals.

http://www.firstlegoleague.org/

Raspberry PI and Arduino User Groups

http://makezine.com/

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