Spring Branch ISD Featured News

Simple parts combine to make machines move. That is the lesson students in the Principles of Engineering class at Stratford High School learned this fall.

Working in teams, students designed, built, tested, rebuilt and retested (multiple times during the three-week assignment) their machines for final judging by teacher William Hall. 

The SHS student teams used cardboard, tape, wheels, gears, levers, axles, pulleys and other creative materials to create machines designed to convey motion. 

“This project not only teaches students the engineering principles about simple machines and how they combine to make bigger machines, but also teamwork,” said Hall. “And most important of all, that what they expect to happen with a process doesn’t always happen, and that is okay.” 

Like the machines they made of many parts working together, so were the student teams. Using the ideas and skills of each member of their group, the teams put their final projects to the test in the SHS library. 

Creations were judged for functionality and creativity by Mr. Hall. The winning team built a machine that moved continuously without human intervention.

Winning team members are: Daphne Figueroa, Lauren Boerm, Willem Sola, Zayn Tippitt, and Luke Fichtner.