Dauphin County
Technical School

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Engineering & Drafting Design

Program Overview

This course is for students who think outside the box. Students learn to create the technical drawings and plans used to build/manufacture everything. Products range from electronics, machinery, and roads to structures such as houses, office buildings, and bridges. The drawings are very specific and show measurements, sizes, materials, and instructions. Students learn the basics of pencil and board drafting and then put their creativity and imagination using computer-aided drafting (CAD), solid modeling, and 3-D printing. Attention to detail, visualization, and creative problem-solving are all useful for stimulating work on such projects as machine parts, houses, and maps. Graduates go on to become drafters, CAD operators, designers, engineers, and architects

Mr. Miller
POssible Careers
  • Architectural Drafter or Architect
  • Interior Designer
  • Mechanical Drafter, Technician Designer, Engineer
  • Civil Drafter, Technician, Designer Engineer
  • Industrial Drafter, Technician Designer, Engineer
Potential Certifications
  • American Design Drafting Association
  • Apprentice Drafter Classification
  • Program Certification
  • Employability: Interviewing Skill
  • OSHA-10
Articulated Credits
Post Secondary & Continued Education
  • B.S.
    • Engineering (many specialities)
    • Architecture
  • B.A.
    • Interior Design
  • Associates
    • Engineering Technician
    • Surveyor
  • Employment
    • Draftsperson

Skill Alignment & CIP Code

CIP Code 15.1301 - Competency Records

Program Safety & Physical Considerations

  • Excellent eye/hand coordination
  • Drawing ability
  • Stamina (ability to focus at the station for long periods of time)

Essential APTITUDES for This Lab – Recommended Levels

  • Clerical abilities
  • Finger dexterity
  • Academic skills
  • Measurement skills
  • Knowledge and use of basic drafting tools

Reading

  • Explain the main ideas or draw accurate conclusions after reading text
  • Follow a complex multi–step procedure independently
  • Evaluate how key words and phrases shape meaning in texts
  • Comprehend written text and apply it to understand tables, charts, and other visuals
  • Learn and apply content–specific symbols correctly
  • Apply content–specific vocabulary correctly
  • Identify and explain how different ideas connect throughout text
  • Read and understand diagnostic and schematic data to solve a problem
  • By the end of grades 9–10 & 11–12 read & comprehend technical texts independently & proficiently
  • Textbook: Technical Drawing, Twelfth Edition, Average grade reading level: 13.83

Writing

  • Organize complex ideas, concepts, and information so that each new element builds on prior information
  • Produce clear & coherent writing
  • Develop and strengthen writing by brainstorming, revising, editing & rewriting
  • Write with awareness to an audience using program–specific vocabulary
  • Write routinely over short/long time frames for a range of tasks, purposes & audiences
  • Clearly convey with precision step–by–step work completed
  • Use technology to produce, publish, or share writing

Math Levels

Numbers and Operations:

    • Grade 6 – Fluency in operations with whole numbers and decimals
    • Grade 6 – Fraction computations
    • Grade 6 – Whole number exponents
    • Grade 7 – Fraction to decimal conversion
    • Grade 7 – Percent and ratio problems
    • Grade 8 – Decimals to rational number (fraction) conversion
    • Grade 8 – Estimate the value of irrational numbers.
    • Algebra 1 – Problem solving with real world units, including conversions

Measurement:

    • NG – Units: English Metric Precision: 0.001 inch
    • Grade 6 – Unit conversion within and between measuring systems
    • Grade 7 – Area, volume surface area of objects composed of triangles, quadrilaterals, polygons, and right prisms
    • Grade 7 – Area and circumference of a circle
    • Grade 8 – Volume of cone, cylinder, sphere
    • Geometry – Apply volume formulas – including pyramid

Geometric Concepts:

  • Grade 7 – Angle measure problems (supplementary, complementary, adjacent, angles of a triangle, parallel lines cut by transversal)
  • Grade 7 – Scale drawings of geometric figures
  • Grade 8 – Pythagorean Theorem
  • Grade 8 – Transformation properties and showing congruence/similarity
  • Geometry – Transformations in the plane – congruence and similarity
  • Geometry – Constructions
  • Geometry – Theorems about lines, angles, triangles, and parallelograms
  • Geometry – Scale models and drawings
  • Geometry – Cross–sections of 3–D figures
  • Geometry – Coordinate geometry

Theory Time

  • 15 minutes/day

Homework

  • none

Lab Time

  • 5.25 hours/day

Tests

  • Assessment after each unit
  • NOCTI (mandatory for all CTE programs)
  • Industry certifications:
    • OSHA Industry Certification
    • ADDA Certification

POS Academics and Electives Recommended

  • English and math are a component of the DCTS program

Study & Other Skills

  • Ability to work independently
  • Ability to work in small groups
  • Excellent oral & written communication skills
  • Good judgment & decision-making
  • Self–control
  • Critical thinking skills
  • Follows oral & written directions
  • Time management skills
  • Attention to detail is extremely important

Technology Skills/Knowledge

  • Use and navigate school-issued laptop
  • Use and navigate desktops
  • Use and navigate class-related software
  • Web navigation
  • Email management
  • Navigate learning management system and instructional technology tools
  • Video conferencing