Engineering and Design 2 – Electrical Design is a continuation in the Engineering and Design Pathway at SI. Students will build on the mechanical design skills and design thinking model to move towards creating electrical designs with Arduino hardware and use AI to code in C++. Students will create their own mechanical creations powered by electrical components. From something as basic as a button and LED, to more complex systems like LCDs and joysticks this is a class about allowing students to grow their creator minds using the principles of design as well as the skills of engineers. In this class students will become designers who create electronic products with every part of the user experience in mind, from the casing and mechanical components, to the electronics and interfaces.
Multimedia Design 1A
Step into the world of professional multimedia production and master three creative disciplines: photo editing with Adobe Photoshop, Canva, and Adobe Lightroom; video editing with Adobe Premiere Pro; and music production with Logic Pro. Within each program, students learn how to use its key tools, then move into real-world applications and collaborative processes that explore the purpose behind every creative choice. Students focus on designing original work from scratch in modern contexts. Throughout the semester, projects are designed to mirror relevant marketing tactics in creative industries, encouraging collaboration, problem-solving, and professional production standards. By gaining foundational knowledge in these three disciplines, and exploring their newest AI-powered tools, students will graduate the course with a polished, professional portfolio that demonstrates their ability to edit, design, and produce using the latest innovations in digital media!
Multimedia Design 1B
This class further develops skills learned in Multimedia Design 1A with a focus on utilizing 2D and 3D graphics, sound and video-editing software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Procreate, Logic, FL Studio, Soundtrap, Final Cut Pro, Premiere, OnShape, Blender, and game design in Roblox and Unity. The development of effective narrative structures will be emphasized so that students learn to use the various media to create intentional works with meaning. Particular attention will be paid to the design process and students’ conscious development of their own creative process. Sample projects include stop motions, animations, music videos, special effects, student documentary films, and the creation of video games. Student work will culminate with a digital portfolio.
AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP)
AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) is equivalent to an introductory college-level computing course that introduces students to the breadth of the field of computer science. Students learn to design and evaluate solutions and to apply computer science to solve problems through the development of algorithms and programs. They incorporate abstraction into programs and use data to discover new knowledge. Students also explore how computing innovations and computing systems work (including the Internet), explore their potential impacts, and contribute to a computing culture that is collaborative and ethical. Roughly half the course is focused on learning to program in either the Python or Javascript programming languages, but the selection of a programming language is at the teacher’s discretion while the other half of the course covers non-programming topics of computer science.
*Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA and UC/CSU GPA calculations
**This class will be offered pending adequate enrollment.
***Students are required to take the AP Computer Science Principles exam in May.
Engineering
Engineering consists of the application of scientific knowledge in the creation of useful products. This course acts as an introduction to the concepts and methods of engineering with an intensive hands-on laboratory/workshop component. Students will be expected to conceptualize, design, build, and debug a variety of projects, working independently or in collaboration with other students. Units of study vary by semester, allowing students to take either or both semesters in a single year, and may include mechanical, electrical, robotic, computer, aeronautical, automotive, acoustic, naval, civil, fluid and/or chemical engineering. Several off-campus field trips to visit engineering sites or companies may be required. (Since engineering is not, strictly speaking, a science, this course does not qualify as a UC-approved lab science.)
AP Computer Science A – Java
AP Computer Science A (AP CS-A) is equivalent to a one-semester, introductory college-level computer programming course. AP CS-A introduces students to computer science through programming. Fundamental topics in this course include the design of solutions to problems, the use of data structures to organize large sets of data, the development and implementation of algorithms to process data and discover new information, the analysis of potential solutions, and the ethical and social implications of computing systems. The course emphasizes object-oriented programming and design using the Java programming language.
*Class receives honors weighting in SI weighted GPA and UC/CSU GPA calculations.
**Students are required to take the AP Computer Science exam administered in May.
Technology & Engineering
Department information coming soon!