Rockwell Collins has a Traveling Road Show that is available to schools free of cost - and it's the coolest thing you've ever seen. They have 3 engineers (actually more, but Ryan and I met with 3) with colorful personalities that present several different skits to teach kids how material engineering works. They demonstrate awesome chemical interactions, physical properties, how terminology and jargon was originated, and many more fun topics. We were told about their show, we didn't get to actually witness it, but the stories themselves were fun.
I've got to find someone at Jefferson who could use them coming in to match their curriculum. I asked them about a connection to Algebra 2, and they said they could find something that fit, but they didn't seem to have anything immediately in mind. It is mostly a science connection. I'll talk with John Hegarty about this first and go from there.
The Prediction Program for the time estimate of the printed circuit boards is coming along wonderfully. I have the "success" percentages up to a range of 60% to 82%! I think Jen will be pleased, but we'll find out tomorrow.
Ryan was able to get the Environmental Effects data to match the original data very well, so we are well on our way to being able to present that prediction tool as well.
We are on fire this week!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Day 23 (July 14, 2010)
When is frustration a good thing? When it makes my mind continue to think about a something when you you are not concentrating on it. My brain does that, and I've heard many of my students tell me their minds do the same. When you get to a point that the answer seems bleak, put it aside for awhile. Your brain will continue to work on the problem and when you come back to it, you may have come up with an answer or new approach.
Ryan has made terrific progress on recreating John's ECO count data. We should be able to present the process to John in the near future. Great job, Ryan!!!
My Touch Time and Cycle Time prediction tool is improving quite nicely today. I've gotten up to a 58% and 68% accuracy - much improved over what I was getting as results yesterday. Hip hip...
Ryan has made terrific progress on recreating John's ECO count data. We should be able to present the process to John in the near future. Great job, Ryan!!!
My Touch Time and Cycle Time prediction tool is improving quite nicely today. I've gotten up to a 58% and 68% accuracy - much improved over what I was getting as results yesterday. Hip hip...
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Day 22 (July 13, 2010)
Frustration has set in... Ryan and I are hitting roadblocks on both of our projects.
We have been designing a prediction tool for the Touch Time and Cycle Time needed to complete a project. We thought by including the engineer and designer into the equation of the calculation, we could be more successful - and maybe we are more successful, but the final outcome cannot be considered a success. We are not very accurate. We consistently over estimate the touch and cycle times, but in many cases by a large amount.
In our other project of trying to predict the work load on the Environmental Effects lab, we are trying to recreate the data collected a year and a half ago. We are really struggling trying to make the data match. Arrrrrrgh!
We have been designing a prediction tool for the Touch Time and Cycle Time needed to complete a project. We thought by including the engineer and designer into the equation of the calculation, we could be more successful - and maybe we are more successful, but the final outcome cannot be considered a success. We are not very accurate. We consistently over estimate the touch and cycle times, but in many cases by a large amount.
In our other project of trying to predict the work load on the Environmental Effects lab, we are trying to recreate the data collected a year and a half ago. We are really struggling trying to make the data match. Arrrrrrgh!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Day 21 (July 12, 2010)
Reverse engineering is not an easy thing. Our new call is to recreate the data we used to predict the EMI annual hours, but we are not getting the data to match or even be in the vicinity of the supplied data. Today is going to be filled with figuring out how to create queries on an Access Database and pulling the data.
Ryan and I have agreed to skip trying to match the data and just use our newly found data and doing the same data analysis on this data that we had done on the supplied data.
Ryan and I have agreed to skip trying to match the data and just use our newly found data and doing the same data analysis on this data that we had done on the supplied data.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Day 20 (July 9, 2010)
I created a prototype prediction calculator today and it went much better than I expected. I made the calculator in Excel and used several formulas (like vlookups). Due to the use of these formulas, I was able to complete the job without having to create a macro. Ryan's contributions were useful. I think Ryan and I may need to spend a lot of our time over the next couple weeks expanding the calculator, but for now it seems to do a decent job at what it is expected to do so far.
I'm having trouble figuring out how to use the database Ryan and I gained access to yesterday. We are trying to figure out how to get the data John had pulled a year and a half ago. Which columns to select... Which columns to add together... Which columns to not pull... What do the abbreviations mean??? More time needs to be spent thinking about these things.
I'm having trouble figuring out how to use the database Ryan and I gained access to yesterday. We are trying to figure out how to get the data John had pulled a year and a half ago. Which columns to select... Which columns to add together... Which columns to not pull... What do the abbreviations mean??? More time needs to be spent thinking about these things.
Day 19 (July 8, 2010)
Ryan and I had a couple interesting experiences today. We attended a Learn at Lunch project about outdated Analog Computers and how they are still useful in some ways today. The point was do not forget how the analog worked because that can help make things easier in the more modern world.
We also got to see and experience a high tech flight simulator. The displays that are present on board actual aircraft along with the simulation displays. The program correlates the GPS mapping and the GPS system to determine the location of the plane so there can be an artificial display that mimics the real life position of the plane. This allows the pilot to fly even when real visibility is low.
The projects are moving ahead. I've started to write a program (macro) in Excel to give a prediction based on the entered criteria. I will then test to see how accurate the program is.
We also got to see and experience a high tech flight simulator. The displays that are present on board actual aircraft along with the simulation displays. The program correlates the GPS mapping and the GPS system to determine the location of the plane so there can be an artificial display that mimics the real life position of the plane. This allows the pilot to fly even when real visibility is low.
The projects are moving ahead. I've started to write a program (macro) in Excel to give a prediction based on the entered criteria. I will then test to see how accurate the program is.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Day 18 (July 7, 2010)
"Interesting." "Encouraging." Those words were John's reaction to our presentation about predicting the work load the Engineering Effects department will be experiencing in the future. Our next steps are to figure our how to recreate the data John originally shared with us. That will be taking data from a huge database and summarizing it down into smaller categories. Now we are just waiting to gain access to the database.
One of my focuses today was to figure out how this job can be translated into the classroom. The obvious answer is to bring the data that we have been looking for the regression lines and give the students real-life data to our curriculum. The less obvious answer is to create some type of activity can be used to simulate the data which can then be used to practice analyzing "less than obvious" data.
My initial thought was to assign each student a certain number of dice and a criteria they must role to "finish" the job. They must count the number rolls needed to finish the job. Students will be randomly assigned how many dice to roll (rolling 1 die, 2 dice or 3 dice), their "ability" to complete the job, and how many jobs they must complete. Their ability will be based on having different probabilities of completing the job. For example, a 1 die rolling student must roll an even to complete the job, while another student rolling a single die must roll a 6 to complete the job. The "even" student is simulated to have more ability that the "6" student.
Other ideas Ryan brainstormed with me was using real Major league data and determine how many at bats did it take for each player to get their first hit (or first 10 hits or the like) and compare those results to their batting averages. Another was to have a list of words and give the student different rules to follow. i.e count the number of words that alphabetically come before M and how many after vs. determine if the word is a commonly used word or not. After them hearing the list and following their rule, have them try to recreate the list. One rule will typically be much more accurate than the other.
One of my focuses today was to figure out how this job can be translated into the classroom. The obvious answer is to bring the data that we have been looking for the regression lines and give the students real-life data to our curriculum. The less obvious answer is to create some type of activity can be used to simulate the data which can then be used to practice analyzing "less than obvious" data.
My initial thought was to assign each student a certain number of dice and a criteria they must role to "finish" the job. They must count the number rolls needed to finish the job. Students will be randomly assigned how many dice to roll (rolling 1 die, 2 dice or 3 dice), their "ability" to complete the job, and how many jobs they must complete. Their ability will be based on having different probabilities of completing the job. For example, a 1 die rolling student must roll an even to complete the job, while another student rolling a single die must roll a 6 to complete the job. The "even" student is simulated to have more ability that the "6" student.
Other ideas Ryan brainstormed with me was using real Major league data and determine how many at bats did it take for each player to get their first hit (or first 10 hits or the like) and compare those results to their batting averages. Another was to have a list of words and give the student different rules to follow. i.e count the number of words that alphabetically come before M and how many after vs. determine if the word is a commonly used word or not. After them hearing the list and following their rule, have them try to recreate the list. One rule will typically be much more accurate than the other.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Day 15 (July 2, 2010)
Today marks the half way mark of my experience here. I am pleased with my progress so far as far as understanding the work involved, but trying to make connections to the classroom have not been overly obvious. I will take more time in the next couple weeks concentrating on that aspect.
Today, Ryan and I met with Jenny Becker, the Community Relations person who originally introduced us to the program. Her job is to bring the community and Rockwell Collins personnel together. She showed us a couple fabulous programs. One is a program for high elementary to middle school aged students (called FIRST LEGO League) and the other is for high school level students (FIRST Tech Challenge, aka FTC). The FTC is actually a class at Jefferson this coming year. I'll make a note to look in on the program. I need to look over my curricula a little closer and see if there is a good fit for a Rockwell Collins employee to visit my my class(es).
On the analysis front, I have put together a presentation to show John, the head of the Environmental Effects department. I think I may have a tool for him to use to predict the number of hours to plan for in his area for the fiscal year 2011. He technically has already made the decision (he was forced to early last week), but I will be curious if my conclusion matches his estimation.
Rockwell Collins is closed for Monday and Tuesday and are considered paid holidays. My next blog entry will be on Wednesday, July 7. See you then!
Today, Ryan and I met with Jenny Becker, the Community Relations person who originally introduced us to the program. Her job is to bring the community and Rockwell Collins personnel together. She showed us a couple fabulous programs. One is a program for high elementary to middle school aged students (called FIRST LEGO League) and the other is for high school level students (FIRST Tech Challenge, aka FTC). The FTC is actually a class at Jefferson this coming year. I'll make a note to look in on the program. I need to look over my curricula a little closer and see if there is a good fit for a Rockwell Collins employee to visit my my class(es).
On the analysis front, I have put together a presentation to show John, the head of the Environmental Effects department. I think I may have a tool for him to use to predict the number of hours to plan for in his area for the fiscal year 2011. He technically has already made the decision (he was forced to early last week), but I will be curious if my conclusion matches his estimation.
Rockwell Collins is closed for Monday and Tuesday and are considered paid holidays. My next blog entry will be on Wednesday, July 7. See you then!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Day 14 (July 1, 2010)
Another day in the cube - but good things happening! I decided to include some data considered "old" in order to have more data significance and found some interesting things. Full disclosure: "old" data simply means the predictive data was counted differently (and probably not as accurately as the newer method).
Yesterday I suggested the project completion time may be 3 1/2 years (actually 47 months). After including the old data, that number has changed to 25 months (just over 2 years). I am able to see a definite trend between the predictive data from 25 months ago and the Environment Effects hours now relatively. I will present the findings to John tomorrow.
I spent most of the day creating supporting graphs and making sure they were labeled well...
One of the things working with Ryan has helped me understand is the need for labels on graphs. I call him over when I think I have something significant and his first question is always, "What am I looking at?" The graphs make sense to me, but he has no clue. the graphs look pretty and significant, but knowing what it actually says is impossible without proper labeling. I have always emphasized that that in my classroom, but I see why it is important now. It's a communication tool, not just an analysis tool for me.
Yesterday I suggested the project completion time may be 3 1/2 years (actually 47 months). After including the old data, that number has changed to 25 months (just over 2 years). I am able to see a definite trend between the predictive data from 25 months ago and the Environment Effects hours now relatively. I will present the findings to John tomorrow.
I spent most of the day creating supporting graphs and making sure they were labeled well...
One of the things working with Ryan has helped me understand is the need for labels on graphs. I call him over when I think I have something significant and his first question is always, "What am I looking at?" The graphs make sense to me, but he has no clue. the graphs look pretty and significant, but knowing what it actually says is impossible without proper labeling. I have always emphasized that that in my classroom, but I see why it is important now. It's a communication tool, not just an analysis tool for me.
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