Skip to main content
Academics » Career and Technical Education and Work-Based Learning » 2022-2023 CTE Year in Review

2022-2023 CTE Year in Review

Maker Career and Technical Education Courses and Work-based Learning
 
In order to receive their CTE credential, students must complete a 9-credit sequence in either Digital Media or Computer Science and get 54 hours of work-based learning which can include mentorship, internships, industry projects, and more! See a sampling of the 2022-23 school year projects below.
 
In our Foundations of CTE class, our 9th graders spent one unit exploring Urban Agriculture and Food Justice in preparation for our future 3rd CTE pathway. The students learned about various forms of controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) and planted seeds in "grow kits," modeling both soil-based and hydroponic growing methods. Students considered questions of health & nutrition, food access, and inequity in urban food systems, and looked at alternative agriculture and distribution models as opportunities to combat these persistent structural problems. For their Performance Task, students prepared presentations and infographics that made the case for establishing controlled-environment agricultural operations in New York CIty. 
 
Examples of Student Work:
In class,
- We used Python coding language to create a light show to a song the students chose.
- We learned to use Kaggle to analyze data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that read the change in temperature and sunlight from Central Park against data collected from the HOBO room sensor placed in the classroom.
- We learned the fundamentals of HVAC and how important the HVAC system is for all building occupants. Alongside this, with understanding the refrigeration cycle process and the change of phase the refrigerant goes through.
-We visited the school's mechanical room to help the students better understand the way their school building provides heating, air conditioning and clean oxygen flowing throughout the building.
In Internship,
-We dove deep into HVAC, breaking down the process of airflow throughout the air vents. 
-We pinpointed the various components inside the ventilation system used to heat or cool the air, thermometers throughout the system that monitors the change as it travels, and the fans that push and pull the air throughout the system and into the classrooms.
-We used Chicago's public school data to analyze their energy consumption and point out where they could be responsibly efficient with the energy they use all year.
-Lastly, the students created a presentation on the effects of air quality on occupants and their performance and responsible energy consumption.
 

This course will introduce students to the principles and techniques required for the development of profession, two-dimensional, digital animation projects. Students will create a variety of projects including storyboard, animatics and shorts

Students will gain experience in the basic principles of animation including timing, expression of motion, pose to pose, key and in-betweens, and sound synchronization, and become fluent in the technical production processes and application used in the field.

 

 

Check out some of the student Stop Motion Animation films

 

 

Students participation in an intensive 4-week course based on creative problem solving and the development of those solutions into tangible arts- based project installations for their school
From a $5,000 grant from Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, we brought together an impressive group of community and agency stakeholders to support ten talented high school students from Urban Assembly Maker Academy in designing beautiful, resilient and multi-use planters for the community.  We call them GRooPs (Grass Roots Planters)! 
 
Inspired by the El-Space Initiative led by NYC Department of Transportation in collaboration with Design Trust for Public Space, our GRooPs will turn some of the challenges of our unique spaces under the Brooklyn Bridge overpasses into community benefits!
 
The planters will be heavy lifters!  
Here are some initial design goals:
 
  • Filters and retains rainfall and water runoff
  • Ease of intergenerational gardening
  • Senior-friendly seating for planters in passive recreation areas
  • A skate-friendly edge for planters in active recreation areas
  • A self-watering system
  • Easy to clean and maintain
  • Supports native vegetation
  • Unfriendly to rats and other pests
  • Moveable with a forklift
  • Could be locally produced in mass quantities
  • Preferably made of eco-friendly, cool materials
  • Easy to level on sloping spaces
  • Super sturdy to provide protection that welcomes the community
 
See the projects below or read more about on the Gotham Park Website
 
“User Profiles” is an architectural workshop series by Cornell faculty members Suzanne Lettieri and Michael Jefferson of Jefferson Lettieri Office. During initial exercises, we will manipulate a selection of profiles to evolve in unexpected ways in order to destabilize ourselves with the conventional meanings associated with these shapes and forms.  In short, together we will create new meaning from the familiar symbols that shape our lives.
Shapes (also known as Profiles) carry embedded meaning and implied functions. For example, a triangle represents hierarchy and directionality, and is used on road signs to call our attention towards important information. On the contrary, shapes like circles are often associated with more organic and perhaps calm conditions. Even the most complex forms are an amalgamation of many basic forms that build up meaning. In interacting with our environment, our system of visual perception develops familiarities with certain visual forms and their associated meanings. 
Ultimately we will create a three-dimensional “wallpaper” for an Urban Assembly classroom that is meant to be a photo backdrop for students and a tool that can inspire new-media assignments in the high school curriculum.
 

Through this partnership we repurposed an under utilized area of our makerspace for small group instruction as well as social and community activities such as:

  • Yearbook portraits
  • daily video announcements
  • step & repeat for “red carpet” engagements and events

This digital redesign eventually incorporated woodworking and painting. The end result is a 3-dimensional wallpaper, that serves as a photo studio, a green screen background for film production, student conferencing area and display cases/storage space/

High School Collaboration: focusing on education design, codes and industry regulations and guidelines. The project MUST also include relevant information, design inspiration and an innovative focus for 1 of 3 locations at Urban Assembly Maker Academy (UAMA). This project has a total budget of +/-$5,000.00 per location. Funding will be sought to make one of your designs a reality! See https://www.urbanassembly.org/

Locations:
Each Triangular Alcove has 886.8 SF of available space to design. Tucked into each corner of the triangular 4th Floor plan are three spaces to be designed in collaboration with (+12) UAMA students. The students currently use the spaces as an open lounge / gathering space between classes, that could use a refresh including furniture, lighting, artwork, painting (walls, floors & ceilings), and plants, while maintaining the required means of egress to the adjacent fire stairs. See plans attached.

FIT Studio classes collaborated with 12 Maker students on (2) teams per Alcove (6 teams total) with 3 FIT students and 2 UAMA students per team. 

Each team will develop a design solution for their assigned Alcove including inspiration and concept derived for interviewing the UAMA student team members, giving the Alcove a distinctive name, proposing signage and graphics, colors and furniture, and all other necessary accessories to realize the space within the budget.
 
You can see their projects here