Middlesex County Academy - 90-day Exploratory Program

90-day Exploratory Program

In order to expose students to both engineering tracks, every student goes through a 45-day program in each of the two engineering tracks. During this exploratory program, the students do hands on experiments and are taught to think in innovative ways. Lectures include introductions to new and innovative paradigms and the consequences of paradigm shifts. A favorite of the students is the egg drop experiment, in which students must get an egg from the second floor of the building to a landing zone on the first floor without the egg breaking. The electrical engineering exploratory program includes boolean logic, binary arithmetic, and culminates in a project where students use a programmable logic device to display their birthday on a seven-segment display.

After the 90-day period, each student writes an essay, explaining which engineering program he/she would like to be in for the remaining 3½ years of high school. The administration and engineering teachers attempt to put the students in the classes they choose, while not violating any building or fire codes for occupancy.