Innovation Showcase at COSI

Worthington Kilbourne High School Display

PLTW teacher Jon Baird and his student display team

Shahana Prakash shows off the dragster she designed.

Pictured above and below: Joel Spangler explains his marble sorter design

Isaac Sanders gives guests a tour through his puzzle cube project

The technology community of Columbus recently came out in force to welcome the Innovation Showcase to the Center of Science and Industry (COSI).  The showcase features Ohio companies with innovative ideas, and includes a display of which PLTW Ohio is justly proud.  The permanently installed showcase (pictured with the current offering, a Wii disc changer developed by Norwalk High School PLTW students) features a rotating display of PLTW student projects. 

The grand opening event attracted 350 guests from area companies such as PolymerOhio, Battelle, Columbus NanoWorks, and the Ohio Supercomputer Center.  Featured were several temporary informational displays, among which was a PLTW booth showcasing projects completed by the students of Worthington Kilbourne and Thomas Worthington High Schools and also Worthingway Middle School. Attendees at the event were sometimes amazed at the level of the work shown.  Freelance IT consultant Sheldon Cousino raised an eyebrow when informed that the students behind the tables were in high school.  “I really thought they were in college,” he said.  “This is a really great experience for them.”  Another observer, Robert Wolczak of Columbus NanoWorks, Inc., felt the same.  “This is impressive,” he said, as he looked over the display of designed-for-speed dragsters, an electric-eye controlled robotic hopper that students program to sort clear marbles from dark marbles, and several other design projects with real-world focuses.  “Are you sure these are high school kids?”

Another attendee, engineer Will Jacobs, said that what he found most impressive about the students at the display was their level of engagement.  He spoke with Kilbourne High School senior Joel Spangler extensively about his marble sorter project, and came away “very impressed.”  “I asked him some pretty tough questions on problems and how he solved them,” Jacobs said.  “He was very up on the mechanical side of things.  What’s nice about this approach is that it combines the software knowledge with the mechanical, the design, and the electrical.  It’s a good cross discipline project.” 

The students at the display were equally as enthusiastic about their PLTW classes and projects.  Shahana Prakash, a freshman in Todd Deisher’s Introduction to Engineering Design class at Worthington Kilbourne, pronounced the class “really fun.”  Shahana, who has always liked math, science, and technology, discovered her love for engineering last summer by attending a one week summer camp for girls interested in engineering.  She is most interested in the biomedical field.  “I like the hospital environment and helping people, but I don’t like looking at blood,” she said.  “I like technology, and seeing what I can do with it. . .most of your core classes you just sit. . . I like applying what you learn to what you’ll use in your future.”  

A crowd of 350 was on hand for the grand opening of the Innovation Showcase.

The COSI Innovation Showcase features Ohio companies with innovations in product designs. PLTW Ohio's showcase is the only educational display.