Oak Park High School’s Career Tech Education system has seen a lot of changes going into the 2025-26 school year, including the addition of multiple new career pathways. There are now two AP Cybersecurity courses replacing the semester-long IT Essentials and Cybersecurity, along with the transition from Athletic Training and CERT/EMS to Sports Medicine I and II. However, arguably most importantly, we finally have a class to follow Intro to Engineering Design.
Taught by woodshop, architecture, engineering and rocketry teacher Allan Prescott, Principles of Engineering will continue from the class before it with a more hands-on approach.
“Principles builds on Intro to Engineering in the sense that it’s more projects-based,” Prescott said. “Now that students have already learned the basics of engineering design, we’ll look into different types of engineering; mechanical, electrical, civic and so on.”
The class’ curriculum is provided by Project Lead The Way, a nonprofit organization that provides STEM curriculum for students and teachers across the U.S.
“Students [will] explore how modern engineers help improve the world through diverse engineering fields, such as product design, mechanical design, infrastructure and sustainability,” PLTW states in their course description for Principles of Engineering.
The class will cover a wide variety of engineering subjects, including base-level coding, mechanical design and even artificial intelligence.
“[Principles of Engineering] is actually replacing my Robotics class, because robotics is part of the curriculum given by PLTW,” Prescott said. “While the intro class focused on designing parts using a software like CAD, Principles is more about different types of engineering and how they apply to the real world.”.
As per PLTW’s course, the curriculum is split into five units: mechanical design, robotics, energy infrastructure, environmental sustainability and product development. Principles of Engineering aims to educate on a variety of engineering majors, giving interested students the insight needed to choose one.
“The main thing we want in this class and any of our classes is a sense of comfort for the students,” Prescott said. “We want them to feel comfortable with the different softwares they’ll be using and engineering overall, so they can move forward when they’re ready.”
Overall, Principles of Engineering primarily focuses on the real-world application of the subject through activities based on problem-solving using engineering.
“Students advance from completing structured activities to solving open-ended projects and problems that provide opportunities to develop… transportable skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, communication and ethical reasoning,” PLTW states. “The last is particularly important as the course encourages students to consider the impacts of engineering decisions.”
Principles of Engineering is the capstone for the engineering CTE pathway at OPHS. It dives into the major as a whole, and is an essential class for students who want to specialize in engineering.
