1. (a) Implementation.

   1. (1) The provisions of this section shall be implemented by school districts beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.
   2. (2) School districts shall implement the employability skills student expectations listed in §127.15(d)(1) of this chapter (relating to Career and Technical Education Employability Skills) as an integral part of this course.
2. (b) General requirements. This course is recommended for students in Grades 10-12. Prerequisite: Algebra I. Recommended corequisite: Geometry. Students shall be awarded one credit for successful completion of this course.

3. (c) Introduction.

   1. (1) Career and technical education instruction provides content aligned with challenging academic standards, industry-relevant technical knowledge, and college and career readiness skills for students to further their education and succeed in current and emerging professions.
   2. (2) The Engineering Career Cluster focuses on planning, designing, testing, building, and maintaining machines, structures, materials, systems, and processes using empirical evidence and science, technology, and math principles. This career cluster includes occupations ranging from mechanical engineer and drafter to electrical engineer and mapping technician.
   3. (3) Students enrolled in Mechanical Design I demonstrate knowledge and skills associated with design and manufacture of mechanical systems. Fundamental mechanisms are introduced such as gears, belts, threaded elements, and four-bar mechanisms. Basic manufacturing processes such as stamping, injection molding, casting, machining, and assembly are explored through reverse engineering. The mechanisms encountered through reverse engineering enable the exploration of product functionality. Students compare engineering choices made for components, materials, and manufacturing processes. Emphasis is placed on team collaboration and professional documentation.
   4. (4) Students are encouraged to participate in extended learning experiences such as career and technical student organizations and other organizations that foster leadership and career development in the profession such as student chapters of related professional associations.
   5. (5) Statements that contain the word "including" reference content that must be mastered, while those containing the phrase "such as" are intended as possible illustrative examples.

4. (d) Knowledge and skills.

   1. (1) The student discusses ethics pertaining to engineering. The student is expected to identify and discuss the importance of professionalism, standards of conduct, and ethics as defined by the Texas Engineering Practice Act and rules concerning the practice of engineering and surveying.

   2. (2) The student understands that there are different stages of the engineering design process and the importance of working through each stage as part of an iterative process. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) explain the importance of defining an engineering problem as an initial step in the engineering design process;
      2. (B) describe the research stage of the engineering design process;
      3. (C) define ideation and conceptualization and discuss the role these processes play in innovation and problem solving;
      4. (D) explain the processes of selecting an idea or concept for detailed prototype design, development, and testing;
      5. (E) describe the purpose of non-technical drawings, technical drawings, models, and prototypes in designing a solution to an engineering problem;
      6. (F) describe the process of relevant experimental design, conducting tests, collecting data, and analyzing data to evaluate potential solutions;
      7. (G) explain how the engineering design process is iterative and the role reflection plays in developing an optimized engineering solution; and
      8. (H) describe the purpose of effective communication of the engineering solution as obtained through the engineering design process to various audiences.

   3. (3) The student explores and develops skills to solve problems, make decisions, and manage a project. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) discuss strategies for managing time, setting deadlines, and prioritizing to accomplish goals;
      2. (B) identify constraints and describe the importance of planning around constraints, including budgets, resources, and materials;
      3. (C) define milestones and deliverables and explain the advantages of dividing a large project into smaller milestones and deliverables;
      4. (D) identify different types of communication and explain how different types of communication lead to successful teamwork on a shared project in a professional setting; and
      5. (E) identify strategies to solve problems and describe how problem solving is utilized to accomplish personal and team objectives.

   4. (4) Collaboration. The student develops teamwork skills. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) discuss principles of critique such as describing, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating;
      2. (B) identify and demonstrate teamwork skills such as sensemaking where a team member recognizes another team member who requires additional clarity and then addresses the team member by providing clarity;
      3. (C) identify methods for structuring projects such as Gantt charts, work breakdown structure, Agile, and critical path method; and
      4. (D) discuss the importance of contributing to positive and productive group dynamics to enhance teamwork.

   5. (5) Documentation. The student documents information gathered and interpretation developed throughout engineering processes. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) create documents such as executive summaries, reverse engineering forms, test reports, failure documents, system black box models, engineering notebooks, and drawing packages aligned with professional industry standards;
      2. (B) select the document format to communicate essential information to identified stakeholders; and
      3. (C) explain and justify the structure and sequence of how information is presented in engineering documents.

   6. (6) Applications for mechanical design. The student examines domestic, commercial, and industrial applications of mechanical design. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) explain applications of mechanical design in various industries, including medical, aeronautical, automotive, naval, and robotics industries;
      2. (B) research and identify commercial applications for mechanical design such as heating and cooling systems and robotics; and
      3. (C) identify and discuss household items that are impacted by mechanical design such as environmental controls, refrigerators, washing machines, and clothes dryers.

   7. (7) Mechanisms. The student investigates and understands mechanisms that convert motion such as gears, belts, threaded elements, linkages, or linear actuators. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) create virtual models of physical mechanisms using appropriate tools;
      2. (B) predict how different inputs affect the motion of a mechanism such as gears and linkages and compare the predictions with physical models;
      3. (C) classify mechanisms into different types such as gears, belts, threaded elements, linkages, or linear actuators; and
      4. (D) explain how changes in the dimensions of a mechanism influence the relationship between input and output.

   8. (8) Reverse engineering. The student systematically disassembles and analyzes a system to identify the concepts involved in function and manufacture. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) use appropriate simple tools and methods to disassemble consumer products such as can openers, mixers, or drills;
      2. (B) document the reverse engineering process using appropriate documentation tools and methods;
      3. (C) identify mechanisms of a product such as drive systems and gears and how their function contributes to the overall function of the product;
      4. (D) identify elements of a product such as housings, covers, and controls and how their attributes contribute to the product;
      5. (E) use appropriate measurement tools and methods to capture and document information about the sub-assemblies and components in a product;
      6. (F) identify and evaluate the choice of particular materials in the elements of a product;
      7. (G) identify and evaluate the choice of the process used to manufacture the element of a product; and
      8. (H) identify and evaluate the choice of the process to assemble a product.

   9. (9) Manufacturing. The student identifies different manufacturing processes such as stamping, injection molding, casting, sintering, and machining and assembly. The student is expected to:

      1. (A) explain and compare common manufacturing processes such as stamping, casting, injection molding, and machining;
      2. (B) identify and describe stamping manufacturing process elements such as press, tool, and blank and process steps such as shearing, bending, and perforating;
      3. (C) identify and describe injection molding elements such as hopper, heater, platen, and mold and process steps such as heating and injecting;
      4. (D) identify and describe casting elements such as mold, furnace, parting plane, sprue, and gate and process steps such as heating, pouring, cooling, and removal;
      5. (E) identify and describe sintering elements such as mold, furnace, binder, and powder and process steps such as heating, pressing, cooling, and post-processing;
      6. (F) identify and describe material removal elements such as workpiece, tool, jigs, and fixtures; the machine used such as mill, lathe, or drill; and process steps such as holding, locating, and cutting;
      7. (G) identify and describe assembly process elements such as jigs and fixtures, tolerances, fasteners, and tools and related process steps such as locating, holding, joining, and automating; and
      8. (H) identify and explain which material types are appropriate for manufacturing processes such as stamping, injection molding, casting, sintering, material removal, and assembly.

   10. (10) Assembly. The student explores the assembly process. The student is expected to:

       1. (A) explain the purposes of joining methods such as welding, adhesive bonding, fastening, riveting, and snap fitting;
       2. (B) evaluate the choice of joining methods found in a consumer product and generate requirements based on the evaluation; and
       3. (C) compare different assembly strategies such as assembly line, automation versus manual, or batch versus pull.

   11. (11) Design. The student applies appropriate professional design tools. The student is expected to:

       1. (A) define industry relevant terminology, including Failure Modes Effects Analysis (FMEA), Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Design for Assembly (DFA), Lean Manufacturing, Design of Experiments (DOE), benchmarking, reverse engineering, and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA);
       2. (B) use design tools such as FMEA, Quality Functional Deployment (QFD), root cause analysis, five whys, or decision matrices to extract information about a reverse engineered product;
       3. (C) develop an engineering requirements list to justify the selection of materials, processes, parts, and features from a reverse engineered product;
       4. (D) identify opportunities for manufacturing and assembly improvement from a reverse engineered consumer product; and
       5. (E) design and conduct tests to collect information needed to understand the engineers' design decisions, including material, manufacturing process, and mechanism choices, during a reverse engineering project.

   12. (12) Key concepts. The student understands key concepts of mechanical engineering. The student is expected to:

       1. (A) define heat transfer concepts such as conduction, convection, or radiation;
       2. (B) define thermodynamic concepts such as systems boundary, conservation, or entropy;
       3. (C) define mechanics of materials concepts such as strain, stress, elasticity, brittleness, or fatigue;
       4. (D) define dynamics concepts such as vibrations, dampening, or spring coefficients;
       5. (E) define material concepts such as strength, hardness, metallics, polymers, or ceramics;
       6. (F) define fluids concepts such as mass flow rate, viscosity, compressibility, turbulence, or boundary layer;
       7. (G) define statics concepts such as free body diagrams, force, torque, moment, or equilibrium;
       8. (H) define controls concepts such as open loop, closed loop, or systems modeling; and
       9. (I) identify and explain the use of engineering computational tools such as computer-aided design (CAD), finite element analysis (FEA), or computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

Source Note:The provisions of this §127.411 adopted to be effective August 1, 2025, 50 TexReg 4876.