Praxis II Showcase

At the Praxis II Showcase, student teams present and demonstrate their designs. We encourage guests to ask questions and interact with students.

You are welcome to attend as much or as little of the event as you like--sessions are running in the morning and afternoon.

Praxis II is a Year 1 course that allows Engineering Science students to refine and apply their engineering, design, and communication skills. The students are given a single challenge:

Effect a verified and validated sustainable improvement in the lived experience of a community.

Focusing on a community allows students to gain first-hand experience with the issues confronting real groups of people and to engage one-on-one with stakeholders and community representatives.

In the first phase of the course, the class seeks out communities with which to engage. In collaboration with their community, they define an engineering opportunity and produce a Request for Proposal (RFP).

RFPs selected to proceed to the second phase of Praxis II this year are:

• A:  Assisting Annex Chess Club Players who Struggle to Record Chess Moves; Digitization of Moves (Scarborough Chess Club)
• B:  Improvement of clay reclamation process at Kalon Ceramics; Controlling the Clay Dehydration Process During Reclamation at Clay with Me; Throwing MUD Without Pain
• C:  Designing an Improved Bulk Soap Dispenser System for Karma Co-op
• D:  Reducing Reliance on Sighted Guides During Blind Soccer Dribbling and Orientation Drills at Pickering Football Club
• E:  An Improved Mooring System at the Toronto Sailing & Canoe Club
• F:  Less Chaos, More Construction - a LEGO Brick Sorting Solution
• G:  Engineering a Large-Scale Parade Prop - ‘The Giant Strawberry'
• H:  Gauging Honey Quantity in Beehives at Hamilton Honeybee Holdings; Efficient Methods of Hive Condition Monitoring the Urban Toronto Beekeepers Association; Improve Beehive Accessibility - Toronto Beekeepers Collective
• I:  Request for a Solution to Measure Moisture Content of Aggregate Soil
• J:  A Proposal for Right-Hook Collision Detection and Prevention Systems - Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists (ARC)

In the second phase, three to nine teams design engineering solutions for each RFP. This culminates in the public Praxis II Showcase. At the event, students share their refined understanding of their opportunity and their proposed engineering designs with a wide audience through posters, prototypes and presentations.

Past attendees include City Councillors, representatives from newspapers, radio, and television, as well as project stakeholders and materials suppliers.