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:

• The challenge of ice buildup in winter at the Ward’s Island Ferry Docks
• Assisting children in piano hand placement
• Mushroom cultivation at the Farm Education Lab at Black Creek Community Farm
• Toronto Guild of Spinners and Weavers: Basket weavers with arthritis
• Biomechanic synchronization methods at the Mississauga Canoe Club
• Improving mushroom transport containers for Noki Farms
• Addressing the Impact on Marine Ecosystems of Fishing Hooks Left in GTA Waterways
• Improved data collection process for student participants in EcoSpark’s “Caterpillars Count” program
• Integrating vermicomposting and watering systems at Allan Gardens
• Improving the ablution (wudu) stations at the Toronto Islamic Centre (TIC)

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.