Reverse Engineering for freshman through seniors

Reverse Engineering is the process of discovering the workings of a device or system through analysis. It is a high interest activity for high school engineering classes. In general, high school students have not had much experience taking devices apart and determining how they work, but they are often very interested when given the opportunity. Also, the device chosen can be a culminating activity from which to teach physics and engineering principles such as electricity, motors, gears, cams, etc. In addition, Reverse Engineering activities can incorporate elements of engineering design such as Black Box Modeling, Affinity Analysis, and many more. This report looks at the progression of high school Reverse Engineering activities from freshman to senior courses, including device choice, pre-teaching, documentation, and associated design activities. The goal is to start at the freshman level and gradually build the skills needed to complete the Generator Flashlight Reverse Engineering Project in the Engineer Your World curriculum.