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PostedApril 16, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/sprinkles/view/cub_strawbridges_sprinkle

Students design, build and test truss bridges made of straws and tape to see how much weight they can support.

PostedApril 11, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/ucd_energy_lesson03_activity1

Students play the role of engineers as they test, design and build Mentos® fountains—a dramatic example of how potential energy (stored energy) can be converted to kinetic energy (motion). They are challenged to work together as a class to optimize the design of the basic soda/candy geyser made by the teacher. To do this, three research teams each investigate how a different variable—nozzle shape, soda temperature, number of candies—affects fountain height. They devise and run experimental tests to determine the best variable values. Then they combine their results to design the highest fountain to compete head-to-head with the teacher's geyser design.

PostedApril 11, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_airplanes_lesson06_activity...

Students learn the different airplane parts, including wing, flap, aileron, fuselage, cockpit, propeller, spinner, engine, tail, rudder, elevator. Then they each build one of four different (provided) paper airplane (really, glider) designs with instructions, which they test in three trials, measuring flight distance and time. Then they design and build (fold, cut) a second paper airplane design of their own creation, which they also test for flight distance and time. They graph the collected class data. Analysis of these experiments with "model" airplanes and their results help them see and figure out what makes airplanes fly and what can be changed to influence the flying characteristics and performance of airplanes.

PostedApril 9, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/duk_boat_mary_act

Students conduct a simple experiment to see how the water level changes in a beaker when a lump of clay sinks in the water and when the same lump of clay is shaped into a bowl that floats in the water. They notice that the floating clay displaces more water than the sinking clay does, perhaps a surprising result. Then they determine the mass of water that is displaced when the clay floats in the water. A comparison of this mass to the mass of the clay itself reveals that they are approximately the same.

PostedApril 9, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/duk_consenergy_rde_less

Students learn how the conservation of energy applies to impact situations such as a car crash or a falling objects. Mechanical energy is the most easily understood form of energy for students. When mechanical energy is involved, something moves. Mechanical energy is a very important concept to understand. Engineers need to know what happens when something heavy falls from a long distance changing its potential energy into kinetic energy. Automotive engineers need to know what happens when cars crash into each other, and why they can do so much damage, even at low speeds! Our knowledge of mechanical energy is used to help design things like bridges, engines, cars, tools, parachutes and even buildings!

PostedApril 9, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_heartvalves_lesson01

Students learn how healthy human heart valves function and the different diseases that can affect heart valves. They also learn about devices and procedures that biomedical engineers have designed to help people with damaged or diseased heart valves. Students learn about the pros and cons of different materials and how doctors choose which engineered artificial heart valves are appropriate for certain people.

PostedApril 4, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_mechanics_lesson04_activity...

Students observe the relationship between the angle of a catapult (a force measurement) and the flight of a cotton ball. They learn how Newton's second law of motion works by seeing directly that F = ma. When they pull the metal "arm" back further, thus applying a greater force to the cotton ball, it causes the cotton ball to travel faster and farther. Students also learn that objects of greater mass require more force to result in the same distance traveled by a lighter object.

PostedApril 2, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/wpi_bones_lesson01

After learning, comparing and contrasting the steps of the engineering design process (EDP) and scientific method, students review the human skeletal system, including the major bones, bone types, bone functions and bone tissues, as well as other details about bone composition. Students then pair-read an article about bones and bone growth and compile their notes to summarize the article. Finally, students complete a homework assignment to review the major bones in the human body, preparing them for the associated activities in which they create and test prototype replacement bones with appropriate densities. Two PowerPoint® presentations, pre-/post-test, handout and worksheet are provided.

PostedApril 1, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/csm_platetectonics_activity1

Students gather evidence to explain the theory of plate tectonics. Using the online resources at the Earthquakes Living Lab, students examine information and gather evidence supporting the theory. They also look at how volcanoes and earthquakes are explained by tectonic plate movement, and how engineers use this information. Working in pairs, students think like engineers and connect what they understand about the theory of plate tectonics to the design of structures for earthquake-resistance. A worksheet serves as a student guide for the activity.

PostedMarch 29, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_air_lesson07_activity1

Students observe demonstrations, and build and evaluate simple models to understand the greenhouse effect and the role of increased greenhouse gas concentration in global warming.

PostedMarch 20, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/duk_energymusic_mem_less

This lesson covers concepts of energy and energy transfer, with a focus on energy transfer in musical instruments. More specifically, students learn the two different ways in which energy can be transferred between a system and its environment. The law of conservation of energy is also described. Example systems are presented (two cars on a track and a tennis ball falling to the ground) and students make predictions and explain the energy transfer mechanisms. The engineering focus becomes clear in the associated activity when students apply the concepts learned in the lesson to design musical instruments. The systems analyzed in the lesson help in discussing how to apply conservation of energy and energy transfer to make things.

PostedMarch 11, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/ucd_bridge_activity1

Students act as structural engineers and learn about forces and load distributions as they follow the steps of the engineering design process to design and build small-scale bridges using wooden tongue depressors and glue. Teams brainstorm ideas that meet the size and material design constraints and create prototype bridges of the most promising solutions. They test their bridges to see how much weight they can hold until they break and then determine which have the highest strength-to-weight ratios. They examine the prototype failures to identify future improvements. This activity is part of a unit in which multiple activities are brought together for an all-day school/multi-school concluding “engineering field day” competition.

PostedFebruary 28, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_mars_lesson05_activity1

The purpose of this activity is to recreate the classic egg-drop experiment with an analogy to the Mars rover landing. The concept of terminal velocity will be introduced, and students will perform several velocity calculations. Also, students will have to design and build their lander within a pre-determined budget to help reinforce a real-world design scenario.

PostedFebruary 21, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/wpi_empathy_activity4

Students learn more about assistive devices, specifically biomedical engineering applied to computer engineering concepts, with an engineering challenge to create an automatic floor cleaner computer program. Following the steps of the design process, they design computer programs and test them by programming a simulated robot vacuum cleaner (a LEGO robot) to move in designated patterns. Successful programs meet all the design requirements.

PostedFebruary 17, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/duk_consenergy_rde_act

Students design and build devices to protect and accurately deliver dropped eggs. The devices and their contents represent care packages that must be safely delivered to people in a disaster area with no road access. Similar to engineering design teams, students design their devices using a number of requirements and constraints such as limited supplies and time. The activity emphasizes the change from potential energy to kinetic energy of the devices and their contents and the energy transfer that occurs on impact. Students enjoy this competitive challenge as they attain a deeper understanding of mechanical energy concepts.