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PostedMarch 26, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

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

Students pretend they are agricultural engineers during the colonial period and design a miniature plow that cuts through a "field" of soil. They are introduced to the engineering design process and learn of several famous historical figures who contributed to plow design.

PostedMarch 26, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/ind_complex_solids_activity1

Challenged with a hypothetical engineering work situation in which they need to figure out the volume and surface area of a nuclear power plant’s cooling tower (a hyperbolic shape), students learn to calculate the volume of complex solids that can be classified as solids of revolution or solids with known cross sections. These objects of complex shape defy standard procedures to compute volumes. Even calculus techniques depend on the ability to perform multiple measurements of the objects or find functional descriptions of their edges. During both guided and independent practice, students use (free GeoGebra) geometry software, a photograph of the object, a known dimension of it, a spreadsheet application and integral calculus techniques to calculate the volume of complex shape solids within a margin of error of less than 5%—an approach that can be used to compute the volumes of big or small objects. This activity is suitable for the end of the second semester of AP Calculus ...

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 19, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_ptarmigan_activity1

Students learn about the amazing adaptations of the ptarmigan to the alpine tundra. They focus on one adaptation, the feathered feet of the ptarmigan, and ask whether the feathers serve to only keep the feet warm or to also provide the bird with floatation capability. They create model ptarmigan feet, with and without feathers, and test the hypothesis on the function of the feathers. Ultimately, students make a claim about whether the feathers provide floatation and support this claim with their testing evidence.

PostedMarch 16, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_energy2_lesson09_activity4

Students read and evaluate descriptions of how people live "off the grid" using solar power and come to understand better the degree to which that lifestyle is or is not truly independent of technological, economic and cultural infrastructure and resources. In the process, students develop a deeper appreciation of the meaning of "community" and the need for human connection. This activity is geared towards fifth-grade and older students and Internet research capabilities are required. Portions of this activity may be appropriate with younger students.

PostedMarch 11, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/umo_robotsandhumans_act2

This activity helps students understand how a motor in a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robot uses electricity produced by the battery to move a robot to do useful work in the form of throwing a ball. Students relate the concepts of electricity and battery to the movement of the LEGO NXT motor and connected links.
**Note: This activity uses the retired LEGO NXT robot which is no longer available for purchase.

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/colors_absorb_heat_better

Students test whether the color of a material affects how much heat it absorbs. They leave ice cubes placed in boxes made of colored paper (one box per color; white, yellow, red and black) in the sun, and predict in which colored box ice cubes melt first. They record the order and time required for the ice cubes to melt.

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 21, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/csu_polymer_lesson01_activity1

Students make two different formulations of imitation Silly Putty with varying degrees of cross-linking. They witness how changes in the degree of cross-linking influence the putty properties.

PostedFebruary 19, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_human_lesson08_activity1

Students filter different substances through a plastic window screen, different sized hardware cloth and poultry netting. Their models show how the thickness of a filter in the kidney is imperative in determining what is filtered out and what stays in the blood stream.

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.

PostedFebruary 13, 2019

Posted byTeach Engineering Team

https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/usu-1961-everyday-problems-intr...

Students are introduced to two real-life problems that can be solved by using the engineering design process. For the first one, they follow along with a slide presentation that describes how a group of students built an organizer to help organize their teacher’s desk. The presentation introduces students to the key steps in the engineering design process. Next, in discussion groups, they read through a scenario in which middle school student Marisol struggles to keep her locker organized. They read the case study together, stopping and discussing at key points to share ideas and consider Marisol’s progress as she moves through the engineering design cycle to design and implement a solution. As an optional hands-on activity extension, students construct their own locker organizer using scrap materials. This introduction to the engineering design process sets up students to be able ...