Updating search results...

Search Resources

104 Results

View
Selected filters:
  • engineering-design-process
Shake It Up! Engineering for Seismic Waves
Rating
0.0 stars

Students learn about how engineers design and build shake tables to test the ability of buildings to withstand the various types of seismic waves generated by earthquakes. Just like engineers, students design and build shake tables to test their own model buildings made of toothpicks and mini marshmallows. Once students are satisfied with the performance of their buildings, they put them through a one-minute simulated earthquake challenge.

Author:
Carleigh Samson, Stephanie Rivale, Denise W. Carlson
Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,
Shapes of Strength
Rating
0.0 stars

Students are introduced to brainstorming and the design process in problem solving as it relates to engineering. They perform an activity to develop and understand problem solving with an emphasis on learning from history. Using only paper, straws, tape and paper clips, they create structures that can support the weight of at least one textbook. In their first attempts to build the structures, they build whatever comes to mind. For the second trial, they examine examples of successful buildings from history and try again.

Author:
Janet Yowell
Abigail Watrous
Melissa Straten
Katherine Beggs
Denali Lander
Tod Sullivan
Integrated Teaching and Learning Program and Laboratory,
Simple Machines and Modern Day Engineering Analogies
Rating
0.0 stars

Students apply the mechanical advantages and problem-solving capabilities of six types of simple machines (wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley) as they discuss modern structures in the spirit of the engineers and builders of the great pyramids. While learning the steps of the engineering design process, students practice teamwork, creativity and problem solving.

Author:
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,
Brett S. Ellison
Lawrence E. Carlson
Jacquelyn Sullivan
TeachEngineering.org
Denise Carlson
Denise Carlson, with design input from the students in the spring 2005 K-12 Engineering Outreach Corps course.
Sounds All Around
Rating
0.0 stars

Students follow the steps of the engineering design process to create their own ear trumpet devices (used before modern-day hearing aids), including testing them with a set of reproducible sounds. They learn to recognize different pitches, and see how engineers must test designs and materials to achieve the best amplifying properties.

Author:
William Surles
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,
Denise W. Carlson
Lesley Herrmann
Space System Architecture and Design, Fall 2004
Conditional Remix & Share Permitted
CC BY-NC-SA
Rating
0.0 stars

Space System Architecture and Design incorporates lectures, readings and discussion on topics in the architecting of space systems. The class reviews existing space system architectures and the classical methods of designing them. Sessions focus on multi-attribute utility theory as a new design paradigm for space systems, when combined with integrated concurrent engineering and efficient searches of large architectural tradspaces. Designing for flexibility and uncertainty is considered, as are policy and product development issues.

Subject:
Applied Science
Architecture and Design
Material Type:
Full Course
Textbook
Author:
Hastings, Daniel
Date Added:
01/01/2004
Splash, Pop, Fizz: Rube Goldberg Machines
Rating
0.0 stars

Refreshed with an understanding of the six simple machines; screw, wedge, pully, incline plane, wheel and axle, and lever, student groups receive materials and an allotted amount of time to act as mechanical engineers to design and create machines that can complete specified tasks. For the competition, they choose from pre-determined goal options such as: 1) dumping goldfish into a bowl, 2) popping a balloon, or 3) dropping mint candies into soda pop (creating a fizzy reaction). Students demonstrate their functioning contraptions to the class, earning points for using all six simple machines, successful transitions from one chain reaction to the next, and completion of the end goal.

Author:
Jackie Swanson
RET Site on Multidisciplinary Engineering Research for Rural Michigan's Future,
Sticks and Stones Will Break That Bone!
Rating
0.0 stars

Students learn about the strength of bones and methods of helping to mend fractured bones. During a class demonstration, a chicken bone is broken by applying a load until it reaches a point of failure (fracture). Then, working as biomedical engineers, students teams design their own splint or cast to help repair a fractured bone, learning about the strength of materials used.

Author:
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Jaime Morales
Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,
Denise W. Carlson
Super Slinger Engineering Challenge
Rating
0.0 stars

Students are challenged to design, build and test small-scale launchers while they learn and follow the steps of the engineering design process. For the challenge, the "slingers" must be able to aim and launch Ping-Pong balls 20 feet into a goal using ordinary building materials such as tape, string, plastic spoons, film canisters, plastic cups, rubber bands and paper clips. Students first learn about defining the problem and why each step of the process is important. Teams develop solutions and determine which is the best based on design requirements. After making drawings, constructing and testing prototypes, they evaluate the results and make recommendations for potential second-generation prototypes.

Author:
Jared R. Quinn
Kristen Billiar
Inquiry-Based Bioengineering Research and Design Experiences for Middle-School Teachers RET Program, Department of Biomedical Engineering,
Terri Camesano
Swinging with Style
Rating
0.0 stars

Students experientially learn about the characteristics of a simple physics phenomenon the pendulum by riding on playground swings. They use pendulum terms and a timer to experiment with swing variables. They extend their knowledge by following the steps of the engineering design process to design timekeeping devices powered by human swinging.

Author:
Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,
Denise W. Carlson
Malinda S. Zarske
Ashleigh Bailey
Megan Podlogar
Temperature Tells All!
Rating
0.0 stars

Students are introduced to the health risks caused by cooking and heating with inefficient cook stoves inside homes, a common practice in rural developing communities. Students simulate the cook stove scenario and use the engineering design process, including iterative trials, to increase warmth inside a building while reducing air quality problems. Students then collect and graph data, and analyze their findings.

Author:
Janet Yowell
Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,
Marissa H. Forbes
Jacqueline Godina
Carleigh Samson
Odessa Gomez
Thinking Green!
Rating
0.0 stars

Students show their creativity and think like engineers as they design products or services that can be used to improve environmental problems in the community. While being aware of the steps of the engineering design process, students are challenged to consider all aspects of their products/services, including their costs, and impacts on the environment and people in their communities. They present their "green" solutions, in the form of advertisements, to the class for critical review of their feasibility.

Author:
Carleigh Samson
Jessica Ray
GK-12 Program,
Barry Williams
Time for Design
Read the Fine Print
Rating
0.0 stars

Students are introduced to the engineering design process, focusing on the concept of brainstorming design alternatives. They learn that engineering is about designing creative ways to improve existing artifacts, technologies or processes, or developing new inventions that benefit society. Students come to realize that they can be engineers and use the design process themselves to create tomorrow's innovations.

Subject:
Applied Science
Engineering
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Lesson Plan
Author:
Denise W. Carlson
Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,
Jackie Sullivan
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Megan Podlogar
Date Added:
09/18/2014
Tower Investigation and the Egg
Rating
0.0 stars

Towers have been a part of developed society for centuries, serving a variety of purposes, from watch towers to modern cell towers. In this activity, student groups design and build three types of towers (guyed or cable-supported, free-standing or self-standing, and monopole), engineering them to meet the requirements that they hold an egg one foot high for 15 seconds.

Author:
Center for Engineering Educational Outreach,
The Universal Language of Engineering Drawings
Rating
0.0 stars

Students practice the ability to produce clear, complete, accurate and detailed design drawings through an engineering design challenge. Using only the specified materials, teams are challenged to draw a design for a wind-powered car. Then, they trade engineering drawings with another group and attempt to construct the model cars in order to determine how successfully the original design intentions were communicated through sketches, dimensions and instructions.

Author:
Jacob Crosby, Malinda Schaefer Zarske, Denise W. Carlson
Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,
Wait Program!
Rating
0.0 stars

After completing the associated lesson, students test their understanding in two programming tasks that utilize LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robots and sound/touch sensors. In the first challenge, students become acquainted with wait blocks by designing programs to simply make robots move forward until "hearing" a noise, and then turn left. The second, more challenging activity pushes students to fully understand the potential of wait blocks. They create programs that make the robots change speed several times when a touch sensor is pressed. Students gain practice in the iterative design-program-test-redesign process. A PowerPoint® presentation, pre/post quizzes and worksheet are provided.

Author:
GK-12 Program, Computational Neurobiology Center,
Riaz Helfer, Pranit Samarth, Satish S. Nair
Watch Out for the Blind Spots
Rating
0.0 stars

In this service-learning engineering project, students follow the steps of the engineering design process to design a hearing testing device. More specifically, they design a prototype machine that can be used to test the peripheral vision of partially-blind, pre-verbal children. Students learn about the basics of vision and vision loss. They also learn how a peripheral vision tester for adults works (by testing the static peripheral vision in the four quadrants of the visual field with four controllable lights in specific locations). Then they modify the idea of the adult peripheral vision tester to make it usable for testing young children. The class designs and builds one complete prototype, working in sub-groups of four or five students each to build sub-components of the project design.

Author:
Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,
Malinda Zarske
Denise W. Carlson (This activity was taught at the Denver School for Science and Technology.)
Eszter Horanyi
Jonathan MacNeil
Alison Pienciak
Stephanie Rivale
Water Desalination Plant
Rating
0.0 stars

Students use a thermal process approach to design, build and test a small-scale desalination plant that is capable of significantly removing the salt content from a saltwater solution. Students use a saltwater circuit to test the efficiency of their model desalination plant and learn how the water cycle is the basis for the thermal processes that drive their desalination plant.

Author:
Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,
Denise W. Carlson
Carleigh Samson
Stephanie Rivale
Juan Ramirez Jr.
We Have Liftoff
Rating
0.0 stars

Building on an introduction to statics, dynamics free-body diagrams, combustion and thermodynamics provided by the associated lesson, students design, construct and test their own rocket engines using sugar and potassium nitrate an opportunity to apply their knowledge of stoichiometry. This activity helps students understand that the energy required to launch a rocket comes from the chemical energy stored in the rocket fuel. The performance of each engine is tested during a rocket launch, after which students determine the reasons for the success or failure of their rockets.

Author:
Taylor Dizon-Kelly, Robert Pardue
National Science Foundation GK-12 and Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Programs,
What Happened to the Water? Designing Ways to Get and Clean Water
Rating
0.0 stars

In this scenario-based activity, students design ways to either clean a water source or find a new water source, depending on given hypothetical family scenarios. They act as engineers to draw and write about what they could do to provide water to a community facing a water crisis. They also learn the basic steps of the engineering design process.

Author:
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Jay Shah
Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,
Denise W. Carlson
What Is Engineering? What Is Design?
Rating
0.0 stars

Students are presented with an overview of engineering and design. Various engineering disciplines are discussed in some detail using slides and an online video and website. The concept of design is introduced by presenting the basic steps of the engineering design process. Students learn that design is not necessarily restricted to engineering, but a general concept applicable to all walks of life. To strengthen their understanding, students are challenged to design a picnic for their friends by considering its various components as they go through the design process steps. This prepares them for subsequent design challenges such as those in the associated activities of this unit. A PowerPoint® presentation, pre/post quizzes and worksheet are provided.

Author:
Sachin Nair, Pranit Samarth, Satish S. Nair
GK-12 Program, Computational Neurobiology Center,