Beyond Benign
Evaluating Sustainability and Lifecycle
What makes one product greener than another? Ecology scholars analyze sustainability and lifecycle through a thought-provoking activity. Individuals pick a product, then examine its components to determine its overall impact on the world...
American Chemical Society
Using the Properties of Materials to Improve a Model Boat
Work together to stay afloat. Using a paper boat, pupils connect properties of materials to their usefulness. They test different paper to determine how many pennies each boat will hold and learn that combining materials with different...
Teach Engineering
Life Cycles
Breathe some life into product design. Pupils learn about the stages of product creation, use, and disposal—sometimes called a cradle-to-grave assessment. They see how this cycle relates to the life cycle of organisms.
Beyond Benign
Product Test
It's the moment of truth. Previous lessons in the 24-part series had scholars design and develop shampoo formulas using chemical concepts. The 18th lesson asks them to test the function of their shampoos. To do this, they calculate the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Product Development and the Environment
In this activity, students investigate the life cycle of an engineered product and how the product impacts the environment. They analyze a product using a simple life cycle assessment that assigns fictional numerical values for different...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: How Do Focus Groups Work?
Focus groups have been widely used by organizations and individuals to find out how their products and ideas will be received by an audience. Hector Lanz explains how focus groups work.