TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Light vs. Heat Bulbs
Students measure the light output and temperature (as a measure of heat output) for three types of light bulbs to identify why some light bulbs are more efficient (more light with less energy) than others.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Energy Perspectives
Students utilize data tables culled from the US DOE Energy Information Agency to create graphs that illustrate what types of energy we use and how we use it. An MS Excel workbook with several spreadsheets of data is provided. Students...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Sensors and Scatterplots
Students explore the use of several biomedical engineering sensor devices, and then use the collected data to create and analyze scatterplots of the different variables to determine if any relationships exist between the measured...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Catching the Perfect Sar Waves!
Students learn the importance of the Pythagorean theorem as applied in radar imaging. They use a sensor unit with IRED (infrared emitting diode) to measure triangle distances and the Pythagorean theorem to calculate and verify distances....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Invisible Radar Triangle
Students learn about radar imaging and its various military and civilian applications that include recognition and detection of human-made targets, and the monitoring of space, deforestation, and oil spills. They use technology tools to...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Human Power
Students do work by lifting a known mass over a period of time. The mass and measured distance and time is used to calculate force, work, energy and power in metric units. The students' power is then compared to horse power and the power...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Solving Energy Problems
The culminating energy project is introduced and the technical problem solving process is applied to get students started on the project. By the end of the class, students should have a good perspective on what they have already learned...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Power of Food
Students imagine they are stranded on an island and must create the brightest light possible with the meager supplies they have on hand in order to gain the attention of a rescue airplane.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Splash, Pop, Fizz: Rube Goldberg Machines
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...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What to Bring?
In this activity, students are provided with a list of supplies that survived their plane's crash in the Amazon jungle. They will organize the supplies to classify which items are useful for surviving in the Amazon. Students will use...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Home, Sweet Home!
In this activity, the students will use wax paper shaped as leaves and kite string to build a shelter to protect them from the rain. The students will then test the shelters for durability and water resistance.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Built to Last?
In this activity, the students test the shelters they built in Lesson 3, Activity 1 for durability and water resistance.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Finding Food in the Amazon
In this activity, the students will investigate a variety of plants and animals common to the Amazon through research. They will determine the plant or animal characteristics that make them edible or useful for the trip and learn to...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Anchors Away
In this activity, the students will discover the relationship between an object's mass and the amount of space it takes up (its volume). The students will learn about the concept of displacement and how an object can float if it...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Taking the Boat to Manaus
In this activity, the students will apply the concepts they learned regarding mass, volume and density in the previous activities to design a boat.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Eye Witness Reporting
In this activity, the students will develop a briefing for a T.V. evening news program that summarizes their experiences surviving in the Amazon rainforest. The students will have the opportunity to role play as interviewer and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What's the Problem?
Students learn of the impending asteroid impact scenario, form teams and begin to study the situation in depth. A simple in-class simulation shows them the potential for destruction and disaster. They complete worksheets and look at maps...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Big?
Students teams determine the size of the caverns necessary to house the population of the state of Alabraska from the impending asteroid impact. They measure their classroom to determine area and volume, determine how many people the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Scaling the Map
Students learn how to determine map distances and areas using the map scale. They get a feel for how much an area represents on the map in relation to the size they are suggesting for their underground caverns to shelter the Alabraska...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Possible Locations
Students use their knowledge of scales and areas to determine the best locations in Alabraska for the underground caverns. They cut out rectangular paper pieces to represent caverns to scale with the maps and place the cut-outs on the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Rocks, Rocks, Rocks
Students test rocks to identify their physical properties (such as luster, hardness, color, etc.) and classify them as igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary. They complete a worksheet table to record all of the rock properties, and then...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Ranking the Rocks
Student teams assign importance factors, called "desirability points," the rock properties found in the previous lesson/activity in order to mathematically determine the overall best rocks for building caverns within. They learn the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Drum Roll Please
Student teams commit to a final decision on the location they recommend for safe underground cavern shelter for the citizens of Alabraska. They prepare and deliver final presentations to defend their final decisions to the class.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Testing the Caverns
Students build model caverns and bury them in a tray of sand. They test the models by dropping balls onto them to simulate an asteroid hitting the Earth. By molding papier-mache or clay around balloons (to form domes), or around small...