TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Discovering Phi: The Golden Ratio
Students discover the mathematical constant phi, the golden ratio, through hands-on activities. They measure dimensions of "natural objects"--a star, a nautilus shell and human hand bones--and calculate ratios of the measured values,...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Let's Take a Slice of Pi
Working as a team, students discover that the value of pi (3.1415926) is a constant and applies to all different sized circles. The team builds a basic robot and programs it to travel in a circular motion. A marker attached to the robot...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Power of Mechanical Advantage
Students learn about the mechanical advantage offered by pulleys in an interactive and game-like manner. By virtue of the activity's mechatronic presentation, they learn to study a mechanical system not as a static image, but rather as a...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Putting Robots to Work With Force & Friction
Students learn about the concept of pushing, as well as the relationship between force and mass. Students practice measurement skills using pan scales and rulers to make predictions about mass and distance. A LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robot is...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Robo Clock
Students learn various topics associated with the circle through studying a clock. Topics include reading analog time, understanding the concept of rotation (clockwise vs. counter-clockwise), and identifying right angles and straight...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Far Does the Robot Go?
Students practice their multiplication skills using robots with wheels built from LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT kits. They brainstorm distance travelled by the robots without physically measuring distance and then apply their math skills to...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Robotic Perimeter
Students learn and practice how to find the perimeter of a polygonal shape. Using a ruler, they measure model rooms made of construction paper walls. They learn about other tools, such as a robot, that can help them take measurements....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Robot Wheels!
Students solidify their understanding of the terms "circumference" and "rotation" through the use of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robotics components. They measure the circumference of robot wheels to determine how far the robot can travel during...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Rock, Paper, Scissors Probability!
Students learn about probability through a LEGO MINDSTORMS NTX-based activity that simulates a game of "rock-paper-scissors." The LEGO robot mimics the outcome of random game scenarios in order to help students gain a better...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Solving With Seesaws
Students use a simple seesaw to visualize solving a two- or three-step mathematics equation, while solving a basic structural engineering weight balance problem in the process. They solve two-step equations on a worksheet and attempt to...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Measuring Distance With Sound Waves
Students learn about sound waves and use them to measure distances between objects. They explore how engineers incorporate ultrasound waves into medical sonogram devices and ocean sonar equipment. Students learn about properties, sources...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Science of Spring Force
Students use data acquisition equipment to learn about force and displacement in regard to simple and complex machines. In the engineering world, materials and systems are tested by applying forces and measuring the resulting...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: States of Matter
Students act as chemical engineers and use LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robotics to record temperatures and learn about the three states of matter. Properties of matter can be measured in various ways, including volume, mass, density and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Stress That You Apply
Students learn about contact stress and its applications in engineering. They are introduced to the concept of heavy loads, such as buildings, elephants, people and traffic, and learn how those heavy loads apply contact stress. Through...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Traffic Lights
Students learn about traffic lights and their importance in maintaining public safety and order. Using a Parallax Basic Stamp 2 microcontroller, students work in teams on the engineering challenge to build a traffic light with a specific...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Trebuchet Launch
Students work as engineers to design and test trebuchets (in this case LEGO MINDSTORMS robots) that can launch objects. During the testing stage, they change one variable at a time to study its effect on the outcome of their designs....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: You've Got Triangles!
Students learn about trigonometry, geometry and measurements while participating in a hands-on interaction with LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT technology. First they review fundamental geometrical and trigonometric concepts. Then, they estimate the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: On Track Unit Conversion
Students use three tracks marked on the floor, one in yards, one in feet and one in inches. As they start and stop a robot specific distances on a "runway," they can easily determine the equivalent measurements in other units by looking...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Portable Fluid Power Demonstrator (Pfpd)
Working as teams, students learn the basics of fluid power design using the PFPD as their investigative platform. Students will investigate the similarities and differences between using pneumatic and hydraulic power in the PFPD. While...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Let the Blood Flow
Students work as biomedical engineers to find liquid solutions that can clear away polyvinyl acetate polymer "blood clots" in model arteries (made of clear, flexible tubing). Teams create samples of the "blood clot" polymer with...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Measuring Lava Flow
Students learn how volume, viscosity and slope are factors that affect the surface area that lava covers. Using clear transparency grids and liquid soap, students conduct experiments, make measurements and collect data. They also...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How High Can a Super Ball Bounce?
Students determine the coefficient of restitution (or the elasticity) for super balls. Working in pairs, they drop balls from a meter height and determine how high they bounce. They measure, record and repeat the process to gather data...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Fun With Air Powered Pneumatics
Working as engineering teams in this introductory pneumatics lab, students design and build working pneumatic (air-powered) systems. The goal is to create systems that launch balls into the air. They record and analyze data from their...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Slow the Cylinder
Students learn why shock absorbers are necessary on vehicles, how they dampen the action of springs, and what factors determine the amount of dampening. They conduct an experiment to determine the effect of spring strength and port...