TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Haptics: Touch Command
Students experience haptic (the sense of touch) feedback by using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots and touch sensors to emulate touch feedback recognition. With four touch sensors connected to LEGO NXTs, they design sensor attachments that...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How to Pull Something Heavy
Students measure and analyze forces that act on vehicles pulling heavy objects while moving at a constant speed on a frictional surface. They study how the cars interact with their environments through forces, and discover which...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Cold Can You Go?
Students explore materials engineering by modifying the material properties of water. Specifically, they use salt to lower the freezing point of water and test it by making ice cream. Using either a simple thermometer or a mechatronic...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Measuring Light Pollution
Students are introduced to the concept of light pollution by investigating the nature, sources and levels of light in their classroom environment. They learn about the adverse effects of artificial light and the resulting consequences on...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Balancing Act
Students are given the opportunity to visualize and interact with concepts they have already learned, specifically algebraic equations and solving for unknown variables. Students construct a balancing seesaw system (LEGO Balance Scale)...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Materials Properties Make a Difference
Students investigate the materials properties-such as acoustical absorptivity, light reflectivity, thermal conductivity, hardness, and water resistancea-of various materials. They use sound, light and temperature sensors to collect data...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Measuring G
Using the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT kit, students construct experiments to measure the time it takes a free falling body to travel a specified distance. Students use the touch sensor, rotational sensor, and the NXT brick to measure the time of...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Measuring Pressure
Students learn first-hand the relationship between force, area and pressure. They use a force sensor built from a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT kit to measure the force required to break through a paper napkin. An interchangeable top at the end of...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Means, Modes, and Medians
Students experience data collection, analysis and inquiry in this LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT -based activity. They measure the position of an oscillating platform using a ultrasonic sensor and perform statistical analysis to determine the mean,...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Molecules: The Movement of Atoms
Students work as engineers to learn about the properties of molecules and how they move in 3D space through the use of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robotics. They design and build molecular models and use different robotic sensors to control the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: A Chance at Monte Carlo
At its core, the LEGO MINDSTORMS product provides a programmable microprocessor. Students use the EV3 processor to simulate an experiment involving thousands of uniformly random points placed within a unit square. Using the underlying...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Mouse Trap Racing in the Computer Age!
Students design, build and evaluate a spring-powered mouse trap racer. For evaluation, teams equip their racers with an intelligent brick from a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Education Base Set and a HiTechnic acceleration sensor. They use...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Measuring Noise Pollution
Through investigating the nature, sources and level of noise produced in their environment, students are introduced to the concept of noise pollution. They learn about the undesirable and disturbing effects of noise and the resulting...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Parallel and Intersecting Lines: A Collision Course?
Students act as civil engineers developing safe railways as a way to strengthen their understanding of parallel and intersecting lines. Using pieces of yarn to visually represent line segments, students lay down "train tracks" on a...
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...