TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Force of Friction
In the first of two lessons of this curricular unit, students are introduced to the concept of friction as a force that impedes motion when two surfaces are in contact. Student teams use spring scales to drag objects, such as a ceramic...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Conduction, Convection, and Radiation
With the help of simple, teacher-led demonstration activities, students learn the basic concepts of heat transfer by means of conduction, convection, and radiation. Students then apply these concepts as they work in teams to solve two...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Marine Mapping
The marine environment is unique and requires technologies that can use sound to gather information since there is little light underwater. The seafloor is characterized using underwater sound and acoustical systems. Current...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Exploring Solar Power
This unit provides students the opportunity to explore methods engineers have devised for harnessing sunlight to generate power. Students will initially explore heat transfer and heat storage through the construction, testing, and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Surface Tension
Surface tension accounts for many of the interesting properties we associate with water. By learning about surface tension and adhesive forces, students learn why liquid jets of water break into droplets rather than staying in a...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Building Towards the Future
This curricular unit introduces students to basic Civil Engineering concepts in an exciting and interactive manner. Bridges and skyscrapers, the two most visible products of Civil Engineers, will be discussed in depth. Students will have...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: It's a Connected World: The Beauty of Network Science
Students learn about complex networks and how to use graphs to represent them. They also learn that graph theory is a useful part of mathematics for studying complex networks in diverse applications of science and engineering, including...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Are Newton's Laws?
Through a series of three lessons and one activity, students are introduced to inertia, forces, and Newton's three laws of motion.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Robot Design Challenges
Through the two lessons and five activities in this unit, students' knowledge of sensors and motors is integrated with programming logic as they perform complex tasks using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots and software.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Is a Computer Program?
Through four lesson and four activities, students are introduced to the logic behind programming using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Our Bodies Have Computers and Sensors
Students learn about the human body's system components, specifically its sensory systems, nervous system and brain, while comparing them to robot system components, such as sensors and computers. The unit's life sciences-to-engineering...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Humans Are Like Robots
Four lessons related to robots and people present students with life sciences concepts related to the human body (including brain, nervous systems and muscles), introduced through engineering devices and subjects (including computers,...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Do Sensors Work?
Through six lesson/activity sets, students learn about the functioning of sensors, both human and robotic
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Android Acceleration Application
This unit includes two sequential lessons. In the first, students create mobile apps that collect data from an Android device's accelerometer and then store that data to a database. This lesson provides practice with MIT's App Inventor...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Engineering Nature: Dna Visualization and Manipulation
Students are introduced to genetic techniques such as DNA electrophoresis and imaging technologies used for molecular and DNA structure visualization. In the field of molecular biology and genetics, biomedical engineering plays an...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Physics of Fluid Mechanics
Five lessons about the study of fluid mechanics. The unit concludes with students applying what they have learned to determine the stability of individual above-ground storage tanks given specific storm conditions so they can analyze...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Nano Tech: Insights Into a Nano Sized World
Through two lessons and four activities, students learn about nanotechnology, its extreme smallness, and its vast and growing applications in our world. Embedded within the unit is a broader introduction to the field of material science...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Urban Stormwater Management
Through the two lessons in this unit, students are introduced to green infrastructure and low-impact development technologies. Student teams take on the role of stormwater engineers through five associated activities.
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Teach Engineering: Bone Mineral Density and Logarithms
Students examine an image produced by a cabinet x-ray system to determine if it is a quality bone mineral density image. Students write in their journals about what they need to know to be able to make this judgment. Students learn about...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Using Stress and Strain to Detect Cancer
In this project, students are challenged to answer the question "Is there a way to detect the presence of tumors that isn't as painful as mammography but more reliable and quantifiable than a breast-self exam or clinical breast-exams?"....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Clean Up This Mess
Students are challenged to design a method for separating steel from aluminum based on magnetic properties as is frequently done in recycling operations. To complicate the challenge, the magnet used to separate the steel must be able to...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Feel Better Faster: All About Flow Rate
All of us have felt sick at some point in our lives. Many times, we find ourselves asking, "What is the quickest way that I can start to feel better?" During this two-lesson unit, students study that question and determine which form of...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Aging Heart Valves
In this unit, students learn about the form and function of the human heart through lecture, research and dissection. Following the steps of the Legacy Cycle, students brainstorm, research, design and present viable solutions to various...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Hybrid Vehicle Design Challenge
This module is written for a first-year algebra-based physics class, though it could easily be modified for conceptual physics. It is intended to provide hands-on activities to teach the overarching concept of energy, as it relates to...