Go Engineering!

Grade Level: 7 (6-8)
Time Required: 60 minutes
(30 minutes for construction, 30 minutes for testing and classroom discussion/journal writing).

Summary: After a discussion about what a parachute is and how it works, students will create a parachute using different materials that they think will work best. The students will test their designs, which will be followed by a class discussion (and possible journal writing) to highlight which paper material worked best.
Engineering Connection: Aerodynamics and fluid flow concepts are used by engineers to design planes, parachutes and ships. Accounting for drag is an important aspect of these designs - engineers redesign the shape and materials used to get better results.

Learning Objectives

Techniques for designing a parachute that falls slowly.
How to determine which type of material works best by testing different options.
How air resistance plays a role in flying.

Materials List

Tissue paper
Napkins
Construction paper
Newspaper
Paper towels
String
Tape
Weights (i.e. washers)

Introduction/Motivation

What is the purpose of a parachute? What is the role of a parachute in skydiving? Imagine you are jumping out of a plane 10,000 feet in the air. What type of material would you want your parachute to be made out of and what size would you want it to be? The design of a parachute is extremely important, especially in an extreme sport like skydiving because someone’s life is dependent on the parachute functioning properly. Engineers must test the materials and design of a parachute to ensure that it will open properly and be strong enough to withstand the air resistance needed to slow the skydiver down enough to a safe landing speed.

Procedure

Background:

A parachute is an umbrella-shaped device of light fabric used especially for making a safe jump from an aircraft. Due to the resistance of the air, a drag force acts on a falling body (parachute) to slow down its motion. Without air resistance, or drag, objects would continue to increase speed until the object hit the ground. The larger the object, the greater its air resistance. Parachutes use a large canopy to increase air resistance. This gives a slow fall and a soft landing.

Recommended Resources:

http://www.parachutehistory.com/

http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/Class/newtlaws/u2l3e.html

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/falling.html

Directions

Buy or gather available materials
Discuss with the class what a parachute is and how it works.
Have each team brainstorm characteristics of a good parachute, document their thoughts and sketch their design before construction begins.

Parachute Construction

Cut a circle from the paper chosen (or test another). Make a hole in the center of the shape.
Cut six pieces of equal-length string and tape them at equal distances around the edge of the shape.
Tape the other ends of the string to the weight.

To test the parachute, go outside and drop it from a specific height to see if it flies slowly and lands gently.

Investigating Questions

What type of paper is the best material to make a parachute? Why?
What materials did not work well? Why?
What changes could you make to improve your design?

Activity Extensions

Using the paper material that worked the best, do the same activity testing the size of the parachute. Have students test circles with different radii to find the optimal size.
Try parachutes with and without holes in the top and different sized holes.
Make parachutes out of different materials: plastics, cotton, nylon.
Have a competition to find a design that can land a toy vehicle most gently.
Owner: Center for Engineering Educational Outreach, Tufts University

Copyright: © 2005 by Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

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Grade Level: 6 (5-8)

Group Size: 1
Time Required: 100 minutes
One 50-minute class period to introduce concepts; homework time to write journal and blogs; additional class time to prepare the play.

Summary: Students read news reports and first-person accounts to imagine what it would be like to be in a blackout in a large city. They follow news reports as if the event were unfolding in real-time and keep weblogs or journals of their experience as they imagine it, taking on different roles of people who live in the city or commute there to work. They use their journal accounts to create a play or screenplay that depicts what the August 2003 blackout was like for the people in the U.S. and Canada who experienced it. Although this activity is geared towards fifth-grade and older students and Internet research capabilities are required, it could be easily adapted for younger students.
Engineering Connection: One of the biggest concerns for power company engineers is making sure everyone gets electricity when they need it. Detailed regional grid maps of power plant locations and distribution systems throughout the U.S. show the real-time demand and load changes by buildings and equipment as their connections to power plants are turned on and off. Sometimes damaged power lines cause interruption in power or blackouts. The regional grid maps help to determine where the damaged occurred and develop alternative routings so that electricity continues to be delivered to power companies’ customers.

Subject areas: Physical Science, Science and Technology

Prerequisite knowledge: A basic understanding of electrical energy (charge, voltage, current, resistance), and its pervasiveness in our way of life (lights, heat, safety, appliances, computers, medical equipment, transportation, entertainment).

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

Use a full range of strategies to comprehend technical writing.
Write stories, letters and reports with greater detail and supporting material.
Choose vocabulary and figures of speech that communicate clearly.
Draft, revise, edit and proofread for a legible final copy.
Apply skills in analysis, synthesis, evaluation and explanation to their writing and speaking.
Incorporate source materials into their speaking and writing (for example, interviews, news articles, encyclopedia information).
Write and speak in the content areas using the technical vocabulary of the subject accurately.
Recognize stylistic elements such as voice, tone and style.
Recognize, express and defend a point of view orally in an articulate manner and in writing.
Apply skills in analysis, synthesis, evaluation and explanation to their writing and speaking.

Materials List

Paper and pencils
Access to the Internet (highly recommended, but optional)
Video tape recorder (optional)

Introduction/Motivation

What would it be like to live without electricity? What would happen if an entire major metropolitan region was without electricity? That is exactly what happened during the August 2003 blackout in the northeastern U.S. and Canada. How would it feel if you were a commuter stranded in the city just as the rush hour was beginning? What would you do? What if you were stranded in a subway? Or, trapped in an elevator? Or, on a roller coaster? What if you lived in the city itself and had to make your way home through the streets and into your building in the dark and with elevators out of service? What if you were a shopkeeper concerned about looting? Or, a restaurant owner who had no power to keep food refrigerated or run cash registers, and suddenly had lots of hungry stranded customers? How would you keep medical equipment working for hospitalized people? What if you were a police officer or a fire fighter? How would you keep people calm and prevent crime as night fell? What if you were the mayor of the city? What information would you need to give the citizens to help keep them calm and safe? Today, you will follow news reports of the event and imagine yourself playing a role in the unfolding drama.

Vocabulary/Definitions

Blackout: Lack of illumination caused by an electrical power failure; the failure of electric power for a general region.

Blog (weblog): A personal website that provides updated headlines and news articles of other sites that are of interest to the user, also may include journal entries, commentaries and recommendations compiled by the user; a shared online journal at which people can post diary entries about their personal experiences and hobbies.

Cascading blackout: A blackout that occurs when one power failure causes a system overload that leads to a second failure and a third and so on, affecting a wide region (as happened in the August 2003 blackout).

Power grid: A system of high-tension cables by which electrical power is distributed throughout a region.

Real time: 1. The actual time that it takes a process to occur; information is updated in real time. 2. (computer science) The time it takes for a process under computer control to occur.

Procedure

Before the Activity

This is both an individual and class activity. Make the Internet available for student information gathering, or gather photocopies of newspaper and magazine articles about the August 2003 blackout. Students follow the news reports of the event and imagine themselves playing a role in the unfolding drama.

With the Students

In this activity, you will gather information about the blackout that occurred in August 2003 in the northeastern U.S. and Canada. You will take on one of the following roles (or another that you might imagine) and record events in a blog or journal, as if they were unfolding in real time:

Stockbroker, who works in the city and lives in the suburbs
Shopkeeper
Restaurant owner
Father or mother, whose child is at an after school activity when the blackout occurs
Nurse, caring for patients in a hospital
Police officer
Firefighter
News broadcaster, who lives in the city (find out how Diane Sawyer got home during the blackout)
Mayor of New York City
Commuter, stranded in the subway
Young woman or man, on the roller coaster at Coney Island with boy/girlfriend
Pregnant woman, caught on an elevator
If your class does not have classroom weblog (blog), see this New York Times article for ideas: (free registration required to access this news article)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/19/technology/circuits/19blog.html?th. The class will combine these accounts to weave together a story of the blackout to present in the form of a play or screenplay (script for a movie) that you video tape.

Observing

To get yourself into the scene, read as much as you can about the August 2003 blackout. Start with the news articles listed in References section, or find others on the Internet. Don’t limit yourself to those articles, however. Learn as much as you can by doing your own research, just as any good playwright, director or actor does. To make sure the events of your drama follow a logical progression, use newspaper accounts to work out a timeline from the moment the power goes out in New York City until it is restored.

Thinking

As you do your research, think about these questions: Besides New York City, what other major cities were affected? (Answers: Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Toronto and Ottawa, Canada.) Besides the power outage itself, what other concern would New York citizens be expected to have? (Possible answer: Terrorism) What did the mayor do to address the citizens’ concerns? (Answer: The possibility of a terrorist attack was dismissed 20 minutes into the blackout.) Why was such a large area affected? What is a cascading blackout? How many power stations went offline? (Answer: We will learn more about the power grid in another activity, but the concept of an interconnected power grid should be introduced briefly here. See that activity, The Grid, for background on the power grid.)

While the electricity was out, computers in the area of the blackout did not work, of course, but access to the Internet was slowed in areas not directly affected by the blackout. Why was that the case? (Answer: Servers in the area of the blackout were affected and could not respond to requests to view pages. The Internet itself is an interconnected grid, which is why it, too, is vulnerable to terrorism.) What were some early theories advanced for why the blackout happened? (Answers: Lightning strike, computer virus and terrorism were all suggested and ruled out quickly.)

What was the real reason for the blackout? (Answer: A government task force found no one cause for the cascading power outage. Some point to a series of transmission line and large power plant failures in the Midwest in the hours before the outage. Contributing factors include process and communication failures, human error, overall fragility of our electricity infrastructure system, and lack of power plant capacity.)

Writing

You can structure your play in a couple of different ways. It can have an episodic structure, in which one scene simply follows another with no real connection between scenes. Or you can have a unified structure, perhaps built around a central character who plays a role in every scene and moves the action along, or with a central theme that unites the action, or a central motif, an image that suggests meaning without stating it directly.

A police officer might be a good central character because a police officer could conceivably play a role in many different scenes and logically interact with many other different characters. A central motif might be an object that is passed from character to character in a drama, like a cell phone that represents communication or a bicycle that represents transportation. A central theme might be “resourcefulness” or the different ways people react emotionally to having their normal routine disrupted. A good way to unify your drama might be to demonstrate “random acts of kindness” performed by all the characters in individual ways.

Troubleshooting Tips

Since Internet links to news articles can quickly become outdated, do your own keyword search for current articles by entering one or more terms (blackout, power outage, August 2003, northeast power outage) at http://www.google.com/ under the “News” tab.

As an alternate class activity, assign each student a different role of all the types of people who might find themselves in a blackout. Have them write a one-page essay expressing their point-of-view and opinions of the blackout. Conclude by having each student read their story to the entire class.

Assessment

Pre-Activity Assessment

Call-Out Questions: Use call-out questions to reinforce basic concepts as they are introduced during the Observing activity.

Activity Embedded Assessment

Call-Out Questions: During the Thinking discussion, test students’ understanding of the events, grasp of the timeline and details that make their play interesting.

Post-Activity Assessment

Writing/Performance: The students’ journal and play demonstrate their understanding of the concepts.

Activity Extensions

Do some historical research by comparing the 2003 blackout with the 1965 blackout. See the Blackout History Project, http://blackout.gmu.edu/. html.

Also see a CNN.com story, Major Power Outage Hits New York, Other Large Cities, August 14, 2003, http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/08/14/power.outage/index.html. At the end of the article, read a comparison of three previous blackouts, including the Great Northeast Blackout of 1965. Read Central Maine Power’s story on the Great Northeast Blackout of 1965, including a letter from President Lyndon B. Johnson, http://www.cmpco.com/YourHome/default.html

Look at the before and after satellite images of the August 2003 Blackout (see Figure 1). The light is obviously considerably less in the “after” photo, but there is still some light. Investigate why. Why is the blackout not total in the affected areas? (Answer: Some businesses and hospitals have backup systems or distributed energy [DE] systems and generate their own power.

Activity Scaling

Depending on ability level and available time, students can record events in their blogs or journals from a character’s point-of-view or they can write a simple skit or more complex play or screenplay.

Owner: Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder

Contributors: Jane Evenson, Malinda Schaefer Zarske, Denise Carlson

Copyright: © 2005 by Regents of the University of Colorado.

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Join us in Pittsburgh for the 5th Annual ASEE Workshop on K12 Engineering Education Presented by Dassault Systemes. This day long, hands on event is designed to introduce you and 200 Pittsburgh area teachers and engineering educators from across the country to innovative, effective engineering education resources designed for the K12 classroom.

Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors, registration is complimentary for all K12 teachers. To register please contact Kristen Farole at k.farole@asee.org.

 

Saturday, June 21, 2008
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Westin Convention Center Pittsburgh
1000 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

 

ACT 48 CREDIT AVAILABLE FOR QUALIFYING TEACHERS

For additional information please see:
http://www.engineeringk12.org/k12workshop

———————————————————————————

 

WIRE MAZE

Grade Level: 7 (6-8)

Summary: Students will build a wire circuit and pass a paperclip through the maze, trying not to touch the wire. Touching the wire with the paperclip will cause the circuit to close, which will activate the indicator.

????????Engineering Connection: We use circuits every day in household appliances from computers and radios to ovens and refrigerators. One of the most important circuits we use each day is that of a light bulb. In this activity, students will gain a basic understanding of an electrical circuit - the basis of electrical engineering.

Learning Objectives

To understand what causes electrical circuits to work

Materials List

• 5 meters of stripped wire
• 1 pair of wire cutters
• 1 battery
• 1 noise maker/light
• 1 metal paper clip

Introduction/Motivation

Electrical engineers work with anything that carries electricity. Computers are primarily designed by electrical engineers. In this workshop we will explore the concept of closed circuits. We will use the materials given to design a maze. The object is to not touch the wire with the paper clip as you pass it over the maze. When you touch the maze with the paperclip a noise or light will signal that the circuit has been closed.

Procedure

1. Assemble the wire in the desired shape leaving a strand of wire on each end of the maze.
2. Take one end of the wire from the maze and connect it to the battery.
3. Take the other end and thread the paperclip onto the wire and then connect with wire to the noise maker/light.
4. Connect the battery to the noise maker/light.
5. Move the paper clip around the wire, trying not to touch the wire.

Investigating Questions

1. Could you set this up differently and still have it work?
2. Could you do this with wire that was covered?

Assessment

Use investigating questions as an assessment tool by asking students to write up possible options/solutions as homework.

Owner: K-12 Outreach Office, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Copyright: © 2005 by Worcester Polytechnic Institute
including copyrighted works of other educational institutions; all rights reserved.

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Grade Level: 4 (3-5)
Group Size: 2
Time Required: 50 minutes

Summary: In this scenario-based activity, students design ways to either clean a water source or find a new water source, depending on given hypothetical family scenarios. They act as engineers to draw and write about what they could do to provide water to a community facing a water crisis. They also learn the basic steps of the engineering design process.
Engineering Connection: Water sources are increasingly becoming polluted by human-made and natural contaminants. In addition, water sources are beginning to retain less and less water for people’s’ daily needs. Engineers have long recognized this as a growing problem, and they are being called upon to design better ways to manage our water resources and develop advanced technologies to clean our water and to preserve and protect our water sources. Finding solutions to meet a community’s water needs requires that engineers take into consideration the region’s climate as well as the available natural and human resources.

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

•      List several real scenarios that involve threats to community water resources.
•      Explain the importance and challenges involved in cleaning water for human use.
•      Describe how engineers are involved with finding and cleaning water.

Materials List

Each group needs:

•      One large sheet of paper, poster board or chart paper
•      Colored pencils or markers
•      One water problem scenario from the Family Scenario Note Cards

Introduction/Motivation 

What would happen if you woke up tomorrow, turned the water tap on for a drink, and dirty brown water came out? How about if you turned the water faucet and no water came out? What would happen if, at home this evening, people came by your house and said that you should not drink your water because a terrible contaminant  (pollution) had been found in it? What if people said you had to limit your water use because we were running out? What would you do? This all sounds really bad, but it actually happens!

All over the world, problems of water quality and quantity are very real. In Bangladesh, a contaminant known as arsenic was found in many water sources. Arsenic in very small amounts causes skin and internal cancers. Yikes! You don’t want to drink arsenic! In other parts of the world people must walk very long distances everyday to get water because it is not piped to where they live. They do not have water faucets or wells. Sometimes their trek to get water is tiring or dangerous. In the U.S., after Hurricane Katrina, water supplies in parts of New Orleans were too dirty for drinking. The water was filled with dirt and sand. You don’t want to drink water filled with dirt, do you? Also, regions in the southwestern U.S. have been having a water shortage for years. There just is not enough water for everyone who needs it.
How about getting water in the first place? What type of climate do you live in? Do you know the source of your drinking water? Often, people collect precipitation. In Asia and Africa, communities collected rainwater as a source of fresh water. Rainwater is still collected today to use for drinking and daily water use (see Figure 1).

What do we do when these water problems occur? Environmental engineers, water resource engineers, chemical engineers and many other people work on ways to solve these problems. Engineering teams and companies often develop new technologies to clean up dirty or polluted water, and collect and conserve our water sources. Today we are going to act as engineering companies, looking at different situations in which water sources are threatened. We will even design ways to handle specific water problems. Are you ready?

Procedure

Background Information: Engineering Design Process

Engineers design and build all types of structures, systems and products that are important in our everyday lives. The engineering design process is a series of steps that engineering teams use to guide them as they solve problems:

1. Understand the need: What is the problem? What do I want to do? What are the project requirements? What are the limitations? Who is the customer? What is the goal? Gather information and research what others have done.
2. Brainstorm and design: Imagine and brainstorm ideas. Be creative. Explore, compare and analyze many possible solutions. Select the most promising idea.
3. Plan: Draw a diagram of your idea. How will it work? What materials and tools are needed? How will you test it to make sure it works?
4. Create: Assign team tasks. Build a prototype (model). Does it work? Talk about what works, what doesn’t and what could work better.
5. Improve: Talk about how you could improve your product. Make revisions. Draw new designs. Make your product the best it can be.

Engineers use their science and math knowledge to explore options and compare many ideas. This is called open-ended design because when you start to solve a problem, you don’t know what the best solution will be. The process is cyclical and may begin at, and return to, any step.

The use of prototypes (model), or early versions of the design helps the design process by improving the understanding of the problem, identifying missing requirements, evaluating design objectives and product features, and getting feedback from others.

Engineers select the solution that best uses the available resources and best meets the project’s requirements. They consider many factors: Cost to make and use, quality, reliability, safety, functionality, ease of use, aesthetics, ethics, social impact, maintainability, manufacturability.

Before the Activity

•     Gather materials.
•     Make copies of the Family Scenario Note Cards (contains five different scenarios) and cut out the water problem scenarios.

 With the Students: Design

Scenes shows water sources in four different climates: rain and river in a forest, a tropical beach, a desert oasis, an alpine lake.

1. Divide the class into teams of two or three students each. Tell the students that each team represents a water engineering company that helps solve the problems of families or communities that need clean drinking water.
2. Conduct the pre-activity assessment activity described in the Assessment section.
3. Write the steps of the engineering design process on the board. Review with students how all engineers like to solve problems to make things better. These are the usual steps they take when working on a problem, just like what they are doing today.
4. Hand each team a water problem scenario.
5. Allow each team time to brainstorm a way to fix the problem. Let them know that any design or method is fine, except they must be realistic for their situation. Consider the resources and limitations of the climate of their scenario. Encourage them to be creative! As needed, guide and evaluate them with questions provided in the Assessment section. Have teams draw their engineering method(s) to fix their water problem scenarios on large paper using markers or colored pencils. Ask students to label the parts of their designs and be as detailed as possible. Point out how designing, planning and creating a model are steps in the engineering design process.
6. Have students decide on a name for their engineering company and write it on the top of their design drawing.

With the Students: Presentation

1. Have each engineering team present its design to the class, and explain how it will solve the family’s water problem.
2. Conclude by leading a class discussion. Why do we need clean water? Is finding water different in different climates? What are the types of real-world situations that can threaten our community water resources? What are the problems we might have in trying to clean dirty water so it is okay for human use? How do engineers help us? (Possible answers: Water collection, water treatment.) What are the steps of the engineering design process? Any time you are solving a problem or building something, think about the engineering design process. It helps you think through all aspects of a problem to find a good solution. When you saw other team presentations, did you get any ideas that would improve your design?
3. Conduct the post-activity assessment activity described in the Assessment section.

Attachments

Family Scenario Note Cards (doc)
Family Scenario Note Cards (pdf)

Troubleshooting Tips

When coming up with design solutions, make sure students use realistic approaches and think about the climate conditions. Some teams made need a little encouragement to find a solution.

Assessment

Pre-Activity Assessment

On Your Toes Brainstorming: In small groups, have students engage in open discussion. Remind students that no idea or suggestion is “silly.” All ideas should be respectfully heard.

Assign each team a particular climate (tropical, coastal, alpine, desert, etc.). For two minutes ask them to brainstorm and write down different water sources for their particular climate.
Disaster strikes! After two minutes, go around to each group and tell them that they could no longer get water from the major water source they listed! Ask them to brainstorm what they could do if this water source was removed.

Activity Embedded Assessment

Group Questions: During the activity, visit each group and ask the following questions:

1.     How does this design relate to the climate in which your family or community lives?
2.     Why did you choose this design?
3.     What sort of power or energy needs would your design need? (For example, if the design involves moving or pumping the water, do they need a pump? What will power the pump? Batteries or electricity, etc.)

Post-Activity Assessment

Re-Engineering: Have each team switch their original family scenario note card with another group. Ask students to evaluate their current design for this new scenario. Have students discuss if and why their design would or would not work in this different situation in a different climate. Ask them to think about what they could do to make it work for the new conditions.

Activity Extensions

Have other student engineering teams in the class evaluate and offer suggestions for improvements to each design.

Have the students make physical models of their solutions to the water problems.

Have students present their designs to another class.

Owner: Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder

Contributors: Jay Shah, Malinda Schaefer Zarske, Denise W. Carlson

Copyright: © 2006 by Regents of the University of Colorado

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Grade Level: 7 (6-8)
Group Size: 4
Time Required: 90 minutes
Summary: During this activity, students will learn how environmental engineers monitor water quality in resource use and design. They will employ environmental indicators to assess the water quality of a nearby stream. Students will make general observations of water quality as well as count the number of macroinvertabrates. They will then use the information they collected to create a scale to rate how good or bad the water quality of the stream. Finally, the class will compare their numbers and discuss and defend their results.
Engineering Connection: Environmental engineers monitor water quality in resource use and design. They use environmental indicators to assess the water quality of streams, rivers, ponds, lakes and oceans. Building dams or factories near water affects the water quality. Environmental engineers determine the magnitude of these impacts and steps to take to mitigate them.

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

• Identify and measure important water quality parameters that engineers use, such as temperature and pH.
• Identify aquatic insects that can be indicators of poor water quality.
• Identify and predict cause and effect relationships in water quality.
• Create a rating tool to measure the water quality of the stream.
• Discuss and defend the results of their investigation through oral and written presentations.
• Understand why engineers are concerned about water quality and its affects on water resources.
• Explain that engineers help maintain water quality for health and recreation through monitoring and treatment.

Materials List

Each group should have:

• 1 copy of each of the three Macroinvertebrate Identification Sheets (or you may print one or two copies for groups to share)

• 1 copy of the Stream Consciousness Worksheet

• 1-liter bottle (of water sample)

• Trays or petri dishes or bowls in which student may observe samples

• 1-2 magnifying glasses or dissecting microscope (if already available)

• Thermometer

• Optional: pH paper or meter (neutral water: pH = 7)

Introduction/Motivation

Why might environmental engineers be concerned with the health of a stream? Would the stream be a possible source of drinking water for the community? Might the stream flow into a community water source? Engineers are interested in the water quality and health of a stream for conservation, restoration and resource use (fishing, recreation and drinking water).

How might an engineer be able to tell if a stream is healthy or not? How can they determine the water quality of a stream or pond? (Possible answers: looking, smelling, testing the chemistry) What are some visible indicators of stream health? (Possible answers: clear water, healthy plant growth surrounding/in the water, macroinvertebrates, presence of fish) What would good water quality look like? (Possible answers: clear or even, crystal clear) What are some indicators of bad water quality? (Possible answers: visible pollution or murkiness).

A macroinvertebrate is an organism without a backbone that can be seen with the human eye (e.g., flies, worms, larvae). Macroinvertebrates are creatures that can be sensitive to pollution. They are good indicators of water quality because they live in or near water most of their lives. They are also fairly easy to collect and observe. Engineers often use macroinvertebrates as indicators of water quality and health.

Procedure

Before the Activity

For this activity, access to a stream, creek or pond is required. There are two options of obtaining samples for this activity: as a class, walk to a stream to collect a sample or have just one adult get the stream sample in advance. (Note: A 1-liter sample of stream, creek, or pond water for each student group should be acquired). The water samples are best if a rock, covered in dirt and debris, or a slimy stick from the stream bottom is included in each.

This activity is written with the assumption that students will walk to a stream, but it can easily be used for already-prepared samples.

Print out (and consider laminating) the three Macroinvertebrate Identification Sheets - Groups 1, 2 and 3 (see Attachments) for students to share to identify their water life.

With the Students

1. Ask the students the following question: “How can we determine if a stream is healthy or not?” Tell them that this is     the question they are going to answer today. There are many possible answers, and we are going to explore some methods used by engineers to help us come up with a solution.
2. Divide students into groups of 4. Each group should take a water sample (about a half liter) from the stream in a jar or tub. Try to include at least one rock —covered with dirt and debris — in each sample.
3. Ask students to use the thermometer to determine the temperature of the water sample and record on their Stream Consciousness Worksheet.
4. Then, they should use the pH tester or pH paper to determine the pH of the water and record on their Stream Consciousness Worksheet.
5. Have students record on the activity sheet any other observations or physical characteristics of the water (odor, color, what things are floating or sinking in your sample).
6. Next, ask students to pour a small amount of their water sample onto a petri dish or tray for observation. Using the macroinvertebrate identification chart and a dissecting microscope or magnifying glass, they should identify as many macroinvertebrates in the sample as possible. Have them list on the Stream Consciousness Worksheet which invertebrates and how many of each are found.
7. Student should then take another small amount of their sample and continue counting and identifying macroinvertebrates until they have examined the entire sample. Note: students do not need to count more than 150 invertebrates.
8. Have students count how many of each different kind of macroinvertebrate are found in their sample and write down whether they think their sample indicates good, medium or bad water quality and why.
9. Have the students create their own “rating scale” to determine the biotic index of the water. Example: for “good” invertebrates, assign a value of 10 point to each. For “bad” invertebrates, assign a value of 2 point to each. They should total the points for “good” and “bad” invertebrates and divide by the total number of invertebrates (average bug value). Have them compare this to your (teacher’s) rating scale to determine if the stream is good or bad water quality.
10. Compare your analysis with the class. Did each group come to the same conclusion? Why or why not?
11. Have each group report to the class the number of macroinvertebrates and how they rated the stream. Record the numbers on the board. As a class, calculate an average number of macroinvertebrates found and discuss any discrepancies in rating the stream. Did all the students find that it was very healthy? Or did some students rate the stream poorly while others found it was clean?
12. Ask the students to define why they rated their sample as they did.
13. Review with the students why engineers would care about water quality. Discuss how changes in water quality affect drinking water, or how water quality is used as an indicator of harmful industrial discharges or fertilizer use. Discuss how engineers may be involved in blackjack softwareroulette casino game,roulette game,online roulette gamefree video pokercasino link online suggestfree triple play video pokercasino gamescasino en language onlinefree casino game downloadcasino cash bonus,casino cash,free online casino cashhow to win at blackjackfree online casino craps,free online casino game craps,online crapsbonus sans depot casino770jeux de casino en flashle baccaratjeu casino onlinejeux roulette russecasino en ligneswww casino do comcasino euro comjeux casino 770play free baccarat onlineroulette gratuitesall slots casinotélécharger jeux casinosliste jeux casinoblack jack casinofree crapsgame blackjackmeilleurs jeux de casinojeu casino en lignejeu au casinole supermarché casino en lignecasino gratuites a telechargerjeu de video poker gratuitescasino tropez comjouer au casino,jouer au poker au casino,jouer au casino gratuitementjeux de casino gratuibonus casino tropezplay blackjack onlinewww banque casino,www casino,www casino gratuitesgamme com jeucasino online gratuitesfree black jackwww jeu de casinotelecharger video pokercasino barriere gratuitesjeu jack black en lignejack black king kongjeu de casino virtuel,meilleur casino virtuel,casino virtueltelechargement gratuites casino stream maintenance or restoration.

Attachments

Stream Consciousness Worksheet
Invertebrates Identification Sheet - Group 1
Invertebrates Identification Sheet - Group 2
Invertebrates Identification Sheet - Group 3

Safety Issues

Do not allow students to drink their samples.

Troubleshooting Tips

Give students a time limit for this activity or the counting portion of it; otherwise, the students will get caught up in examining the macroinvertebrates.

Assessment

Pre Activity Assessment

Brainstorming: Ask students what they think are indicators of water quality. As a class, have the students engage in open discussion. Remind students that in brainstorming, no idea or suggestion is “silly.” All ideas should be respectfully heard. Take an uncritical position, encourage wild ideas and discourage criticism of ideas. Have them raise their hands to respond. Write their ideas on the board. (Answers may include some of the following: smell, color, murkiness, number of macroinvertiberates, pH, and presence of trash.)

Hypothesize: Have students hypothesize whether or not they think the stream or sample they are going to investigate is healthy. Why or why not?

Activity Embedded Assessment

Worksheet: Have the students record their measurements and observations and follow along with the activity on the Stream Consciousness Worksheet. After students have finished their worksheet, have them compare answers with their peers.

Rate It!: Have the students create their own rating scale to determine the biotic index of the water. They should assign numbers to good and bad water quality macroinvertebrates and develop a way to quantify the health of the stream sample.

Post Activity Assessment

Take a Stand!: Have students write a persuasive essay (teacher should set length depending on time available to spend on writing). In the essay, students should pretend they are environmental engineers that were asked by the community to evaluate a stream. Their essays should clearly explain how they rated the stream and why.

Alternatively, each group of students can create a PowerPoint® presentation and make a presentation to the class. In this case, the class would role play a group of experts from the community, including business leaders, citizens and other engineers.

Owner: Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder

Contributors: Malinda Schaefer Zarske, Janet Yowell, Melissa Straten

Copyright: © 2005 by Regents of the University of Colorado
The contents of this digital library curriculum were developed under a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education and National Science Foundation GK-12 grant no. 0226322. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the Department of Education or National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.

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Grade Level: 6 (5-8)
Group Size: 3
Time Required: 1 hours

Summary: Students learn a simple technique for quantifying the amount of photosynthesis that occurs in a given period of time, using a common water plant (Elodea). They can use this technique to compare the amounts of photosynthesis that occur under conditions of low and high light levels. Before they begin the experiment, however, students must come up with a well-worded hypothesis to be tested. After running the experiment, students pool their data to get a large sample size, determine the measures of central tendency of the class data, and then graph and interpret the results.
Engineering Connection: Students perform data analysis and reverse engineering to understand how photosynthesis works. Both are important parts of being an engineer.

 

Materials List

-5 liters (about 1¼ gallons) of aged tap water (tap water in an open container that has been allowed to sit for 36-48 hours to eliminate any chlorine used in municipal water supplies)
-15-20 total of Elodea plants. These are hardy freshwater aquarium plants, sold in bunches at pet stores and suppliers such as Carolina Biological Supply Company (www.carolina.com)
-string, yarn, or twist ties for tying Elodea plants into bunches
-small rocks or similar objects to serve as weights to hold the Elodea plants underwater
-500-ml beakers, enough for one per team
-a few tablespoons of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
-timers or watches with second hands, enough for one per team
-small adjustable desk lamps that can be set up so that their light bulbs are a few inches above the beakers and shine vertically down onto them; flashlights with strong beams that are mounted on ring stands will also work. You will need one light source per team.

Introduction/Motivation

Ask your students to each raise one hand high in the air. Then ask them to take a deep breath and hold it for as long as they can. Tell the students to lower their raised hands when they can’t hold their breath any longer. After no one is left holding their breath, ask them why they needed to start breathing again. From their elementary school studies, they should be able to tell you that their bodies need air in order to survive.

Then, ask if they know exactly what is in air. They may not know that air isn’t just oxygen. Explain that most of the atmosphere consists of nitrogen gas (about 78%). Oxygen is the next largest component (about 21%), and a tiny part (1%) is made up of argon (an inert gas), water vapor, and carbon dioxide. If you then ask students what part of the air it is that our bodies need, they should be able to answer that it is oxygen. They probably will also be able to explain that oxygen from the air is picked up in the lungs by the blood and carried to all parts of the body, where it is needed by muscles and the brain and all the other organs and tissues of the body.

Finally, ask students where the oxygen in the atmosphere came from. They may know or be able to reason that it is the result of all the plants that have lived on the earth and have been doing photosynthesis for many millions of years. Then let them know that they can do an experiment to see if the amount of light plants receive can affect this production of oxygen.

Vocabulary/Definitions
Mean:     the sum of all the values in a set of data, divided by the number of values in the data set; also known as the average. For example, in a set of five temperature measurements consisting of 22º C, 25º C, 18º C, 22 º C, and 19º C, the mean temperature is 106º divided by 5, or 21.2º C.
Median:     the middle value in a set of data, obtained by organizing the data values in an ordered list from smallest to largest, and then finding the value that is at the half-way point in the list. For example, in a set of five temperature measurements consisting of 22º C, 25º C, 18º C, 22 º C, and 19º C, the ordered list of temperatures would be 18º C, 19º C, 22º C, 22º C, and 25º C. The middle value is the third value, 22º C. If the data set consists of an even number of values, the median is determined by averaging the two middle values. For example, in a set of six temperature measurements consisting of 20º C, 22º C, 25º C, 18º C, 24 º C, and 19º C, the middle values are 20º C and 22º C. Therefore, the median value is the average of 20º C and 22º C, which is 21º C.
Mode :     the value in a set of data that occurs most frequently. For example, in a set of five temperature measurements consisting of 22º C, 25º C, 18º C, 22 º C, and 19º C, the measurement of 22 º C occurs most frequently, so it is the mode. It is possible to have two or more modes in a set of data, if two or more values occur with equal frequency.

Procedure

1. In a class discussion format, students will establish a hypothesis to be tested by the class in the experiment.
2. Working in teams, students will set up and conduct the experiment. Each team will conduct two trials: one with the plants lit only by the ambient light available in the classroom when some or all of the room lights are turned off, and one with the plants receiving bright light from the desk lamps. The data collected will be the number of bubbles of oxygen that are given off by the plants in a five-minute period, first at low light levels, and then at high light levels.
3. The teams will come together and pool their data from each of the two trials. From these data, students will individually determine the mean, median, and modes for the numbers of bubbles produced during the two different light conditions.
4. Students will then individually graph the data, using bar graphs that show the mean numbers of bubbles and the ranges for each test condition.

Part 1: Generating a hypothesis

Explain to the class that before a scientist starts an experiment, he or she must first have a prediction about what the outcome of the experiment will be. This prediction is known as a hypothesis. A hypothesis is not simply a guess, however. Instead it is a prediction based on prior knowledge of or experience with the subject. For example, if a gardener wanted to find out if it was really necessary to fertilize his zucchini plants, he or she might grow twelve zucchini plants, but fertilize only half of them. In this case, the hypothesis being tested might be, “Fertilized zucchini plants will produce more zucchinis than unfertilized zucchini plants.” The data collected to support or refute the hypothesis would be the total number of zucchinis produced by the fertilized plants, compared to the total number produced by the unfertilized plants.

Point out to students that in the zucchini experiment, the gardener collected data that involved numbers. In science this is usually the case, because numbers can easily be compared and they are based on things that actually happened, as opposed to things that the experimenter thought happened.

Then, explain briefly how the photosynthesis experiment will be set up, and ask the class what hypothesis will be tested. It shouldn’t take them long before they come up with a statement such as, “The plants that receive more light will produce more bubbles than the plants that receive less light.”

2) Setting up the experiment

These steps should be performed with some or all of the room lights turned off. The room should not be dark, and there should be adequate light for students to see easily, but the room should not be brightly lit.

1. Each team needs to fill a beaker with about 500 ml of aged water for the Elodea. To this water they should add a scant ¼ teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). This provides a source of carbon dioxide for the plants, since they can’t get it from the atmosphere like terrestrial plants do. Students should stir the water until the sodium bicarbonate is dissolved and the water looks clear.
2. Each team should obtain enough sections of Elodea plants so that it has about 18-24 inches of total plant length. These should be arranged so that all of the plants will be at least 1½” under the water in the beaker. String or twist ties can be used to hold them together, and then a small rock should be added to keep the plants from floating to the surface. Point out to students that the more area exposed to the light above the plant, the more photosynthesis can occur within the leaves. If students form clumps of Elodea, many of the leaves will be shaded by those above, and thus may not be able to conduct as much photosynthesis. It would be better to form the plants into loops that cover the entire bottom of the beaker, instead of a single clump in the middle of the beaker.

3) Running the experiment

1. As soon as the plants are arranged in the beaker, the team should start timing for five minutes. Two team members should have their eyes glued to the beaker for those five minutes, watching for bubbles to rise to the water surface. Any bubbles that rise should be announced to the third team member, who will keep count (tally marks will help with this) as well as monitor the time until the five minutes are up. The bubbles are fairly large, about 2 mm in diameter, and so are easily seen when they rise to the surface.
2. When all the teams have counted bubbles for five minutes (it is quite possible that some teams will see no bubbles at all), turn on the room lights and have students position the desk lamps directly above the beakers. The light bulbs should only be a few inches above the beakers. Once the lights are in place, the teams should again begin timing and counting bubbles for five minutes.

4) Pooling and analyzing the data

1. Make a large chart on the board in which the teams can fill in the number of bubbles they observed in each of the two light conditions.
2. Once it is filled in, have students work individually to determine the mean, median, mode, and range of each of the two sets of data. Allow enough time so that all students arrive at the same answers.
3. Provide students with grid paper and ask them to make a vertical bar graph that compares the mean number of bubbles in the two light conditions. Be sure that students include a title, labels on the axes, and a legend if different colors were used for the two bars of the graph. Then show them how they can indicate the ranges of the data by adding a vertical line segment to the center top of each bar, with the lower end of the line segment situated at the lowest number of bubbles observed by a team, and the upper end of the line segment at the highest number of bubbles observed by a team.

Part 5: Interpreting the data

Ask students what these numbers tell them about the amount of photosynthesis that occurred in each of the two light conditions. In other words, was the hypothesis the class tested supported or not?

Then ask students how they know that the bubbles they saw rise to the surface were bubbles of oxygen. They may answer that they know photosynthesis produces oxygen, so the bubbles must have been oxygen. However, without a way to determine the chemical composition of the bubbles, it is only an assumption that the bubbles contain oxygen. They might just as well have been bubbles of nitrogen, or carbon dioxide, or some other gas from some other process that was occurring in the plants instead of photosynthesis. Nevertheless, since the plants were exposed to light, the bubbles were most likely made up of oxygen. Point out that it is important for scientists to make sure they recognize the difference between what they know about an experiment and what they assume about it.

Investigating Questions

-What do you think would happen if you left some plants in a completely dark closet for two or three weeks? Why do you think that?
-Why is it important for crop plants to receive enough rainfall?
-The earth’s atmosphere did not always contain as much oxygen as it does now. In fact, there was a time when it probably contained no oxygen at all. How do you think the oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere got there? Why do you think that?

Assessment

Ask students questions such as:

-What things are needed in order for photosynthesis to occur?
-What are the products of photosynthesis?
-Where in the plant does photosynthesis occur?
-Why do plants need water in order to survive?

Provide a graph of data from an experiment similar to the one they performed, and ask them to draw a conclusion from it. For example, the data could represent the heights of corn plants, half of which were grown in the shade of a forest and half of which were grown in an open field.

Activity Extensions

The light that comes from the sun consists of light waves of many different wavelengths. In the visible spectrum of light, these range from red with the longest wavelength, to violet with the shortest wavelength. Chlorophyll does not respond equally to all wavelengths, or colors of light. Students can use the same experimental set-up to determine what color or colors of light result in the most photosynthetic activity. The only modification they need to make is to loosely cover the beaker with colored plastic wrap or cellophane during the five minutes of bubble counting. Since blue wavelengths are the best for most plants, be sure that this is one of the colors available. If possible, have red and one other color available as well.

Owner: Engineering K-Ph.D. Program, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University

Contributors: Mary R. Hebrank, Project and Lesson/Activity Consultant, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University

Copyright: © 2004 by Engineering K-Ph.D. Program, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University
including copyrighted works from other educational institutions and U.S. government agencies; all rights reserved.

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Grade Level: 8 (7-8)
Group Size: 4
Time Required: 3 hours

Summary: The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to the concept of the engineering design process and to teach them how to apply it. In “Broken Bones,” students will explore the steps of the engineering design process. They will first receive some background instruction about biomedical engineering or bioengineering. Then they will learn about material selection and material properties by using a guide created for them. Students will then break into small groups and brainstorm. Each student group is assigned a specific design problem. Students will be given materials and asked to create a prototype. To finish, students will communicate their solution through a poster presentation.

Engineering Connection: Biomedical engineers who specialize in biomaterials test and develop new materials that can be safely implanted in the body. Engineers who work in biomechanics apply principles from physics to biological systems. They develop artificial organs, such as the artificial heart. A strong background in Material Science is required to be able to design these these implants.

Materials List

- boxes to hold recyclable materials
- half can of Play-Dohâ„¢
- 4 Popsicleâ„¢ sticks
- 6 to 8 recyclable materials: fabric, cotton batting, egg cartons, toilet paper or paper towel rolls, toothpicks, plastic bottles, milk cartons cut in pieces, rubber bands, straws, plastic tubing
- poster board
- markers
- digital scale

Introduction/Motivation

Explain to the students that there are many engineering disciplines. One of these disciplines is biomedical engineering or bioengineering. Biomedical engineers use their knowledge of math and science to solve health problems. Within the field of biomedical engineering there are many specialties. Using the “Introduction to Biomedical Engineering” handout as a guide (introduction.doc), give students some background information on the types of problems biomedical engineers help solve. Also go over the material properties worksheet. Now talk about the Engineering Design Process

Vocabulary/Definitions
bioengineering: a discipline of engineering that applies math and science to health problems.
prototype: a model or actual working version of a design concept.
material properties: factors that describe a material and how it will behave under certain conditions.
biomaterials: materials that can be safely implanted in the human body.
rehabilitation engineer: an engineer who improves the quality of life of people with disabilities.
tissue or cellular engineer: an engineer who develops cells outside of the body in order to create artificial tissues/organs with the same properties as the real body part.
genetic engineering: a bioengineering discipline in which an organism’s DNA is altered so that different proteins will be produced.

Procedure

Hand out the worksheet.doc printouts.

Brainstorm in teams what the problem with the cast could be and how it can be solved. Each team will be required to construct a prototype that has a mass of less than 300 grams. Allow groups to brainstorm ideas for 20-25 minutes. Emphasize that in addition to solving the problem, the student’s design must be stable enough to hold the “broken bone” in place. Remind students that the materials in the box may represent any materials they would like, even ones that have not been developed yet. Students should be prepared to describe the properties of the materials they choose for their cast. In addition, each group may bring in one material from home.

Construct the Prototype: Students should use the materials provided and their sketches to construct a prototype cast.

Test and Evaluate the Solutions: Since the materials the students are using could feasibly represent any materials, the only physical test to determine whether or not the project is successful is measuring the mass of the students’ design. Allow students to use the digital scale to calculate the mass of their design. Students’ designs should be evaluated on their stability. Do they bend or move from side to side? Do they solve the problem given? In addition, students should design a test for their prototype that proves whether or not their problem has been solved.

Communicate the solution and Redesign: A very important part of an engineer’s job is the ability to communicate ideas and solutions to a larger audience. Communicating the solution is step seven of the engineering design process. This communication may be with co-workers, superiors, or even customers. In this section of the activity, students will have the opportunity to communicate their solutions through a poster presentation. This is an important step in the process because it gives the students an opportunity to clearly articulate their design concepts. Remind students that good presentation skills are very necessary for a wide variety of professions. Teachers may decide whether they would like to give students the opportunity to redesign their casts based on feedback from the class.

Poster Presentation Development: Hand out the “Broken Bones Presentation Poster Content” worksheet. Students should create a poster that clearly explains their design. Posters should be neatly done and contain all required information. Students should be prepared to speak for 3-5 minutes on their design process and results. Classmates should be encouraged to ask questions.

Attachments

-Introduction to biomedical engineering (doc)
-Introduction to biomedial engineering (pdf)
-Worksheet (doc)
-Worksheet (pdf)

Investigating Questions

-What is Biomedical Engineering or Bioengineering?
-What are material properties?

Assessment

Evaluate students on the following criteria

-Sketch of prototype.
-Mass of the prototype.
-Stability of the prototype.
-Presentation style & content.
-Poster - Neat and detailed.

Owner: Center for Engineering Educational Outreach, Tufts University

Contributors: Connie Boyd, Terri Camesano, Emine Cagine, Angela Lamoureux, Hilary McCarthy, Robin Scarrell, Suzanne Sontgerath, Katherine Youmans, Tufts University

Copyright: © 2005 by Worcester Polytechnic Institute
including copyrighted works of other educational institutions; all rights reserved.

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Grade Level: 7 (6-8)
Group Size: Not defined
Time Required: 100 minutes
Summary: Students will conduct several simple lab activities to learn about the five fundamental load types that can act on structures: tension, compression, shear, bending, and torsion. In this activity, students will play the role of molecules in a beam subject to various loading schemes.
Engineering Connection: Engineers must consider many forces when planning and actually building a structure. This lesson introduces students to several of these important forces.

Materials and structures can sometimes fail when subjected to large enough loads. Each different type of load can cause its own mode of failure. Stresses, fatigue, and failure can sometimes be seen with the naked eye on the surface of the member or structure. However, the movement of tiny individual molecules is where the real failure begins.

Vocabulary/Definitions
Elastic: The ability of an object to return quickly to its original shape and size after being bent, stretched, or squashed.
Fracture: A break, split, or crack in an object or a material.
Inelastic: The inability of an object to return quickly to its original shape and size after being bent, stretched, or squashed.
Procedure

Modeling Loads on Structures Using “Human Molecules”

-Each person will represent a molecule of steel inside a steel bar and their arms will represent the internal bonding forces, which hold molecules together (a molecule is the smallest piece of steel that can exist with the chemical and physical properties of steel - billions of molecules link together in lines to make a piece of steel).

1. Form two lines of ten people each, lining up side by side, facing each other (see diagram). These two lines represent a structural element. Each person must use his/her left hand to hold hands with the person whom they are facing in the other line. Each person should then lock his/her right arm around the arm of the person on his/her right. See Figure 1.
Human Molecule Figure 1

2. Four other students will act as an applied load. Position one student at each end of both lines, and have them pull with equal force (if possible). Have the students pay attention to what they are feeling while the molecules are being pushed and pulled. Next, form the same lines again, but have the four people applying the loads push equally on each line end. The job of the molecules is to try to maintain their original formation, like a solid non-elastic object.

Group Discussion:

-What type of load did you model this time?
-What did it feel like to be a molecule inside the material?

3. Now have the “applied load” students pull one line of molecules to the left, and the other line of molecules to the right (as shown in the Figure 2).

Group Discussion:

-What type of load did you model this time?
-What did it feel like to be a molecule inside the material?

Investigating Questions

Group Discussion Questions are embedded in the above activity procedure.

1. Describe the fundamental loads and the effect each load (of force) has on a structure or structural member (or component).
2. Give real life examples of tension, compression, shear, bending, and torsion.

Assessment

Students may receive credit for participation in group discussions and answering Investigating Questions.

Owner: K-12 Outreach Office, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Contributors: Funded by, Pratt & Whitney

Copyright: © 2005 by Worcester Polytechnic Institute
including copyrighted works of other educational institutions; all rights reserved.

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Grade Level: 5 (3-6)
Group Size: 2
Time Required: 50 minutes

Summary: Students learn about biomimicry and how engineers often imitate nature in the design of innovative new products. They demonstrate their knowledge of biomimicry by practicing brainstorming and designing a new product based on what they know about animals and nature.

Engineering Connection: Engineers often use the natural world as inspiration for design. Biologically inspired designs include air- and sea-going vessels, navigation tools such as sonar and radar, medical imaging devices, biomedical technologies like prosthetics, and water and pollution treatment processes. Biomimicry has resulted in many creative products, such as a materials inspired by the slick leaves of the lotus plant and its natural capacity to wash away dirt particles with every rainfall, and the Velcro hook-and-loop system inspired by the prickly plant burrs that stick to our clothes.

Materials List

Each student needs:

-Paper
-Pencil
-Markers or colored pencils
-Ruler

Introduction/Motivation

Does anyone know what the word “biomimicry” means? Let’s break down the word into more understandable parts. “Bio” means life and “mimicry” means to imitate. So, biomimicry means to imitate life or nature. Who has heard the expression, “Nature knows best”? Well, biomimicry is a way of learning from nature. It is a way to observe nature in action and use that knowledge to inspire new ideas. Engineers often use these ideas to develop cool new products or better ways to do things to help people. Today we are going to learn all about biomimicry and how engineers look at the amazing characteristics of animals and plants to create new or improved product designs.

Can anyone think of an example of biomimicry? Think of something that has been designed with nature in mind. How about Velcro®? Velcro® was invented after a man took a very close look at those little prickly seeds that stick to your clothing when you walk though a field. Water filters are designed like animal cell membranes that let certain things pass through while others are kept out. Also, though planes do not flap their wings like birds, their shapes and the principles of keeping a plane in flight are the same as bird wings. People have also created adhesives that mimic the fascinating and sticky surface of gecko or lizard’s five-toed feet. Did you know that? Radar and sonar navigation technology as well as medical imaging was inspired by the echo-location abilities of bats. Also, the solar cells that make up solar panels are designed to mimic the way leaves collect energy from the sun.

Procedure

Background: More on Biomimicry

People have called on nature’s inspiration throughout humans’ history. By observing animals, plants and natural processes, we gain insight into what works and what does not. For engineers, these observations are helpful in both the design process and inspiring new inventions using natural technologies. There are many examples of biomimicry, with one of the most well-known being Velcro® — a product designed to behave like the cockleburs that stick to animals (and people) when they brush by the plant. For more examples, see the list below as well as the resources in the References section.

Example inventions based on or inspired by animals:

-Airplanes modeled after birds (wing and body shapes, falcon beak)
-Morphing airplane wings that change shape according to the speed and length of a flight, inspired by birds that have differently-shaped wings depending on how fast they fly
-Fish-inspired scales that easily slide over each other to enable the morphing airplane wings
-Boat hulls designed after the shapes of Fish
-Torpedoes that swim like tuna
-Submarine and boats hull material that imitates dolphin and shark skin membranes
-Radar and sonar navigation technology and medical imaging inspired by the echo-location abilities of bats
-Swimsuit, triathlon and bobsled clothing fabric made with woven ribbing and texture to reduce drag while maintaining movement, mimics shark’s skin

Before the Activity
-Gather materials.
-Review the list of biomimicry inventions above, or if desired, research additional examples.

With the Students

1. Divide the class into pairs of students.
2. Ask the pairs to list three things both students have as common interests. These interests can be anything; examples: sports equipment, music, clothes, games, furniture, cars, etc.
3. Next, have the students agree on one of those common interests for their design topic area.
4. Tell the students they have 10 minutes to brainstorm with their partners to come up with possible ideas for designs within their interest topic using biomimicry of animals. Ask the students if they can think of any animals that remind them of their topic. What unique features do those animals have? How could they design something that uses those features? Remind students that this type of brainstorming and building on each other’s ideas is an important step in engineering a new, innovative product.
5. As necessary, remind students of the brainstorming guidelines:

-No negative comments allowed.
-Encourage wild ideas.
-All ideas are recorded.
-Stay focused on topic.
-One conversation at a time.
-Build on the ideas of others.

6. Pass out paper, rulers, markers and colored pencils to the students.
7. Give the students 20 minutes to design and draw their new product that uses biomimicry. Have students be as detailed as possible. Ask them to label parts and materials in their design.
8. Once they have finished design, have each team make a list of the special features of their design and which animal(s) inspired those features.
9. Mount the drawing and design features onto a piece of construction paper.
10. If time, have students role-play engineering companies and present their biomimicry designs to the class. Post their completed designs in the classroom or school resource center to share with others.
Troubleshooting Tips

If students have difficulty coming up with a design idea, help to steer them with suggestions. Or, assign a common class design area topic, such as sporting equipment or playground toys. After individual team presentations, have the class vote for the best design — the one they would choose invest in if they were paying clients.

Assessment

Pre-Activity Assessment

Define it! Ask the class: What is biomimicry? Break down the word to help students guess at its meaning. “Bio” means life and “mimicry” means to imitate, so, “biomimicry” means to imitate life or nature, specifically to help design products and systems for human use. Once the class has come to a consensus, ask volunteers to suggest examples.

Activity Embedded Assessment

Thinking through the Design: Ask the students to identify which feature(s) of their design are inspired by nature. If possible, have them be specific about what type of animal or plant they are mimicking and have them describe inspiration (plant or animal characteristics, etc.).

Is It Biomimicry? Give examples of design ideas, some that are biomimicry and some that are not. Have students vote whether or not they think the designs involve biomimicry. If the design does include biomimicry, as for a volunteer to explain the natural world source of inspiration. Examples include:

-Airplane wing? (Answer: Yes, after bird wings.)
-iPod? (Answer: No)
-Sonar navigation? (Answer: Yes, after bats.)
-Computer printer? (Answer: No)
-Hard coatings for car windshields? (Answer: Yes, after abalone mussels’ mother of pearl coating.)
-Hulls of submarines? (Answer: Yes, after dolphin and shark skins.)
-Soft cushion for a chair? (Answer: No)
-Solar cell? (Answer: Yes, after leaves.)

Activity Extensions

Have students investigate an existing product that was inspired by nature. Require that they draw the product and describe the design features. For extra credit, have them provide creative ideas on how the product could be made even better.

In addition to learning from nature’s animals and plants, we can learn from its processes and cycles. Ask students to think of the many natural closed loop cycles, such as the food chain, water cycle, hydrogen cycle, etc., which are models that recycle endlessly, providing long-term sustainability. Ask them to think of a way that people could do something better by mimicking a natural process or cycle. Hint: There is no waste in nature. Take a new look at pollution and manufacturing waste as a sign of inefficiency and source of unused resources.

As suggested by Janine Benuys in her book, Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, nature provides us with a sustainable living example from which people can learn smarter ways to live. Provide students with nature’s seven “rules” (see Procedure: Background section) and ask them to pick one and brainstorm how following that rule might lead to ways we could engineer more sustainable way of life for humans.

Reinforce math skills and help students learn more about scale drawing and engineering design. Have students imagine new engineering products and practice drawing their designs on graph paper to scale by assigning each grid square a real-life measurement value (such as cm or m).

Owner: Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder

Contributors: Katherine Beggs, Malinda Schaefer Zarske, Denise Carlson

Copyright: © 2004 by Regents of the University of Colorado. The contents of this digital library curriculum were developed under a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education, and National Science Foundation GK-12 grant no 0226322. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the Department of Education or National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.

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Grade Level: 4

Group Size: 2

Time Required: 50 minutes

Summary: Students analyze international oil consumption and production data. They make several graphs to organize the data and draw conclusions about the overall use of oil in the world.

Engineering Connection: Engineers of all disciplines use data as a tool. Organizing data into tables and graphs helps them better understand problems and formulate solutions. For example, engineers often analyze data to understand energy consumption around the world; they put this data into graphs to analyze it visually. From examining data, engineers may: learn which problems impact the most people, notice patterns and trends, clearly communicate with others, forecast future demands, etc

Materials List

Each group should have:

- 1 12″ ruler
- 1 copy of the United States Energy Consumption Graph
- 1 copy of the World Energy Consumption Graph Paper
- A pencil
- Variety of markers, crayons, or colored pencils

Introduction/Motivation

The United States of America is mainly dependant on oil and coal for energy to run our cars, heat our homes, and give us electricity to make our appliances and televisions work. Unfortunately, the use of oil and coal also causes pollution, and it is predicted that we will run out of both of these resources in 40-60 years. Although, engineers are working to develop new and cleaner ways to produce energy, people still need oil for everyday life.

In 2003, the U.S. alone used 20 million barrels of oil a day, even though only 7.9 million barrels of oil a day were produced. So, where does the rest of the oil come from that we use every day? Do we import (buy) it from another country? Will we run out? What will happen when we run out? Because oil is not a renewable energy source like wind or water, it is predicted that we will run out of oil as early as 2045. How can we make sure that we never run out of energy to heat our homes and cook our foods? Engineers need to understand these questions and more so that they can develop the technology to ensure we have energy resources for years to come.

With the Students

1. Discuss oil production, consumption and uses with students. Tell students that engineers often analyze data to understand how much oil we need and how much oil we actually use. Explain to students that they are going to be engineers for a day and study numbers about world oil production and consumption.
2. Have students make some predictions to the following questions before you begin the activity. Record their answers on the board.

-Which country uses the most oil?
-Which country produces the most oil?

Part One

1. Divide the class into groups of two students each.
2. Give each student the United States Energy Consumption Datasheet or show it on an overhead projector.
3. Have students convert this data to a bar graph. (Use the Energy Consumption of the United States graph paper attachment)
4. Discuss the results of their graphs.

-Which type of fuel is used most in the U.S.? (Answer: Oil. In 2003, the U.S. used 40.7% of the world’s oil consumption, or 20 of the 49.1 million barrels used per day.)
-Which is used the least? (Answer: Solar energy supplies only 2% of the nation’s energy need.)
-Are any of the energy sources renewable? Which ones? (Answer: Hydropower [energy from water] is the only renewable energy source on our graph.)

Part Two

1. Pass out the World Energy Consumption and Production Datasheets or show it on an overhead projector.
2. Have students create a bar graph listing the top world oil consumers and the top world oil producers. (Use the World Energy Consumption graph paper attachment.)
3. Discuss the results of the graphs.

-Which country consumes the most oil? (Answer: The U.S.)
-Which country consumes the least? (Answer: In 2003, Brazil, France and Mexico all used 2.1 million gallons per day; however, other countries may have used less but were not included in the data.)

4. Compare how much oil the U.S. consumes vs. how much it produces. (Answer: The U.S. consumes 20 million barrels a day and produces only 7.9). How much oil does the U.S. need? (Answer: The U.S. needs 12 million barrels of oil a day). From where does this oil come? (Answer: We import it.)
5. Finally, discuss the implications of U.S. oil usage. What happens to the oil after we burn it? (Answers will vary, but may include: it can cause air pollution, it creates energy.) Is oil a renewable energy source? (Answer: No) Do students think we will run out of oil?

Part Three

1. Assign students to write persuasive letters to their community about U.S. oil use. They should give three facts in their letter and describe whether they think people should use less oil or not.

Attachments

- United States Energy Consumption Datasheet
- World Energy Consumption and Production Datasheet
- World Energy Consumption and Production Datasheet (Advanced)
- World Oil Consumption Over Time Datasheet (Advanced)
- United States Energy Consumption Graph Paper (Part 1)
- World Energy Consumption Graph Paper (Part 2)

Assessment

Pre-Activity Assessment

Prediction: Tell students that they are going to look at some numbers about world oil production and consumption. Tell them that you would like them to make some predictions before the activity begins. Record their predictions on the board. Ask the following:

- What country uses the most oil?
- What country produces the most oil?

Activity Embedded Assessment

Graphing/Discussion: After students complete the graphing exercises, discuss the production and consumption of oil around the world using the following questions:

-Which type of fuel is used most in the U.S.? (Answer: Oil. In 2003, the U.S. used 40.7% of the world’s oil consumption, or 20 of the 49.1 million barrels used per day.)
- Which is used the least? (Answer: Solar energy supplies only 2% of the nation’s energy need.)
- Are any of the energy sources renewable? Which ones? (Answer: Hydropower [energy from water] is the only renewable energy source on our graph.)
-Which country consumes the most oil? (Answer: The U.S.)
-Which country consumes the least? (Answer: In 2003, Brazil, France and Mexico all used 2.1 million gallons per day; however, other countries may have used less but were not included in the data.)
-Compare how much oil the U.S. consumes to how much it produces. (Answer: We consume 20 million barrels a day and produce only about 9).
-How much oil does the U.S. need? (Answer: The U.S. needs 12 million barrels of oil a day.)
-Where does this oil come from? (Answer: We import it.)

Post-Activity Assessment

Predictions Revisited: Go back to student predictions on the board and compare them with the answers students have found.

-Prediction: What country uses the most oil? (Answer: The U.S. uses 20 million barrels per day.)
-Prediction: What country produces the most oil? (Answer: Saudi Arabia produces almost 10 million barrels per day.)

Persuasive Letter: Have students write persuasive letters to their community about oil use in our country. Students should give three facts in their letter and describe whether they think people should use less oil or not.

Owner: Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder

Contributors: Jessica Todd, Melissa Straten, Malinda Schaefer Zarske, Janet Yowell

Copyright: © 2004 by Regents of the University of Colorado.

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