Posted on August 28th, 2011 by Mary Lord
You don’t have to be an engineer to introduce engineering concepts and design into your classroom. The eGFI site includes scores of inexpensive, engaging lessons – searchable by grade level or subject – that cover the various engineering disciplines. To kick off the school year and acquaint you with eGFI, we’ve assembled a dozen of 2011’s most popular lessons and activities. Have fun putting some “E” in your STEM classes this semester!
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans, Special Features | Comments Off on Hands-on Hits of 2011
Tags: Aerospace, balloon racers, bridge, build, catapult, Civil Engineering, Class Activities, earthquake, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, Lesson Plan, Lesson Plans, Nanotechnology, Structural Engineering, Teacher Resources, tower
Posted on July 3rd, 2011 by Mary Lord
An Austrian engineering firm debuted a new type of hovercraft at the Paris Air Show, claiming it can take off and land vertically without using any rotor blades or fixed wings. Popular Science’s report says the Austrian Innovative Aeronautical Technology’s (IAT21) D-Dalus uses four contra-rotating turbines for propulsion, allowing “thrust to be fired in any direction, around any axis.”
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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Feature: Hop into a Hovercraft
Tags: Aerospace, hovercraft, Ideas & Inventions, Paris Air Show, Transportation
Posted on June 19th, 2011 by Jaimie Schock
Could an approach developed to help deaf and hearing-impaired undergraduates overcome educational disadvantages work for anyone–including mainstream K-12 students who struggle with reading and math? Scott Bellinger, an instructor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, America’s only technical college for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, thinks so.
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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Feature: Great Communication Key to Success
Tags: adaptive technologies, Math, Science, Technical Communications
Posted on June 19th, 2011 by Mary Lord
When University of California, Berkeley senior Austin Whitney walked across the stage at graduation on May 14, 2011, it was more than just a personal triumph. His rise from a wheelchair represented a triumph for paralyzed people everywhere–and for engineers whose “adaptive technology” designs have helped disabled individuals overcome mobility limitations.
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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Berkeley Engineers Help Student Walk
Tags: adaptive technologies, Berkeley, Biomedical, Biomedical Engineering, Engineering, Materials Engineering, Robotics
Posted on June 19th, 2011 by Mary Lord
A British product-design student has invented a wheel-chair alternative whose legs can lift up and step over obstacles. Martin Harris, 21, hopes his invention will give people with mobility issues more freedom. He also believes his design, which was inspired by the kinetic sculpture of Dutch engineer-artist Theo Jansen, has potential uses in agricultural machinery or military vehicles.
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Filed under: K-12 Education News, Special Features | Comments Off on Student Invents ‘Walking Chair’
Tags: adaptive technologies, Biomedical, Biomedical Engineering, Design, Mechanical engineering, student invention
Posted on May 22nd, 2011 by Jaimie Schock
A Purdue University engineering professor has found that building and racing go-karts is a great way not only to interest his own students in science and engineering, but at-risk middle-school kids as well.
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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Feature: Kart Me Away
Tags: Automobiles, Automotive engineering, Cars, Electrical, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Green, Green Technology
Posted on May 22nd, 2011 by Mary Lord
A group of North Carolina students is literally on the fast track to going green. On May 19, design teams from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools raced their biofuel-powered vehicles in the annual Go Green Go-Kart Competition hosted by the school system’s career center. The contest drew a whopping 24 teams, up from 11 teams last year.
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Filed under: K-12 Education News, Special Features | Comments Off on N.C. Students Rev Their Green Engines
Tags: Automobiles, Automotive engineering, Cars, Competitions for Students, Contest, Environmental Engineering, Events, Green, Green Technology, Programs for Students
Posted on May 22nd, 2011 by Mary Lord
Forget politics and budget battles. Digital learning, not legislatures, represents the biggest threat to teachers’ unions, argues Stanford political science professor Terry Moe in his new book, Special Interest. Part history, part analysis of education trends, the book details the rise of the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers.
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Filed under: K-12 Education News, Special Features | Comments Off on Will Tech Doom Teachers’ Unions?
Tags: Education Policy, Teachers, Technology, Technology for Learning
Posted on May 15th, 2011 by Jaimie Schock
Finland enjoys a surprising claim to fame: world-class K-12 education. Only a handful of nations come close to matching Finland in math, science, and literacy, and none boasts such uniformly high achievement rates across regions and income levels. How could the country produce 15-year-olds on par with Asia’s whiz kids? The answer may reside in teacher training and approach.
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Filed under: Special Features | 1 Comment »
Tags: International K-12 Education, Teacher Training, Teachers, Testing