Ready, set, MAKE!

The White House and Congress are hosting Maker Faires to kick off the National Week of Making June 17 to 23, while European Maker Week will feature dozens of events from FabLabs to stool-making workshops.

Then get ready for Maker Camp, a virtual DIY camp for teens 13 to 18 years of age sponsored by Make: magazine. Free and open to all on Google+, the camp runs from early July until mid-August and there is no registration–just go on any day you wish.

A new project is introduced each morning by an expert camp counselor, who will give campers tips and advice on successfully building the project.  Past projects have included making robot key chains and cyborg prosthetic limbs. Materials lists for projects are posted in advance to allow time to find supplies needed for the next day’s project. In the afternoon, campers can join the counselor to talk about the project and look at photos campers have submitted. Click HERE to see videos and YouTube playlists from previous Maker Camp projects.

No Internet connection? No problem! Libraries, schools, and museums across the country are hosting maker camps this summer. Find a local makerspace near you.

There is an age restriction to create a Google+ profile and attend hangouts. Campers under 13 can attend Maker Camp on Google+ with a parent, using his or her Google+ profile.

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From manufacturing to fashion to fabricated body parts, 3-D printing is changing the way America does business. ASEE’s Prism magazine has reported on this breakthrough technology in a series of articles. Here are three examples:

Making It! (Additive Manufacturing)

Fuel cells are typically made from three materials that have to withstand heat ranging from room temperature to 800° Celsius. But because the materials expand at different rates when heated, degradation and cracking can occur where they meet. To help solve this problem, Denis Cormier, a professor of machining and manufacturing at the Rochester Institute of Technology, is developing fuel cells that are produced by 3-D printers, microlayer by microlayer. Instead of having potentially weak seams binding them together, the materials blend into one another. “You gradually transition the materials,” Cormier explains. It’s an intricate weaving process that can’t be done by conventional manufacturing technologies.

Such delicate fabrication is among the breakthroughs that enthusiasts hail as the first stirring of an American industrial revival. So-called advanced manufacturing brings new and emerging technologies — 3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, as well as robotics, telematics, and nanotechnology – to making what we now use or may invent, and in ways that can adapt to change. It could “offer the potential to produce higher quality and a wider variety of products — even customizing products for just a few or even a single buyer — and do so at low cost,” former U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke told Congress. Heralding “a renaissance in American manufacturing,” President Obama has enlisted research-and-development talents from six leading universities and a half-dozen major companies in a $500 million partnership. The results could mean bright prospects for engineers in a variety of disciplines, even if they don’t generate huge numbers of jobs.

Read the cover story by Thomas K. Grose that ran in the November 2011 issue of ASEE’s Prism magazine.

Print to Fit (High Fashion)

3-D printed clothing that resembles smoke and other edgy fashion are displayed at two New York museums. (December 2015)

Human Spare Parts

A new engineering discipline looks ahead to the manufacture of personalized organs for testing or replacement.

Kaiming Ye, a professor of bioengineering at Binghamton University, has a vision of health care’s future: A patient goes to see his doctor complaining of chest pains and is diagnosed with serious heart disease. Some of his cells are collected, perhaps from a biopsy or a blood sample. The cells are processed and become the base material to create a new, healthy heart – possibly made with a rapid prototyper, or 3-D printer – that’s unique to him. Soon afterward – perhaps even later that same day – the new heart is ready to be implanted in the patient’s body, replacing his old, damaged ticker. Ye foresees similar processes being used to replace many other damaged or diseased human tissues and organs. Indeed, any technology that can manufacture a muscle as complex as a heart could easily churn out simpler organs, such as livers and kidneys.

Read the cover story by Thomas K. Grose in the February 2015 issue of ASEE’s Prism.

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Havre de Grace, Md., teacher Alison Baranowski, depicted in a January 2012 ASEE Prism cover story, guides 4th grade designers through a test of “mortar” materials by asking questions versus “dish out content.”

Learn about infusing engineering throughout the elementary school day or take a tour of TeachEngineering’s free, online archive of teacher-tested engineering activities. These are just two of the presentations ASEE’s experienced educators will be making at NSTA’s annual STEM Forum in Denver July 27 to 29 as part of Year of Action on P-12 Engineering Education.

Check out our schedule, below.

And please stop by ASEE’s table in the exhibit hall to explore eGFI and other resources designed to help engage and inspire your STEM students.

Hope to see you there!

Thursday July 28

1.      Elementary STEM Showcase!

Time: 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Room: Four Seasons Ballroom 1/2

2.      Engineering Design Failures in Elementary Classrooms: What Can You Expect and How Can You Respond?

Presenter(s): Pamela Lottero-Perdue (Towson University: Towson, MD), Elizabeth Parry (North Carolina State University: Raleigh, NC)

Time: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Room: 108

Friday, July 29^th

1. Infusing Engineering throughout the Elementary Day

Presenter(s): Elizabeth Parry (North Carolina State University: Raleigh, NC), Pamela Lottero-Perdue (Towson University: Towson, MD)

Time: 9:30-10:30am

Room: 110

Parry and Lottero-Perdue were featured in ASEE Prism magazine’s cover story on K-12 engineering education.

2. The TeachEngineering Digital Library – Hundreds of Free, Searchable, NGSS-aligned Hands-on Engineering Lessons for K-12

Presenter: Malinda Zarske (University of Colorado, Boulder)

Time: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM

Room: 110

3. Using Our Heads to Protect Our Brains: Contextualized Middle School Engineering Challenges

Presenter(s): Chantal Balesdent (Museum of Science, Boston), Kathryn Hutchinson (Museum of Science, Boston), Elizabeth Parry (North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC)

Time: 3:00-4:00pm

Room: 110

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Annie Nash’s classes may be labeled “visual arts,” but they’re much more. While mastering the use of cold, warm, and hot glass-working tools, her second to fifth grade students also learn chemistry, physics, the laws and sources of energy, optics, history, and the scientific method.

“I have always included science concepts in the art studio,” says Nash, a 32-year teaching veteran at Manzano Day School in Albuquerque, N.M. and 2015 winner of a Voya Unsung Heroes award. “Art cannot be taught in a vacuum.”

Nash began including glass-making in her classes in 2007. In 2010, she and her students received a $10,000 Toyota Tapestry grant for an in-depth 9- to 12-week program of classroom learning and field trips. This spring, eight of her students accepted awards from the International Children’s Art Exhibition in Japan.

While the end result was art pieces, jewelry, and marbles created from 90 COE, 96 COE, and borosilciate glass, the 300 or more participants were guided at each stage by the scientific method, the process of observation, hypothesis, prediction, and experimentation that yields reliable knowledge.

As they acquire glass-making skills, such as operating a lamp-working torch to melt glass, students learn how scientists and artists use glass, the equipment and tools used, the elements involved in colored glass chemistry, glass compatibility, and the coefficient of thermal expansion, which shows how an object’s size changes when its temperature changes.

They also study energy sources and energy transfer, conduct experiments on the chemistry and physics of color and optics, create hypotheses, collect data, analyze processes and outcomes, record their conclusions, and share results in class discussions and videos.

Besides glass-making tools, students also apply such technology as iPad applications for unit conversion, graphing, and chemical measurements, as well as high-definition cameras to film their progress.

Not a scientist herself, Nash expects to get support from a science coordinator and technology adviser. Classes also draw in outside experts, including S. Jill Glass, a noted glass scientist at nearby Sandia National Laboratory and the mother of two of Nash’s students, who explained the properties that cause glass to shatter in certain circumstances.

Nash hopes the project will encourage students to pursue an interest in glass, which she calls “one of the most useful and inexpensive materials in the world.” Perhaps more importantly, she hopes students will “learn the importance of wondering and investigating” along the way.

Originally published May 17, 2010, updated on June 3, 2016 

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Results from America’s first-ever test of K-12 technology and engineering skills, released in May, point to the power of hands-on, applied STEM learning to increase diversity and achievement.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress—often dubbed the “nation’s report card”—found that girls scored higher on average than boys. And while suburban and rural students significantly outperformed their urban peers, the achievement gaps between race and income groups were much smaller than typically posted on national tests in other subjects, Education Week notes. 

The NAEP Technology and Engineering Literacy exam, or TEL, also offers lessons in next-generation assessment of problem solving and critical thinking. Administered in 2014 to 21,500 8^th graders in some 840 public and private schools around the country, NAEP’s first totally online test eschewed multiple choice questions and essays. Instead, students developed solutions by working through virtual scenarios. (Explore sample tasks or view interactive examples, such as designing a toaster, of what students are asked to do.)

Overall, 45 percent of female students and 42 percent of their male counterparts scored proficient or advanced, setting the benchmark for the next TEL administration, scheduled for 2018. The girls not only performed better on information and communication technology but also met or outperformed the boys on questions about systems and design.

The 8^th graders also were asked about informal learning, with 87 percent reporting they figured out why something was not working in order to fix it outside of their school work.

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Trying to resuscitate your cellphone that just fell in a puddle – or persuade a doubting Thomas about climate change?

Ask Dear Science, the Washington Post’s new advice column that seeks to use “old-fashioned scientific know-how” to answer one question submitted by readers each week. Scheduled to launch on June 6, the column will tap researchers, delve into journals, and conduct experiments to help readers understand how things work — and how to fix them when they’re broken.

So send us your problems, your queries, your complaints and your concerns, whether they’re as big as the universe or as small as an atom. We can’t wait to help solve them.

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The Maker Movement is picking up worldwide steam, fueled by adults’ desires to get their hands dirty as they did in childhood. The White House and Congress are hosting Maker Faires for during National Week of Making June 17 to 23, while European Maker Week will feature dozens of events from FabLabs to stool-making workshops. 

The fact that it’s spread to schools and libraries, then, is unsurprising. Kids love to tinker, play, and revel in the unknown. And they were front and center at every booth at New York’s 2013 Maker Faire, the New York Times reported.

That’s why, on Sunday, June 26, ASEE will host an interactive workshop on Teaching Engineering through Making on the second day of our annual K-12 Workshop. Held this year in New Orleans, just before the start of ASEE’s Annual Conference, the workshop is a results-oriented, interactive program of professional learning for precollege teachers.

What is the Maker Movement in schools, and how does it differ from shop and home economics classes of yore? According to AnnMarie Thomas (photo), it’s more about the process, joy, and community of making (and makers)—and less about grades and gender roles. Thomas is an associate professor in the University St. Thomas’s School of Engineering and author of Making Makers: Kids, Tools, and the Future of Innovation. Her office is filled with play dough, circuits, and blinking LEDs, and all of her classes involve heavy elements of fun. (See her Squishy Circuits eGFI Teachers activity.) The point, she says, is to take the joy of design and making things and add the rigors of science, math, and analysis early on—that’s what makes engineers. (See her TED Talk.)

June’s workshop will feature presentations by Thomas about teaching creative circuitry (elementary electrical projects using play dough, drawing, and sewing) as well as “An Introduction to the Maker Movement and a Maker Mindset.” Co-presented with Deb Besser, the director of the University of St. Thomas’s Center for Engineering Education, this will help educators learn the fundamentals of what makes a Maker and how to encourage that mindset (curiosity, playfulness, openness to risk, responsibility, persistence, resourcefulness, generosity, and optimism) in students. 

Photo: Maker Corps activity at the Keene, NH, public library.

Shaunna Smith, an assistant professor of educational technology at Texas State University, will also present making and digital fabrication techniques for K-12 teachers in an interactive session. She hopes the teachers will walk out with easy, low-cost and “no-tech” ideas for introducing making into the classroom.

Smith and Thomas both are adamant about one thing: Makers don’t have to have high-tech labs to be successful.  “It’s my life’s mission to make sure that people don’t feel like they have to have expensive tools in order to have a maker space or to do making activities,” says Smith. “People have been making for thousands upon thousands of years.”

“It’s not all about 3D printers,” adds Thomas. “Some schools get 3D printers thinking that they have to do it to be on the cutting edge—but then they don’t know what to do with them! Maker spaces can happen with cardboard and duct tape and sewing machines, and they aren’t lesser for that.”

Jenn Pocock is Associate Editor of ASEE’s Prism magazine. This article was adapted from her article appeared in the summer 2016 issue.

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Grade level: 6-8

Time: 60 minutes

Engineering Connection

Lots of engineering goes into designing and making the thousands of different types of shoes on the market today. Engineers consider many variables when designing footwear, such as durability and function of various materials, anticipated shoe stresses and strains, the health and safety of the wearer, and aesthetics. Engineers often work with podiatrists to design high-tech shoes that are safe, comfortable and stylish! Mechanical engineers apply principles of physics to analyze, design, and manufacture mechanical systems, including new shoes. Materials engineers—specialists in the structure of materials and their properties—select and design the best combinations of materials for specific shoe purposes.

Learning Outcomes  

After doing this activity, students should be able to:

• Explain how engineers are involved in the analysis and design of contemporary shoe technology.
• List different aesthetic and structural considerations involved in shoe design.
• Follow the steps of the engineering design process to analyze, model, and optimize a problem.

Learning Standards

Next Generation Science Standards

• Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions. [Grades 6 – 8]

Image: Students test their shoe designs at West Virginia University’s 2015 STEM Summer Academy for Girls.

International Technology and Engineering Educators Association

• Apply a design process to solve problems in and beyond the laboratory-classroom.
• Make two-dimensional and three-dimensional representations of the designed solution.

Common Core State Mathematical Standards

• Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving area, surface area, and volume. (Grade 6)

Background Information (see TeachEngineering activity for full description)

As simple as a shoe might seem, it is actually a complex structure requiring a significant amount of engineering. Basically, a shoe is a system comprised of different parts that are sewn, stuck or welded together before being shaped and attached to a sole. In today’s world, thousands of different shoe designs exist and just as many engineers are developing new shoes and improving existing designs. When designing shoes, engineers consider all sorts of variables: suitable materials, anticipated forces the shoe will encounter, shoe wearer’s health and safety, as well as aesthetics (how it looks). Often, engineers work with podiatrists and kinesiologists (specialists in human movement) to design safe and comfortable shoes, and with fashion designers to create stylish and marketable products.Materials: For centuries, leather has been the primary material for shoes. However, due to the work of many engineers (especially materials and chemical engineers), we now fabricate shoes using synthetic (human-made) materials. Leather is still preferred by some shoe-wearers due to its comfort and durability. A limitation of leather is that it cannot be obtained in endless rolls, which makes it less suitable for factory production in the footwear, glove and upholstery industries. Also, the material properties of leather tend to change in different conditions, and it is susceptible to fungal infections.The main types of synthetic shoe soles that have been developed include materials based on ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and thermoplastic rubber. For the upper part of the shoe, polyurethane-coated fabric is a popular synthetic material. Polyurethane is a type of polymer that has many uses. It is commonly used as foam insulation in refrigerators and walls, packaging materials and upholstery. In the case of shoes, a very thin coating of polyurethane is applied to a cotton base. Polyurethane-coated fabrics have become increasingly popular because the surface creases closely simulate the ‘break’ or folding characteristics of leather. Also, its moisture absorption and permeability properties mimic natural leather. Polyurethane is water resistant yet breathable enough to discourage stinky feet!In this activity, students will use foam board for the soles.

(Images © 2007 Lauren Cooper, Integrated Teaching and Learning Program, College of Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder.)

The soles of foam core shoes are relatively simple and can be created in a few steps:

1. Shaping the sole: Trace the shape of your feet on the foam core board and cut out the shape using an Xacto™ knife.

 

2. Fitting the shoe: Mark the lines at which the sole should bend to fit your foot and create hinges in the foam core.

 

3. Creating the lift: The heel and/or platform of the shoe requires more foam core design work, but a little creativity yields many designs! 
4. Design Considerations: The general performance requirements of a shoe include durability, high-abrasion resistance (less prone to scuffing), flexibility, dimensional stability (shoe does not shrink or spread in wear), resistance to chemical degradation, and good permeability and absorption properties.When designing a pair of heels or platforms, remember to design the toe box with enough room for the toes to assume a normal separation. Also, heels that are too wide do not necessarily offer more stability. In fact, heels with too much width can cause unhealthy side-to-side torque to the ankles, creating additional impact on the feet. The best design for a high-heel shoe is one with a narrower width, in which the heel is kept more solidly underneath the ankle. Lastly, make sure the heel is able to support the wearer! Make the heel flexible enough to absorb some shock, but rigid enough not to bend or buckle.

Materials

Each group needs:

• 1 utility knife/box cutter
• 1-2 markers (any color)
• 1 ruler
• assorted sizes of foam core board
• assorted decorating materials, such as ribbon, markers, paint, buttons, and construction paper
• hot glue gun/sticks
• duct tape (shared)
• 2 sheets of blank paper
• 1-2 pairs of scissors
• Foam Core Tips
• Fancy Feet Steps

Procedure

Overview: Students design and build high-heeled shoes using simple materials. They then test and redesign their shoes to provide maximum comfort and stability for the wearer.

Image: Michael Jackson’s Anti-Gravity Illusion Shoes Patent Drawings 

Before the Activity

• Review background information, including how to create shapes with foam core. Building a pair of foam core shoes for demonstration is a good way to practice with the material.
• Gather supplies and make copies of the Foam Core Tips and Fancy Feet Steps, and/or prepare overhead transparencies of them.
• Prepare a classroom or hallway area suitable for a “walk-off” to take place at the activity conclusion. One suggestion is to have the walk-off in an area in which students from other classes can watch the activity to see how cool it is be an engineer!

With the students

1. Organize the students into groups of two or three.
2. Give each team a copy of the steps and tips handouts.
3. In their groups, have students discuss for 3-4 minutes the properties that make up a good shoe (that is, flexible, comfortable, stylish, durable, etc.). Then, lead a brief class discussion on the same topic, specifically discussing stability, what the shoe will be used for, how durable it needs to be, its comfort, etc.
4. Tell students that they will be making high-heeled shoes from the materials listed above (show supplies to students). They need to make a pair of shoes to fit one member of their team, then that member will complete a “shoe walk” through an obstacle course.
5. Give each team a half sheet of foam core board. Explain the engineering design challenge: To create a prototype of a heeled or platform shoe design using only a half sheet of foam core. The finished product should be a pair of shoes that can support the student’s weight while walking. As an example, show students a finished pair of foam core shoes.
6. Have student groups brainstorm ideas for their shoes (10 minutes), sketching out viable ideas on paper. The shoes should meet the following requirements: At least a two-inch heel (at the highest point); Must stay on the foot without being held on by the other foot or a hand; Must be a matching pair (left foot and right foot).
7. As necessary, demonstrate how to create different designs using the foam core techniques described in the tips handout.
8. Review the safety hazards of using Xacto™ knives and glue guns.
9. Have each team generate several preliminary sketches of possible shoe designs. Remind students to recall the ideas they generated earlier.
10. Lead the activity embedded assessment (see Assessment section) in which each team swaps its favorite preliminary sketch with another team and provides constructive feedback.
11. After each group has agreed on a shoe design, have students check their ideas with a leader before they begin building. Make sure they have a plan for making the shoe fit, holding it on, making sure it is the right size, keeping the heel attached, etc. Give them time to figure out how they will cut all of their shoe components efficiently from the half sheet of foam core board. Allow about 15 minutes for building.
12. Please note: for the next step, the instructor(s) should supervise the use of the hot glue guns and utility knives at all times. If necessary, cut/glue the material for students. 
13. Help students safely cut their shoe components from the foam core using the knives.
14. Help students glue shoe components together using the hot glue guns.
15. Advise students to test and modify their shoes before decorating and finishing them.
16. If some students’ shoes are buckling or failing when tested, help them brainstorm possible solutions. See the Troubleshooting Tips section.
17. To complete the design/build portion of the activity, give students time to decorate their shoes and prepare for the “walk-off.”
18. Conclude the activity by leading the class in a “walk-off” around a short obstacle course to see which shoes hold up best. (Allow 5 to 7 minutes for the test.)

7. After the obstacle course is completed by all groups, give students a chance to improve their shoe designs, addressing any flaws they noticed in the testing. As time permits, have students continue to test their shoes as they see fit.

Wrap Up – Thought Questions

• Which aspects of your design worked well? Why?
• Which aspect did not work well? Why not?
• What other supplies could you have used to build your shoes? How would you have used these additional materials?

Attachments

Foam Core Tips (doc)

Foam Core Tips (pdf)

Fancy Feet Steps (doc)

Fancy Feet Steps (pdf)

Shoe Engineer Story (pdf)

Safety Issues

Alert students to the safety hazards of using sharp knives and hot glue.

Remind students of the cutting safety tips described on the Foam Core Tips handout.

Troubleshooting Tips

If some students’ foam core shoes collapse when worn, have them rebuild the soles, paying extra attention to the natural bend of the foot. It is common for students to make the heel portion of the sole too small, forcing more weight forward. Ideally, we want most of the weight to rest on the heel. Another idea is to have students make a shorter heel to reduce the amount of pressure on the toe box of the shoe.

Investigating Questions

1. How do design constraints affect engineering projects? (Answer: A design constraint is a physical, economical, social, aesthetic or time limitation, requirement or boundary. In the real world, engineers work within these constraints to design products, structures and systems.)
2. How would you describe somebody who is “ingenious” and “resourceful”? (Answer: An ingenious person is someone who is clever and original when inventing or constructing something. A resourceful person is able to act imaginatively and creatively, especially in difficult or restrictive situations.)
3. Why is it advantageous for an engineer to be ingenious and resourceful? (Answer: Because engineers must respond to design constraints, it is important that they maximize their available resources by being clever, original and imaginative while working within in a set of constraints.)
4. How can we use the engineering design process to create a pair of shoes? (Answer: We follow its cyclical steps. We firstbrainstorm ideas and generate a design for a pair of shoes. Once we have analyzed a design and thought about all the different circumstances that might cause the design to fail, we build prototypes of the shoes. Then we test the shoes to assess performance. We want to determine what design modifications are necessary to produce shoes that are safe, comfortable and stylish. If changes are needed, we create a new or improved design and work through the design process again.)

Assessment 

Pre-Activity Assessment

Dream Shoes Design: Have each student think about his/her “dream shoes.” If you could design any type of shoe, what would you design? Suggest that students consider characteristics such as function, comfort, durability, flexibility, waterproof and breathable materials, style, marketability and cost. Have students create descriptions and drawings of their dream shoes.

Activity Embedded Assessment

Peer Review/Evaluating Alternatives: After students have generated several preliminary shoe designs, have each team swap its best sketch with another team. Ask teams to provide each other with constructive feedback. Is the proposed design too stylish to be practical? Does the shoe heel or platform appear to be a reasonable height? What components are provided to make sure the wearer’s toes will be held in place and not be too squished?

Post-Activity Assessment

The Walk-Off/Engineering Presentation: For the “walk-off,” have one person from each team walk a set distance in the team’s shoes. For fun, arrange to have the walk-off in a hallway or an area in which more students can see the activity! Pose a question to each team after they have completed the walk-off (see the Investigating Questions section for ideas). Have students whose shoes were successful explain the engineering design features that encouraged safety, comfort and style. Have students whose shoes did not endure the walk-off explain what they would do differently if given the chance to improve their designs (a step in the engineering design process). Have all students name one component or structural consideration involved in shoe design.

Activity Scaling

For older students: 

Encourage them to create more complicated shoe designs. Assign each team to design a pair of shoes that performs a specific function. For example, “Wrangler” shoes might be similar to cowboy boots. “Summit” shoes might be designed for hikers. “Puddle Jumper” shoes might be waterproof. Provide students with a greater variety of materials (such as cardboard, foam, foil, plastic wrap, cork, etc.) from which to create these “functional” shoes. Have students discuss the compressive and tension forces in action with their shoes.

• Convertible Shoes: Function, Fashion & Design, Form – Teams of high school students apply their knowledge about the mechanics of walking and running to design and build shoe prototypes that convert between high heels and athletic shoes.

For younger students:

Prepare foam core shoe components in advance. Give each group a different set of shapes and have them create their shoes without using the sharp knives.

• Engineer a Sneaker Students in 4th and 5th grade decide on specific design requirements, such as good traction or deep cushioning, and then use a variety of materials to build prototype shoes that meet the design criteria.

Additional Resources

Day in the Life of a Shoe Designer. ConnectEd’s “Day in the Life” series focuses on Shane and Fabio Rattazzi, founders of DZR shoes who specialize in producing functional and fashionable cycling shoes. [YouTube 4:43]

Secrets of Shoe Design. England’s Victoria and Albert Museum interviews famous shoe designers about the source of their design inspirations and their craft. [YouTube 13:01]

How to Use 3-D Shoe Design Software. AutoDesk webinar explaining how to use design software to cut the time and cost of taking concept shoes to market. [YouTube 33:51]

The Engineering Behind Shoe Design.Great information about engineering in everyday life at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering’s online magazine, illumin. 

Walking in High Heels, the Physics Behind the Physique. Another Illumin article.

Summer Academy Connects Girls to STEM Possibilities. West Virginia University’s 2015 summer program included a shoe design contest.

Science and Engineering Camp Aims for Girls. Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette-Mail article (July 1, 2015) on shoe design challenge at West Virginia University Institute of Technology’s STEM Summer Academy for girls.

Photo by CRAIG CUNNINGHAM/DAILY MAIL

Copyright © 2007 by Regents of the University of Colorado

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Activity developed by Larry Richards, University of Virginia mechanical and aerospace engineering professor, who conducted it with teachers at the 2015 ASEE K-12 Workshop in Seattle. It is among the Engineering Teaching Kits he created for the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s K-12 outreach program.

Summary

In this activity, teams of middle school students express their creativity while learning the fundamentals of engineering design, sustainability, suspension systems, and the basic physics of forces and motion by building a vehicle out of recycled trash that is capable of transporting liquid over rough terrain with as little spillage as possible.

Note: This activity can be scaled for high school as well as upper elementary students. 

Grade level: 6 – 8

Time: 75 – 90 minutes

Learning objectives:

After doing this activity, students should be able to:

• Understand how static and kinetic friction are important concepts in engineering design.
• Apply their knowledge of friction, drag, mass, and gravity to the design of their sliders
• Demonstrate their knowledge of potential and kinetic energy
• Experience the engineering design process
• Recognize that different materials and surfaces have different frictional coefficients.
• Understand the link between recycling and sustainability
• Develop new uses for discarded trash

International Technology and Engineering Educators Association

Energy is the capacity to do work. [Grades 6 – 8]

Next Generation Science Standards

• Develop a model to describe that when the arrangement of objects interacting at a distance changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system [Grades 6-8]
• Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the motion energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object. [Grades 6-8]
• Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Engineering Connection

Engineers work in teams to come up with designs through an iterative process that involves prototyping, testing, identifying and fixing flaws, and retesting until the design works. The process also must be done within such constraints as time, cost, and appropriateness of materials.

The Challenge

Design a slider out of trash that can race down an incline as quickly as possible while spilling the least amount of water.

Materials

For each team:

One empty 2-liter plastic bottle with a rectangular opening cut in the side. (This will be the top of the vehicle’s body.)

For the group:

• Tape
• Rubber bands
• Measuring cup (to measure 500 milliliters of water into each vehicle)
• Assorted trash or recycled items, such as plastic water bottles, packing materials, bubble wrap, cloth, paper, coat hangars, cotton balls, golf balls, rubber, washers, etc.

Process

Before the challenge.

1. Build the race course. The ramp should include bumps or other rough terrain, but can also be made from cardboard posters taped together and propped up against a table or lectern, as demonstrated at the ASEE K-12 Workshop in 2015 (photo, above right). The ramp the University of Virginia engineering outreach program uses starts with a bumpy plastic kids’ slide, followed by wooden plywood panels with speed bumps across them. Watch videos of a successful and not so successful trial run!

With the students

2. Introduce the challenge. Teams will construct small vehicles from recycled materials that they either will release at the top of the ramp or push along down a series of slides. The body of each vehicle has a rectangular cut in its top, through which 50 milliliters of water will be poured at the start of the trial. The goal: Race (or be propelled ) down the ramp and spill as little water as possible.

3. Planning. Ask students to explore the available materials, seeing which are the heaviest or lightest. Which materials slide well across the table? Have them test some of the sample materials to see how they perform and brainstorm different combinations for their sliders. Discuss the tradeoffs between speed, steadiness, and ability to hold water without tilting or tipping over, then pick an idea to design and test. How will they suspend the water-filled vehicle to reduce splashes and spills?

4.Create. Ask teams to determine which materials to use and construct their designs. Will they change the surface material or the weight? How will they attach all of the components?

5. Test. Teachers and volunteers might want to help teams test their designs. Ask them to try changing just one thing on their design and testing again.

6. Improve. Which design worked best? What did you learn from your tests? How could you make an even faster or sturdier slider?

Activity Extensions

• Change the angle and length of the track. Investigate the results of increasing potential energy (length and height of hill). How does it effect the acceleration and velocity of the trash slider?
• Restrict the choice of materials. How does that affect performance?
• Add or reconfigure speed bumps or other obstacles.

Trash sliders made by high school students at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science’s BLAST camp.

Additional Resources 

Engineering Teaching Kits. Founded by University of Virginia mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Larry Richards throughthe Virginia Middle School Engineering Education Initiative, these resources allow undergraduates and teachers to customize science lessons using engineering design. Engineers Way is U. Va.’s Facebook page for School of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ K-12 outreach program.

Middle School Students Learn Engineering Principles. Charlottesville Tomorrow article (3/30/15) about a week-long Trash Sliders engineering design project taught by University of Virginia undergraduate engineering students. (Photo, above)

Movin’ Along: Investigating Motion and Mechanisms Using Engineering Design Activities. Frontiers in Engineering 2015 research paper by the University of Virginia engineering educators Susan K. Donahue and Larry Richards on teaching physics and other science concepts through engineering design activities such as Trash Sliders.

Watch trash sliders in action at U.Va’s BLAST camp, as reported on NewsPlex.com.  

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