What a Dump!
Posted on April 16th, 2013 by Mary Lord
In this activity, teams of students in grades 5 to 7 learn about environmental, civil, and sanitation engineering by designing and building model landfills that hold the most garbage, minimize costs, and prevent trash and contaminated “rainwater” from polluting the nearby “city.” Teams test their landfills, and graph and compare designs for capacity, cost, and performance.
Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comment »
Tags: build, Class Activities, Design, dump, Environmental Engineering, graph, Landfill, Mathematics, Pollution, sanitation, Trash
Refrigeration is considered one of engineering’s greatest 20th-century achievements. In this activity, student teams in grades K – 6 explore the design process by engineering a way to keep an ice cube from melting for 30 minutes.
Students in grades 1 to 6 follow the engineering design process to build and test a catapult that launches projectiles, such as marshmallow “pumpkins.” They then make changes to improve their launcher’s aim and distance it can hurl the projectile.
The Extreme Redesign 3D Printing Challenge invites middle school, high school, and college-level students worldwide to send the Stratasys 3D printing company their best redesigns. Along with cash prizes, the top 10 entries for each category will be printed on a Stratasys 3D Printer. Deadline: Feb. 6, 2013.
The AbilityOne® Design Challenge encourages students to develop assistive technologies that empower people with disabilities to overcome barriers to employment. The design challenge is a service learning opportunity for students in grades 9-12 in the High School Program. Deadline: Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, 12:00 p.m.
In this lesson, students in grades 3 to 12 explore how engineers incorporate the latest materials and manufacturing techniques to improve the performance of sports equipment by constructing a functional racquet out of everyday materials that can volley against another team’s racquet at least six times.
The much-anticipated first draft of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) was released for public comment May 11, a day after a federal report showed slim gains in science proficiency among the nation’s 8th graders. The standards, which include engineering and design, represent a profound shift in what students will be expected to know and be able to do. Want to weigh in? You have until June 1.
In this activity, teams of students in grades 3-12 explore the engineering design process by building model canoes from everyday materials and testing their design in a basin. The canoes must be able to float for three minutes and, for older students, support a load. Students then evaluate the effectiveness of their canoes and those of other teams, and present their findings to the class.
Safer highways. Cool phone apps. Green buildings. Thrilling roller coasters. What do all these things have in common? All bear the stamp of engineering design – a process of brainstorming, building, testing, and refining to create a product, service, or system within time or resource limits.
