Straw Bridges
Working as engineering teams, students design and create model beam bridges using plastic drinking straws and tape as their construction materials. Their goal is to build the strongest bridge with a truss pattern of their own design, while meeting the design criteria and constraints. They experiment with different geometric shapes and determine how shapes affect the strength of materials.
Stormy Skies
Students learn that wind and storms can form at the boundaries of interacting high and low pressure air masses. They learn the distinguishing features of the four main types of weather fronts (warm fronts, cold fronts, stationary fronts and occluded fronts) and how these fronts are depicted on a surface weather analysis, or weather map. Students also learn several different ways that engineers help with storm prediction, analysis and protection.
Let Your Ears do the Walking
In the previous lesson, students learned about the issue of bycatching by fisheries and how it affects marine habitats. Dolphins are one of the main species affected by bycatching. Dolphins use echolocation to identify the location of objects in the water, but they have difficulty identifying nets, and thus can be caught accidentally. Students will learn how echolocation works, why certain animals use it to determine the size, shape, and distance of objects, and how humans can potentially take a
Does Contact Area Matter?
Using the same method for measuring friction that was used in the previous lesson (Discovering Friction), students design and conduct an experiment to determine if the amount of area over which an object contacts a surface it is moving across affects the amount of friction encountered.
Racing with the Sun - Creating a Solar Car
Students use engineering design principles to construct and test a fully solar powered car. Several options exist, though we recommend the “Junior Solar Sprint” (JSS) Car Kits that can be purchased with direction from the federal government. Using the JSS kit from Solar World, students were provided with a photovoltaic panel that produces ~3V at ~3W. An optional accessory kit also available from Solar World includes wheels, axels and drive gears. A chassis must be built additionally. Balsa w
Asteroid Impact
Asteroid Impact is an 8-10 class long (350-450 min) earth science curricular unit where student teams are posed with the scenario that an asteroid will impact earth. They must design the location and size of underground caverns to save the people from uninhabitable earth for one year. Driven by this adventure scenario, student teams (1) explore general and geological maps, (2) determine the area of their classroom to help determine the cavern size required, (3) learn about map scales, (4) test r
Forces on the Human Molecule
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.
Space Shelter
The invasion has taken place and we need to find a new home. To ensure your survival beyond earth’s occupation you must design a shelter that can be built on another planet. Students will research the characteristics of a planet of their choice. They will design a shelter that will allow them to survive on a new planet, and explain it in words.
Microsoft's Google accusation
Microsoft officially filed a complaint with European Union regulators claiming Google is using its dominant position in Internet search advertising to block competition.
1 About working with others Very few people study or work in complete isolation. Some courses now set projects and assignments that need to be completed in pairs or groups, either face-to-face or using econferencing. Even if your course does not formally require you to do this, working with others is an important part of your skills portfolio. Most jobs require you to work as part of a team, and employers value individuals who can demonstrate this. In working on a work project or an assignment with others – in p
9.1.1 What is an rtf file?
Frightened of the internet? This unit will help you make effective use of the internet, giving you the basic skills required for using web-based resources. Useful tricks and tips are provided as well as information on web browsers, the main features of a browser window, how to look at websites, using hyperlinks, searching for information on the internet, copying text, avoiding computer viruses, and using PDFs.
Boiler Bytes: Students design 'snobot' to clear walks during winter
Mechanical engineering students developed a 'snobot,' a robot running on batteries and sensors, which can remove snow without human involvement. The invention was part of a senior design project.
5.2 Value Added Tax (VAT)
Do you have a graphics or scientific calculator? If so, this unit will help you to understand the different functions and facilities available. With a focus on arithmetic, you will learn what a powerful tool this type of calculator can be.
1.1.5 Runners
This Unit will introduce you to a number of ways of representing data graphically and of summarising data numerically. You will learn the uses for pie charts, bar charts, histograms and scatterplots. You will also be introduced to various ways of summarising data and methods for assessing location and dispersion.
1 Using vectors to model
This unit introduces the topic of vectors. The subject is developed without assuming you have come across it before, but the unit assumes that you have previously had a basic grounding in algebra and trigonometry, and how to use Cartesian coordinates for specifying a point in a plane.
Next Steps
This unit focuses on your initial encounters with research. It invites you to think about how perceptions of mathematics have influenced you in your prior learning, your teaching and the attitudes of learners.
