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Showing page 1 of 4 pages. Viewing records 1-10 of 36 records returned.
| Air Pollution |
Students are introduced to the concept of air quality by investigating the composition, properties, atmospheric layers and everyday importance of air. They explore the sources and effects of visible a...
...moreStudents are introduced to the concept of air quality by investigating the composition, properties, atmospheric layers and everyday importance of air. They explore the sources and effects of visible and invisible air pollution. By learning some fundamental meteorology concepts (air pressure, barometers, prediction, convection currents, temperature inversions), students learn the impact of weather on air pollution control and prevention. Looking at models and maps, they explore the consequences of pollutant transport via weather and water cycles. Students are introduced to acids, bases and pH, and the environmental problem of acid rain, including how engineers address this type of pollution. Using simple models, they study the greenhouse effect, the impact of increased greenhouse gases on the planet's protective ozone layer and the global warming theory. Students explore the causes and effects of the Earth's ozone holes through an interactive simulation. Students identify the types and sources of indoor air pollutants in their school and home, evaluating actions that can be taken to reduce and prevent poor indoor air quality. By building and observing a few simple models of pollutant recovery methods, students explore the modern industrial technologies designed by engineers to clean up and prevent air pollution.
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5 (4-6) |
Subject Areas: 3
Lessons: 10
Activities: 31
Details |
| All Caught Up: Bycatching and Design |
Bycatch, the unintended capture of animals in commercial fishing gear, is one of the hottest topics in marine conservation today. About 25% of the entire global catch is bycatch. This surprisingly hi...
...moreBycatch, the unintended capture of animals in commercial fishing gear, is one of the hottest topics in marine conservation today. About 25% of the entire global catch is bycatch. This surprisingly high level of bycatch is responsible for the decline of hundreds of thousands of dolphins, whales, porpoises, seabirds and sea turtles each year. Through this curricular unit, students will analyze the significance of bycatch in the global ecosystem and propose solutions to help reduce bycatch. Students will become familiar with current attempts to reduce fishing mortality of these animals, such as acoustic alarms, breakaway links, gear modification, and time-area closures. Through the associated activity, the problems that managers face today will be reinforced and students will be stimulated to brainstorm about possible engineering designs or policy changes that could reduce the magnitude of bycatch.
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5 (4-8) |
Subject Areas: 3
Lessons: 2
Activities: 3
Details |
| 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 ...
...moreAsteroid 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 rocks, (5) identify important and not-so-important rock properties for underground caverns, and (6) choose a final location and size. The unit also reinforces a number of math, reading and writing standards.
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7 (6-8) |
Subject Areas: 1
Lessons: 8
Activities: 8
Details |
| Biodomes |
Students explore the biosphere's environments and ecosystems, learning along the way about the plants, animals, resources and natural cycles of our planet. Over the course of five lessons, students ...
...moreStudents explore the biosphere's environments and ecosystems, learning along the way about the plants, animals, resources and natural cycles of our planet. Over the course of five lessons, students use their growing understanding of various environments and the engineering design process to design and create their own model biodome ecosystems - exploring energy and nutrient flows, basic needs of plants and animals, and decomposers. Students learn about food chains and food webs. They are introduced to the roles of the water, carbon and nitrogen cycles. They test the effects of photosynthesis and transpiration. Students are introduced to animal classifications and interactions, including carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, predator and prey. They learn about biomimicry and how engineers often imitate nature in the design of new products. As everyday applications are interwoven into the lessons, students consider why a solid understanding of one's environment and the interdependence within ecosystems can inform the choices we make and the way we engineer our communities.
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5 (3-6) |
Subject Areas: 3
Lessons: 6
Activities: 5
Details |
| Bridges |
Through a five-lesson series that includes numerous hands-on activities, students are introduced to the importance and pervasiveness of bridges for connecting people to resources, places and other peo...
...moreThrough a five-lesson series that includes numerous hands-on activities, students are introduced to the importance and pervasiveness of bridges for connecting people to resources, places and other people, with references to many historical and current-day examples. In learning about bridge types — arch, beam, truss and suspension — students explore the affect of tensile and compressive forces. Students investigate the calculations that go into designing bridges; they learn about loads and cross-sectional areas by designing and testing the strength of model piers. Geology and soils are explored as they discover the importance of foundations, bearing pressure and settlement considerations in the creation of dependable bridges and structures. Students learn about brittle and ductile material properties. Students also learn about the many cost factors that comprise the economic considerations of bridge building. Bridges are unique challenges that take advantage of the creative nature of engineering.
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7 (6-8) |
Subject Areas: 1
Lessons: 5
Activities: 6
Details |
| Building Towards the Future |
This curricular unit introduces students to basic Civil Engineering concepts in an exciting and interactive manner. Bridges and skyscrapers, the two most visible products of Civil Engineers, will be d...
...moreThis curricular unit introduces students to basic Civil Engineering concepts in an exciting and interactive manner. Bridges and skyscrapers, the two most visible products of Civil Engineers, will be discussed in depth. Students will have a chance to design and build balsa wood structures, as well as understand the design principles behind these structures that allow them to withstand vertical and lateral forces. There is also an emphasis on how materials absorb different types of forces. Since the ability to visualize in three dimensions is imperative to civil engineers, there is a visual, hands-on activity designed to teach three dimensional coordinate systems.
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7 (6-8) |
Subject Areas: 2
Lessons: 2
Activities: 3
Details |
| Cellular Respiration and Population Growth |
Two lessons and their associated activities explore cellular respiration and population growth in yeasts. Yeast cells are readily obtained and behave predictably, so they are very appropriate to use ...
...moreTwo lessons and their associated activities explore cellular respiration and population growth in yeasts. Yeast cells are readily obtained and behave predictably, so they are very appropriate to use in middle school classrooms. In the first lesson, students are introduced to yeast respiration through its role in the production of bread and alcoholic beverages. A discussion of the effects of alcohol on the human body is used both as an attention-getting device, and as a means to convey important information at an impressionable age. In the associated activity, students set up a simple way to indirectly observe and quantify the amount of respiration occurring in yeast-molasses cultures. Based on questions that arise from this activity, in the second lesson students work in small groups as they design and execute their own experiments to determine how environmental factors affect yeast population growth.
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7 (7-10) |
Subject Areas: 2
Lessons: 2
Activities: 2
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| Conduction, Convection, and Radiation |
With the help of simple, teacher-led demonstration activities, students learn the basic concepts of heat transfer by means of conduction, convection, and radiation. Students then apply these concepts ...
...moreWith the help of simple, teacher-led demonstration activities, students learn the basic concepts of heat transfer by means of conduction, convection, and radiation. Students then apply these concepts as they work in teams to solve two problems. One problem requires that they maintain the warm temperature of one soda can filled with water at approximately body temperature, and the other problem is to cause an identical soda can of warm water to cool as much as possible during the same thirty-minute time interval. Students design their solutions using only common, everyday materials. They record the water temperatures in their two soda cans every five minutes, and prepare line graphs in order to visually compare their results to the temperature of an unaltered control can of water.
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6 (6-8) |
Subject Areas: 2
Lessons: 1
Activities: 1
Details |
| Energy |
Through nine lessons and many activities, students are introduced to a range of energy types and sources, including light, electrical, sound, (geo) thermal, wind, hydro (water), solar, and renewable a...
...moreThrough nine lessons and many activities, students are introduced to a range of energy types and sources, including light, electrical, sound, (geo) thermal, wind, hydro (water), solar, and renewable and alternative. Additional topics include kinetic and potential energy, conservation, conduction, convection, light waves, reflection, refraction, polarization, sound waves, volume, pitch, frequency, batteries, simple circuits, radiation, insulation, thermometers, heat capacity, heat transfer, specific heat, power grid, blackouts, anemometers, wind and water turbines (windmills and waterwheels), and solar heaters and cookers. Students learn how engineers build upon their knowledge of energy to provide us with electricity to meet the basic needs of food, shelter, safety, heating and cooling, as well as luxuries of comfort and entertainment.
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4 (3-5) |
Subject Areas: 2
Lessons: 9
Activities: 26
Details |
| Energy of Motion |
The Energy of Motion unit begins with mechanical energy and its two simplest forms: kinetic and potential energy. Next, the concept that energy can change forms is introduced, with examples of kinetic...
...moreThe Energy of Motion unit begins with mechanical energy and its two simplest forms: kinetic and potential energy. Next, the concept that energy can change forms is introduced, with examples of kinetic and potential energy interrelationships. Using the example of a waterwheel, the concepts of work and power are examined. Conservation of momentum and collisions are explored, with analogies to popular sports, and how elastic and inelastic collisions are considered in the games' design. To show another energy transformation concept, the behavior of energy dissipating into heat by means of friction is presented. Finally, a summary lesson provides a review to tie all these energy of motion concepts together.
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7 (6-8) |
Subject Areas: 2
Lessons: 5
Activities: 9
Details |
Showing page 1 of 4 pages. Viewing records 1-10 of 36 records returned.
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