Humans create more garbage than is recycled or reused. As a result, landfills are growing in size and number worldwide, many of which are approaching capacity. This presents a significant risk to Earth’s environment as we know it. Though recycling infrastructure and participation have grown around the world, there is still room for growth and…
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Students are engaged to consider the challenges faced by people in wheelchairs and develop remedial strategies following engineering design. While modern building designs follow specific regulations to provide safe accessibility to wheelchairs, many older neighborhoods still contain designs inaccessible and dangerous for people in wheelchairs. For example, many ramp designs have slopes too large or…
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Congratulations! You are one of the chosen few! The challenge: keep surviving! You are being sent to one of the government designed pods. Everyone in the biosphere has been thoroughly screened and their job assigned. You have been assigned to the civil engineering team and must determine how the land will be divided between housing…
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Have you ever wanted to save a snowman and make it last forever? In this unit the question is posed, “Do you want to keep your snowman?” Students explore the physical properties of materials and how matter can change. More specifically, students explore how the physical properties of water change. When removed from a cooler…
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As Beethoven once said, “Music can change the world.” In this unit, student design teams use the Engineering Design Process to design a musical instrument that can play Hot Cross Buns. This instrument and its associated design are made with the intent of providing access to music for underprivileged children in diverse areas of the…
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Students participate in hands-on inquiry-based centers and guided activities to increase knowledge of shadows and light. Students explore and manipulate light, using a light source to simulate the sun at various times of day and observe shadows, create and measure shadows, and test how various types of media block light. Students explore the shadows created…
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As we proceed into the future, space exploration is becoming an essential part of our own growth as humans. Space exploration requires innovative, creative, adaptable people to develop the technology necessary for these grand endeavors into new environments. Specifically, the first settlers on Mars will have to use technology developed on Earth in order to…
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In most car accidents, the bumper is the first point of impact and defense. The better the bumper is designed, the less possibility for damage and injury. Impact barriers, such as the barrels you see at a highway exit or the barriers separating oncoming traffic, are also important for limiting vehicle damage or human injuries.…
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In this unit, students explore the ways to dampen, mask, or stop a sound wave from propagating into a system (or material) and the surrounding environment. Students research and explore how sound waves are propagated and transmitted through various media. In the engineering design challenge, students will use their acquired knowledge to construct a portable,…
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Students conduct scientific investigations and use the engineering design process to solve a problem related to an adaptation of the story of Little Red Riding Hood. The scientific investigations engage students in gaining knowledge about light and sound, materials, data collection and analysis, and human performance. Students create and test their own safety vest for…
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