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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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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In this unit, students will investigate the effects of an impact force on the human body system, and design a method of protection from harmful contact. Students will apply knowledge of human tissues and genetic disorders, impact forces and materials analysis to design a protective gear system that can withstand the effects of multiple impact…
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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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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 October 2012, a parachute jumper took a leap of science and stepped off a platform from an altitude of close to 24 miles above the Earth’s surface, breaking the 1959 space jump record. The parachute jumper’s team helped him to reach these heights with a helium balloon attached to a space gondola/capsule. Because air…
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Teams of student engineers are challenged to design, build and test a prototype pirate ship design. The prototype ship is tested for its ability to float and to sail around obstacles in a baby pool while carrying a load consisting of a crew, food, and a retrieved hidden treasure. Students use force diagrams to communicate…
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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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Student teams are challenged to create an energy-free speaker system for any hand-held device. In order to effectively complete the design challenge, students will explore the wave behaviors and transfer of energy in a sound wave. Students will also analyze the volume of the device and the speaker system as solid figures. Students will study…
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Working people, school children, and others pack meals to take with them that will be eaten later in the day, however there may not be access to refrigeration or the capability to heat their food. Students will design and build a lunchbox that will maintain two different temperatures in different sections of the lunchbox. Students…
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