Air pressure is pushing on us all the time although we do not usually notice it. This activity will discuss the units of pressure and give the students a sense of just how much air pressure is pushing on them.
This learning pathway provides you with experiments, anecdotes and videos, pictures and descriptions of Palace of Miracles exhibits related to the Archimedes' Principle.
In this activity, the students will learn about material properties. They will learn that engineers must consider several material properties when designing. This activity focuses on strength-to-weight ratios and how sometimes the strongest material is not always the best material.
Students make a skydiver and parachute contraption to demonstrate how drag caused by air resistance slows the descent of skydivers as they travel back to Earth. Gravity pulls the skydiver toward the Earth, while the air trapped by the parachute provides an upward resisting force (drag) on the skydiver.
In this math activity, students conduct a strength test using modeling clay, creating their own stress vs. strain graphs, which they compare to typical steel and concrete graphs. They learn the difference between brittle and ductile materials and how understanding the strength of materials, especially steel and concrete, is important for engineers who design bridges and structures.
Explores aesthetic and technical underpinnings of contemporary dance composition. Basic compositional techniques discussed and practiced with an emphasis on principles such as weight, space, time, effort, and shape. Principles of musicality considered and developed by each student. Working together, students create short compositions to help them understand the range of possibilities available when working with the medium of the human body. Selected viewing and reading exercises augment classroom work. Class attends at least two professional dance events in the Boston area.
The student will predict whether one cup of everything weighs the same. Next, the student will estimate the mass of several cups of materials. Then, using a primer balance the student will find the actual mass of each cup of materials in grams. The students will order the cups from lightest to heaviest by mass.
Student groups are provided with a generic car base. The groups then design a device/enclosure that will protect an egg on or in the car as it is rolled down a ramp at increasing slopes. Students will be expected to perform basic mathematical calculations using their data.
How many calories are in your favorite foods? How much exercise would you have to do to burn off these calories? What is the relationship between calories and weight? Explore these issues by choosing diet and exercise and keeping an eye on your weight.
This activity can be used to explore forces acting on an object, to practice graphing experimental data, and/or to introduce the algebra concepts of slope and intercept of a line. A wooden 2x4 beam is set on top of two scales. Students learn how to conduct an experiment by applying loads at different locations along the beam, recording the exact position of the applied load and the reaction forces measured by the scales at each end of the beam. In addition, students will analyze the experiment data with the use of a chart and a table and model linear equations to describe relationships between independent and dependent variables.
Students learn about weight by building a spring scale and observing how it responds to objects with different masses.
Students learn about weight and drag forces by making paper helicopters and measuring how adding more weight affects the time it takes for the helicopters to fall to the ground.
Students learn that it is incorrect to believe that heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects. By close observation of falling objects, they see that it is the amount of air resistance, not the weight of an object, which determines how quickly an object falls.
Students learn more about forces by examining the force of gravitational attraction. They observe how objects fall and measure the force of gravitational attraction upon objects.
This activity can be conducted in the classroom. The students are given an opportunity to discover the basic concept of balance/counterbalance and how evenly distributed weight affects an object.
In this lesson, students discover the entire process that goes into designing a rocket for any customer. In prior lessons, students learned how rockets work, but now they learn what real-world decisions engineers have to make when designing and building a rocket. They learn about important factors such as supplies, ethics, deadlines and budgets. Also, students learn about the Engineering process, and recognize that the first design is almost never the final design. Re-Engineering is a critical step in creating a rocket.
Students explore methods employing simple machines likely used in ancient pyramid building, as well as common modern-day material transportation. They learn about the wheel and axle as a means to transport materials from rock quarry to construction site. They also learn about different types and uses of a lever for purposes of transport. In an open-ended design activity, students choose from everyday materials to engineer a small-scale cart and lever system to convey pyramid-building materials.
Students revisit Bernoulli's Principle (Lesson 1 of the Airplanes unit) and learn how engineers use this principle to design airplane wings. Airplane wings create lift by changing the pressure of the air around it. This is the first of four lessons exploring the four key forces in flight: lift, weight, thrust and drag.
The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand the relationship between the mass and the weight of an object. Students will study the properties of common materials and why airplanes use specific materials.
This teacher developed Design Challenge unit weaves engaging inquiry lessons and design challenges into the physical science content of buoyancy to create a hands-on, content rich unit of study.
