Problem Solve @ School

Engineering Connection

Engineers use the engineering design process to find creative solutions to a wide range of challenges. In addition to designing consumer products, the process is also used to design solutions to infrastructure and systems that benefit society: How do we remove dirty water from homes and make it into clean water? How do we manage the resources of a river to supply everyone’s’ needs without destroying the natural environment? How can we efficiently and responsibly produce energy and deliver it as electricity to where people need it? How can we design a factory to optimally produce a specific product? How should we lay out the streets and traffic routes to provide access, efficiency and safety?

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

• Explain the important steps of the engineering design process.
• Relate how engineering incorporates this design process in many applications.
• Apply the engineering design process to multiple design challenges in their school setting.

Assignment

1. As a whole class, come up with an overarching problem that needs to be solved within the school (heating/cooling, computer sign in, hacking, jammed lockers, etc.).

- Make sure it is broad enough that it can have multiple solutions.

2. Students will split themselves into teams of 2-3 students; teams must make a proposal to the teacher as to why they will work well together (5-7 sentences long) submitted in Google Classroom. This must be checked before the teams can move forward.

3. Each team will then come up with their own solutions to the problem.

Each student needs their OWN EDP SHEET for notes ***

(EDP Sheet attached below)

Do appropriate research

(Research sheet attached below)

and

Come up with 6 possible prototypes that can solve the problem.

(Sketch sheet attached below, 1 per group)

4. Teams will then choose the BEST solution out of their ideas.

5. Teams must then create a final design for the idea with all parts labeled, including measurements and materials. If teams are creating this image out of paper, it must fill a full 8.5x11in sheet of paper, minimum. Students can use SketchUp, if desired.

6. Teams will put together presentations as competitive engineering teams to 'sell' their product to the client.

- Presentations must: Review the problem, cover the research, discussion of the possible ideas, review of each person's role in the design, describe the team's thought process as to why they chose the final design.

- To include a screenshot image from SketchUp, use the Snipping Tool at the bottom of your screen to grab images to save in insert into the presentation.

- Presentations can be made on the computer or on poster board.

- Presentations MUST be between 3-5 minutes; every member of the group must speak.

7. After all presentations, we will vote, as a class, for which product would best solve the problem, based on presented information.

45 POINTS TOTAL

8. Each STUDENT (individually) will then submit a full write up of the process their team followed.

15 POINTS