TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Measuring Our Muscles
Student teams build model hand dynamometers used to measure grip strengths of people recovering from sports injuries. They use their models to measure how much force their classmates muscles are capable of producing, and analyze the data...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Challenges of Laparoscopic Surgery
Students teams use a laparoscopic surgical trainer to perform simple laparoscopic surgery tasks (dissections, sutures) using laparoscopic tools. Just like in the operating room, where the purpose is to perform surgery carefully and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Feel Better Faster: All About Flow Rate
All of us have felt sick at some point in our lives. Many times, we find ourselves asking, "What is the quickest way that I can start to feel better?" During this two-lesson unit, students study that question and determine which form of...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Aging Heart Valves
In this unit, students learn about the form and function of the human heart through lecture, research and dissection. Following the steps of the Legacy Cycle, students brainstorm, research, design and present viable solutions to various...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Keepers of the Gate
Through two lessons and five activities, students explore the structure and function of cell membranes. Specific transport functions, including active and passive transport, are presented. In the legacy cycle tradition, students are...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Understanding the Structure of the Eye
Students learn about the anatomical structure of the human eye and how humans see light, as well as some causes of color blindness. They conduct experiments as an example of research to gather information. During their investigations,...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Breathe In, Breathe Out
Students are introduced to the respiratory system, the lungs and air. They learn about how the lungs and diaphragm work, how air pollution affects lungs and respiratory functions, some widespread respiratory problems, and how engineers...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: We've Come a Long Way, Baby!
Students discuss several human reproductive technologies available today--pregnancy ultrasound, amniocentesis, in-vitro fertilization and labor anesthetics. They learn how each technology works, and that these are ways engineers have...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Dna: The Human Body Recipe
As a class, young scholars work through an example showing how DNA provides the "recipe" for making our body proteins. They see how the pattern of nucleotide bases (adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine) forms the double helix ladder shape...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Cloning of Cells
Students continue their education on cells in the human body. They discuss stem cells and how engineers are involved in the research of stem cell behavior. They learn about possible applications of stem cell research and associated...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Shoes Under Pressure
Students explore the basic physics behind walking, and the design and engineering of shoes to accommodate different gaits. They are introduced to pressure, force and impulse as they relate to shoes, walking and running. Students learn...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Bacteria Are Everywhere!
Through this activity, students are introduced to the concept of engineering biological organisms and studying their growth to be able to identify periods of fast and slow growth. Students learn that bacteria are found everywhere,...
Other
The Engineering and Science Foundation: Engineering Your Future
Authors invite students to explore this site in order to gather information about a future engineering career. Information is provided on various fields such as chemical and biomedical. Site also lists important classes related to the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Fascinating Friction!
In this activity, students use wood, wax paper and oil to investigate the importance of lubrication between materials and to understand the concept of friction. Using wax paper and oil placed between pieces of wood, the function of...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Seeing and Feeling Sound Vibrations
Students examine the existence of sound by listening to and seeing sound waves while conducting a set of simple activities as a class or in pairs at stations. Students describe sound in terms of its pitch, volume and frequency. They use...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Engineering in Sports
Imagining themselves arriving at the Olympic gold medal soccer game in Beijing, students begin to think about how engineering is involved in sports. After a discussion of kinetic and potential energy, an associated hands-on activity...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: When Silicon Talks
In this activity, students tackle this aspect of engineering as they solve problems for precise angles and speeds, and predict data output when samples are altered.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Tracking a Virus
Students simulate the spread of a virus such as HIV through a population by "sharing" (but not drinking) the water in a plastic cup with several classmates. Although invisible, the water in a few of the cups will already be tainted with...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: An Arm and a Leg
Students will design and build a prototype of an artificial limb using a simple syringe system as an introduction to bioengineering. Students will determine which substance water (liquid) or air (gas) will make the appendage more efficient.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Tell Me Doc, Will I Get Cancer?
Students are introduced to the challenge called, Tell Me the Odds, discovering a new way to assess a person's risk of breast cancer. Solving this challenge requires knowledge of refraction and the properties of light.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Quantifying Refraction
Young scholars learn the relevant equations for refraction (index of refraction and Snell's law) and how to use them to predict the behavior of light waves in specified scenarios.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Capillarity Measuring Surface Tension
Young scholars are presented with a short lesson on the difference between cohesive forces (the forces that hold water molecules together and create surface tension) and adhesive forces (the forces that causes water to "stick" to solid...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Make That Invisible! Refractive Index Matching
Students determine the refractive index of a liquid with a simple technique using a semi-circular hollow block. Then they predict the refractive index of a material (a Pyrex glass tube) by matching it with the known refractive index of a...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Making Model Microfluidic Devices Using Jell O
Students create large-scale models of microfluidic devices using a process similar to that of the PDMS and plasma bonding that is used in the creation of lab-on-a-chip devices. They use disposable foam plates, plastic bendable straws and...