Teach Engineering: How Does a Light Sensor Work?

Can my windmill pick up a weight? Given the same set of materials, groups design and build the most efficient windmill. On the first day, groups concentrate on getting a windmill to spin, while on the second day, they modify their...

A fabulous presentation on light is here for you. In it, learners view slides which cover many important concepts of light. They understand exactly what light is, what the main sources of light are, what opaque, transparent, and...

Here is a fascinating find for future techies: a video about how various light bulbs work. Because it begins with the incandescent bulb, it covers a bit of history of the light bulbs. It concisely and creatively describes how halogen...

Students learn about how sound sensors work, reinforcing their similarities to the human sense of hearing. This activity and its associated activity enable students to appreciate how robots can take sensor input and use it to make...

Young scholars look at human senses and their electronic imitators, with special focus on the skin and touch sensors. They have a chance to handle and get familiar with the LEGO touch sensor, including programming LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT...

Learners learn how ultrasonic sensors work, reinforcing the connection between this sensor and how humans, bats, and dolphins estimate distance.

Any work with light, lenses, lasers, or mirrors is called optical engineering. Optical engineers bend and bounce light to make it useful for humans. Examples are telescopes, invisibility, nanomedicine, and solar energy. This...

This lesson introduces electricity, batteries and motors using a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robot. The associated activity guides students to build a simple LEGO NXT set-up and see the practical implementation of the concepts discussed. Before...

Young meteorologists examine the formation of a hurricane in a resource focused on severe weather conditions. Once they learn that a hurricane is also a tropical cyclone, and detail the different levels associated...

What makes a clock tick or a bulb light up? The concept of work is explained to a backdrop of clever animation. Physics fans learn that the amount of work equals the product of the force and distance, and that the rate equals the amount...