Bundle 1: Story of Things
Tier 2: Engineering to Minimize Melting
Tier: Engineering to Minimize Melting
Objective:
Students will design their own model or prototype of an insulated cup. After testing, they will re-design this cup until the optimal design process is achieved.
Overview:
Students will bring in commercially produced insulating products, and will do a “virtual dissection” where they research and determine the resources (synthetic and natural) that were used to create their cup. They will then engineer their own product to lengthen the time ice is in its solid state. They will collect data and compare/contrast to other student work, as well as already manufactured products that were brought in. Students will take this data to re-design/ re-build their cup, so the optimal design process can be achieved.
Big questions:
- What materials make good insulators?
- How do data inform material choices in engineering?
Standards addressed:
| MS-PS1-3 | Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society. |
| MS-PS3-3 | Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer. |
| MS-ETS1-2 | Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem. |
| MS-ETS1-3 | Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success. |
| MS-ETS1-4 | Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved. |
| Science and Engineering | Analyze and interpret data to determine similarities and differences in findings. |
| Crosscutting Concepts | Patterns: Graphs, charts, and images can be used to identify patterns in data. |
Tier in depth:
Part 1: Engineering to Minimize Melting
Overview of activity 1:
Each student group will bring in some already manufactured thermos-product (i.e. – styrofoam Starbucks cup, Yeti, RTIC, insulated mug, McDonald’s coffee cup, etc.) Student groups will do a “virtual dissection” where they research and determine the resources (synthetic and natural) that were used to create their cup. Research should include information to allow a conclusion and “impact statement” sharing how this product has impacted society. Students should share their learning with their peers and focus should be placed on structure and function of the insulated cup components.
Students will design their own model or prototype of an insulated cup. They will test and compare/contrast to other student work, as well as already manufactured products that were brought in. Testing could be based on how long the cup keeps ice in a solid state.
Students will take this data to re-design/ re-build their cup so the optimal design process can be achieved.
Experts:
Solutions:
