Why Did They Make It That Way? Name:__________________________________________ Class period: _________ Look at this photograph of some common items. There is a legend below the photograph to help identify them: 1- Cosmetic brush 4-Cotton glove 7-Wood toothpick 10-Crayon 13-Safety pin 2-Hair clip 5- Marshamllow 8-Foam paintbrush 11-Foam ear plugs 14-Pencil 3-Clothespin 6-Craft stick 9-Nail file 12-Breath mint15-Phillips screwdriver Design and Engineering Why do you think these items were made the way they were? Why were they thought up in the first place? Why are some made out of metal, or plastic, or wood, or fabric? Why aren’t they larger or smaller than this? Have you used some of these? Are there things you liked about them? Things that you did not like? Design and Engineering helped create the many things we use every day. RESOURCE FOR: Engineering and the Design Process
Transcript
Why Did They Make It That Way?Name:__________________________________________ Class period: _________
Look at this photograph of some common items. There is a legend below the photograph to help identify them:
Why do you think these items were made the way they were? Why were they thought up in the first place? Why are some made out of metal, or plastic, or wood, or fabric? Why aren’t they larger or smaller than this? Have you used some of these? Are there things you liked about them? Things that you did not like? Design and Engineering helped create the many things we use every day.
Design: The process of identifying a want or need and finding a way to satisfy it. Engineering: The business of studying everything around us so we can create designs to make our world better.
Sometimes things that are designed and engineered create problems such as pollution and waste. However, most designed and engineered products have helped people live better, healthier, happier lives. Also, design and engineering take a lot of time and effort. For example, how many steps do you think it would take to create a vitamin pill? Would you believe over fifty?! Here are some actual names of steps used in making coated vitamin pills: material extraction; pulverization; powder dispensing; binding; granulation; screening; lubrication; dry milling; mixing; compression; liquefaction, etc.
RESOURCE FOR: Engineering and the Design Process
The Design Process
Because the design and engineering processes can be very complicated, engineers follow rules to make sure they don’t waste time or money. Even worse, some failed designs could be dangerous to people. The rules that help engineers turn designs into usable products are called the Design Process. Here is an example of a Design Process used by engineers around the world:
1-Identify a problem2-Ask why the problem exists3-Come up with a solution to the problem4-Try out the solution to make sure it works5-If it did not work, go back to finding another answer6-If it did work, share it with others who need that problem solved, too
You are going to use the Design Process to see if you can make one of the 15 items in the photograph even better! You can start the design process by saying, “It is not good when…….” The answer to that question will be Step 1- Identify a problem. Here are some examples: “It’s not good when a toothpick breaks too easily”“It’s not good when gloves get holes in them while I am using them”“It’s not good when breath mints don’t keep my breath fresh for very long”
Directions: Follow the Design Process steps in the table below to see if you can create a better design for any of the 15 items in the photograph. Identify a problem in Step 1 and continue to write your solution ideas in the remaining steps. Your instructor may have you repeat the Design Process for more than one item.
The Design ProcessSteps Write your answer to each step in the Design Process 1-Identify a Problem (It’s not good when….)
2-Ask why the problem exists.
3-Come up with a solution to the problem.
4-What would you do to try out the solution to make sure it works?
5-Would your idea really work? If it would, write ‘Yes’ and go to Step 6. If it would not, go back to Step 2 and continue again.6-If it would work, how would you share it with others who need that problem solved, too?
RESOURCE FOR: Engineering and the Design Process
Sketching
An Engineer Notebook is simply a notebook or journal of notes, sketches, ideas, and thoughts an engineer has while he or she is in the process of designing. If you were to make a sketch (simple drawing) of an improved version of the item you chose in the Design Process chart, what would it look like? Here is a sketch of a triple-thick breath mint to make it last longer:
Sketch your idea in the graph below as if it were a page in your own engineer notebook. You can use a pencil or a pen. Don’t worry too much about a perfect drawing. Sketches are just to get the ideas on paper to begin with. Your instructor may have you sketch more than one item or idea.
Reverse Engineering
Reverse Engineering is when designers and engineers look at all the different parts of something one at a time to see how it was made. That way it can be studied in detail to see if there is a way to make it even better through the Design Process. Here is an example of a reverse engineered wooden clothespin:
RESOURCE FOR: Engineering and the Design Process
If you were a designer, what would you do to make this better? Think of anything about its shape, color, size, weight, number of pieces, types of materials used (wood and metal), etc. Pick one of those attributes about the clothespin and write in your engineer notebook below how you would make it better:
You are finished! Please turn this assignment in to your instructor.
Teacher PreparationItems to be purchased/made:
RESOURCE FOR: Engineering and the Design Process
Students will need computer access if this activity is to be done electronically, or pen or pencil if done in hardcopy. The pencil is preferred for sections which may involve erasing such as sketching.
Although the student guide includes all lesson material and worksheets combined, it may be of benefit to buy or make additional:
graph paper isometric paper (shown in the depiction of the sketched breath mint) actual engineer notebooks or composition journals
Doing so will allow teachers to expand on this lesson by having students use the Design Process, sketching, and reverse engineering multiple times in order for students to become better at understanding all the important aspects of design and engineering. Plus, such patterning could be used in conjunction with more or all of the activities/designs/projects a student will perform during the course of the time they spend in the Tech and Engineering / Skilled & Technical Sciences content areas.
Sketching in Depth - Perspective Drawing and Isometric Projection:
Another alternative for increased understanding of sketching and enhanced mathematics is to discuss the following in depth as a class and show some examples of perspective drawings and perspective drawings in an isometric projection. Perspective Drawing is depicting a 3-dimensional object on a 2D surface, like a piece of paper.Isometric Projection is a Perspective Drawing in which the 3 axes are 120 degrees apart and the bottom two edges of the drawing are at 30° angles from horizontal. Isometric projections are used quite often in engineering. The following two copyright-free examples in .JPEG format can be enlarged, printed, projected, etc. to use in showing students the similarities and differences between the two. Of course, instructors are encouraged to create additional examples as their needs dictate regarding discussing sketching in depth.
A Perspective Drawing of a 3D object An Isometric Projection of a 3D object could be shown as: must be shown with the 3 axes 120 degrees
apart and bottom angles at 30° from horizontal:
Time allocation:
The fact that there are 15 different objects to choose from and perform multiple tasks for (Design Process chart, sketching, reverse-engineering, career options search), there is no need to create additional applications. If a particular class is much longer than a targeted 45-minute class period, a teacher can simply have the student select another of the 15 items to perform these tasks on, doing so in like manner until time allocated matches time spent in the learning application.
RESOURCE FOR: Engineering and the Design Process
Grading Rubric:
It is at the teacher’s discrepancy the amount of points and which items to assess. Additional consideration must be given to scoring accuracy if multiple students work together. Typically, the following can apply:
The Design Process:
Substantial Sufficient Insufficient Not observedFollowed directionsCompleted assigned tasks by providing a written response to all 6 questionsShowed understanding of content by providing plausible answers to questions
Sketching:
SubstantialSufficientInsufficientNot observedFollowed directionsSketches were accurateSketches were completeSketches showed ingenuityand creativity
Reverse Engineering:
SubstantialSufficientInsufficientNot observedFollowed directionsWritten responses were accurate in regards to contentWritten responses were completeGrammar and structure were accurate
Career Options:
SubstantialSufficientInsufficientNot observedWritten descriptions were accurateWritten descriptions were complete
