Engineering Contests: Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, Creativity (in Constraints),
Construction
Warning! This section has almost nothing to do with Modern
Physics!
I use contests in a variety of ways in almost all of
my courses. It is a great way to motivate students. It provides opportunitites
for them to apply and construct content knowledge. They develop team work skills
and learn to problem solve and communicate more effectively. Students are introduced to the group learning environment on the first day using these slides for Engineering 11 and Engineering 12.
These are the contest units that form the core
of a Two-Year Engineering Design Course: The course can be provided as an interdisciplinary credit in Ontario (IDC
3O and/or IDC 4U) and only requires the principal's permission to run. The descriptions for Interdiscplinary Studies can be found
here.
The specific description of the two courses that I have been teaching are IDC
3O and IDC 4U.
Each contest takes around ten classes but can be trimmed to just a couple if used in another course.I would be very interested in helping any teacher who wants to introduce this course in their school. I would be especially interested to hear what you do diffeently.
- Hovercrafts
.....................Easy materials, easy construction.
..........Emphasizes experimentation.
- Barges
and Buoyancy .....Easy
materials, easy contruction . .. ........Emphasizes math.
- Spring
Surprise ................Easy
materials, easy construction,..........
Emphasizes math and physics.
- Balloons
and Buoyancy ...Easy
materials, medium construction. ........Emphsizes math and
construction.
- Gliders
.............................Medium materials, medium construction .......Emphasizes
experimentation
- Elastic
Powered Car: ......Medium matrials, medium construction.
........Emphasizes using physics.
- Speed
boat........................Medium
materials, medium construction. ......Emphasizes using physics.
- Roller
Coaster .................Medium
materials, hard construction. ........Emphasizes
physics and construction.
- Hydraulic Arm ..................Medium
materials, hard construction
.........Emphasizes design and construction
- Ping
Pong Projector .........Medium materials, hard
construction, .........Emphasizes design and construction.
- Rube Goldberg ................Medium
materials, hard construction,
.........Emphasizes design and construction.
- Animatronix
.....................Medium materials,
hard construction. .........Emphasizes
design
- Trebuchet
.........................Hard
materials, hard construction, ..........Empahsizes design
and callibration.
Engineering contests require that you form groups and evaluate group work.
It is a great opportunity to develop team work skills. You can find some ideas
about how to do this effectively and fairly on this page.
The following are contests that can form part of a standard
science lesson:
- Static
Electricity Race for grade 9 Science (Electricity),
grade 12 Physics (Fields)
- Static
Swing for grade 9 Science (Electricity),
grade 12 Physics (Fields)
- Mystery
Mass for grade 12 Physics (Fields)
- Optimum
Orbits for grade 9 Science (Astronomy), grade 12 Physics (Fields)
- Fruit Bats for grade 9 Science (Electricity), grade 12 Chemistry
(Electrochemistry)
- Cartesian
Diver for grade 9 Science (Chemistry), grade
11 Chemistry (Gases)
- Rutherford Target
Practice for grade 9 Science (Chemistry),
grade 12 Physics (Fields)
- Maximum
Magnet for grade 11 Physics (Electricity and Magnetism), grade 12 Physics
(Fields)
- Red Cabbage
Colour Challenge for grade 10 Science (Chemistry),
grade 11 Chemistry (Chemical Reactions)
- Elastic Powered
Car for grade 11 Physics (Energy and Society), grade 12 Physics (Energy
and Momentum)
- Rectangular
Barges for grade 9 Science (Chemistry), grade
9 Math (Volume and Surface Area), grade 12 Calculus (Max. Min Problems)
- Solar Heat for grade 10 Science (Light, Climate Change)