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SESSION 1
Before You Teach
DETERMINE THE USER
Refer to Teaching Suggestions for information about materials preparation.
EXTENSION 1.2
Create a career profile of one of the nearly 100 occupations that involve design work, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook. Focus on a specialty within a field, such as a civil or materials engineer, rather than an engineer.
EXTENSION 1.3
View the 2009 products or 2007 products developed for the BraunPrize competition, a design competition sponsored by Braun, a company well known for its trend-setting designs. Choose a design from the exhibit and write a paragraph describing the product’s intended user(s), its most desirable design features, and why these features might appeal (or fail to appeal) to the intended user(s).
SESSION 5
Before You Teach
WHAT IS THE TARGET?
Refer to Teaching Suggestions for information about materials preparation.
EXTENSION 2.2
Use a computer-aided design (CAD) program to draw the cup that your Reverse Engineering team designed. If you are using Pro/DESKTOP and are unfamiliar with CAD programs, get started by working through this tutorial: Pro/DESKTOP Cylinder and Tube tutorial.
SESSIONS 9–11, 13
Before You Teach
Refer to Teaching Suggestions for information about materials preparation.
SESSION 9
GADGETS AND GIZMOS
GADGETS AND GIZMOS
With your Gadgets team, use the links provided to begin researching one or more of the following manufacturing processes:
SESSION 12
- Forging (including drop forging, press forging, and rolling), in which metal is heated and beaten or hammered into the desired shape.
Forging Industry Association | Forging:efunda.com | Forging
- Metal casting (including sand casting, investment casting, and die casting)
Metalcasting | California Cast Metal Association Links | Metal Casting Resources on the Net
- Machining (including grinding, milling, and turning)
Machining Introduction | Machining Resources
- Plastic processing (including blow molding—which gives a material its shape by injecting air into it; casting; extrusion—commonly used to shape plastic by pushing it through a die [a shaping tool for long straight parts]; and injection molding, in which the material is melted using heat and then placed in a mold)
The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI)--About Plastics | Answers.com—Plastics Processing
- Press working (including bending, cutting, drawing, and stamping)
Savage Engineering Metal Working Processes | Metal Stamping Company
- Sintering (including coining)
Sintering | ASCOS Sintering Company | Coining 1 | Coining 2
General Links
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
Wikipedia
Manufacturing Technology College Program
For each manufacturing process that your Gadgets team researches, answer the questions on page 27.
Before You Teach
SEEING PROCESSES IN ACTION
- Arrange for the class to visit a local manufacturing plant.
- Prepare for the class worksite visit, using the guidelines in the BEAC toolkit.
EXTENSION 3.2
Some shapes and materials can be more easily formed by certain processes than others. Use a computer-aided design (CAD) program to draw various shapes for manufacture, and describe the challenges in actually making these shapes through the various processes you’ve learned about.
If you are unfamiliar with CAD programs and are using Pro/DESKTOP get started by working through this Pro/DESKTOP Cylinder and Tube tutorial.
If you are unfamiliar with CAD programs and are using Pro/DESKTOP get started by working through this Pro/DESKTOP Cylinder and Tube tutorial.
Sessions 14–19
Before You Teach
Refer to Teaching Suggestions for information about materials preparation.
EXTENSION 4.2
Using a CAD program, make an assembly drawing to go along with a product that a customer needs to assemble. Technical Illustrators.org provides resources, tutorials, and portfolios that you may find useful. If you are using pro/DESKTOP, download the following zip file which contains a flashlight assembly drawing.
SESSION 20
BREAKDOWN
BREAKDOWN
Have pairs of students use the resources below to explore examples of material failure. Remind students to record their notes and their answers to the questions posed on the Web site in their logbooks.
Now find out the story behind failed materials. Use the link provided to research failed components of products. Take notes in your logbook about the failures featured and the differences in the appearances of the failed materials, and write down your answers to the questions below related to the site.
Visit the Component Failure Museum. Take notes to do the following:
- Identify the points on a cycle frame most susceptible to failure. Explain why they are susceptible. Describe the conditions under which the frame failed.
- Describe the problem with the leaking car cooling water system.
- Describe the problem with the bicycle seat post and explain why it failed.
- Describe differences in appearance of failed metals, plastics, and other materials.
SESSIONS 21–23
Before You Teach
Refer to Teaching Suggestions for information about materials preparation.
DID YOU KNOW?
Engineering Ethics
Many of these issues are discussed in detail at the ethics homepage of the National Society of Professional Engineers. Find an example of an engineering Code of Ethics and additional information about engineering ethics.
Engineering Ethics
Texas Tech University: Murdough Center for Ethics in Engineering
National Society of Professional Engineers: Ethics
SESSION 25
MIXED-UP MATERIALS
MIXED-UP MATERIALS
Gadget King is interested in the possibility of using composite materials for some of its products. Research composite materials that have polymer, metal, ceramic, and carbon-carbon matrices using the links below. Answer the questions on page 59 about each composite.Composite Metals Web Resources
Industrial Metals Incorporated
Fuel Cell Materials (FCM)
HITCO Carbon Composites, Inc.
EXTENSION 5.1
Learn about the many innovative design features of cable suspension bridges and what can happen when failures occur in innovative designs. Write a synopsis of a design failure and/or create a model of it and discuss why you think the design may have failed.
Innovative design features of cable suspension bridges
Innovative design features of cable suspension bridges
Before You Teach
No preparation is necessary, except for gathering the materials in the Materials Needed List.
No student module resources for this activity.
Meeting for Success (Activities 2 and 3)
Minutes Sample (Activities 2 and 3)
9/25/2008
