Students learn about Computer-Aided Design software and how it is used by designers to save time and resources. Students work through an initial CAD tutorial using Tinkercad.
Students continue using Tinkercad to engage in a redesign of classroom furniture. They learn about the importance of 2D sketching and create their own sketches before working through the next Tinkercad tutorial.
Students are introduced to the concepts of dual or multi-function designs, then use Tinkercad to create an eco-friendly redesign of an object of their choosing.
Students learn how people have communicated without words, often using codes. Students create their own secret code and key, then test it out with a partner.
Students hunt for technologies in the classroom and take apart familiar technologies to understand the system and the components that make them work.
Students learn about blueprints and floor plans and the importance of thinking through and sketching a design before creating it.
Students are introduced to the concept of remote sensing and consider how the five senses humans have are the same or different from what sensors can do.
Students learn about how sensors are used in everyday life. Then, students create a hygrometer.
Building upon their understanding of sensors, students learn about LiDAR and engage in an activity that models how LiDAR works.
Students learn about smart objects and consider the functions that make an object “smart” (sensors!) before planning and creating a model of a smart object.
Students learn about models and how models are used in engineering. Then, students work with a partner to plan a model for an improved home system.
In this lesson, students learn about 2D and 3D drawings. Then, students use their plans from Lesson 3 to create a model of the improved home system.
Students investigate sound waves through a variety of hands-on activities and consider the conditions and physical properties that make sound possible.
Students are introduced to echolocation and sonar through a variety of videos and hands-on activities.
Students dig into how different animals use echolocation through research and a game.
Students learn that environmental psychologists investigate how people respond to the natural and designed world. Students engage in a series of games and activities to consider the purpose of form and function in design.
