Script: Hello and welcome to the Ingenia Engineering Lab! At the engineering lab, we design things to solve problems. There are always problems to be solved, and we’re thrilled to have you all here as engineering apprentices to help us tackle some problems and improvements in our homes. Have you heard of engineering? What do you think engineers do? [wait for student response] On Earth, engineers have developed so many great solutions to everyday problems! We look forward to learning about your technology to apply it to Ingenia society.
Script: Technology is anything designed by a person to solve a problem or help to do something. What do you think of when you hear the word technology? {accept all responses]
Watch: 1:30 min What is Technology? (www.youtube.com/@tonymontez517)
Discuss: Lead a brief discussion using the question from the video:
Note: You will circle back to this question at the end of the lesson, but for teaching purposes it is important to know that yes! Both a table and a chair are technologies.
5 min Script: Now that you know what technology is, let’s go for a technology scavenger hunt. I will read a clue and you will walk around and find something in the classroom that my clue describes. Remember, there might be more than one right answer to each clue! When you think you have found an answer, stop and raise your hand. I will call on volunteers to share what they have found.
10 min Run the Scavenger Hunt
Are you ready to start? Let’s find a…
*Teaching Note: Teachers should modify the list of technologies based on what can be found in their own classroom. Teachers can create a list that leans into more digital technologies or more traditional classroom materials based on their own setting.
5 min Discuss: Select a technology that students identified and discuss how it relates to problem-solving. Ask:
Students will work with a group to explore everyday technologies to consider how they work, and how various parts of technologies work together in a system.
*This lesson was inspired and adapted from the Engineering is Elementary lesson here.
10 min Script: As we’ve learned, technology is all around us! In this activity, you’ll work with a small group to explore a mystery technology. As you observe this technology, you’ll talk about the following questions and 1 person will record your group responses on the Mystery Technology worksheet:
After exploring the technology, groups will trade mystery technologies and will pass along the Mystery Technology worksheet to the next group. That new group will use the responses you wrote on the worksheet to try and guess what technology is in the bag.
To keep everything a mystery, you might want to keep your original technology in the bag as you explore it. Try to make sure none of the other groups see what you have.
20 min Assign student groups. Dismiss students to explore their mystery technologies and complete the Mystery Technology worksheet.
5 min Have groups swap mystery technologies. Remind them to try and guess the technology using the responses on the Mystery Technology worksheet before opening the bag and revealing the technology.
10 min Lead a class discussion. Ask the following questions:
Display the chart paper. Introduce the concept of a system. Record the definition of a system and list various technologies that use systems. Ask:
Students will work with a group to use simple tools to take apart the technologies used in the previous activity. They will look for and identify any simple machines used in the system of a technology.
Building on the Mystery Technology activity, students focus in on the familiar techs using systems and discover some of the simple machines used within those systems:
5 min Watch: Encyclopedia Britannica: What is a Simple Machine? (www.britannica.com)
20 min Technology Take-Apart: Explain to students that they will now work together with their group to take apart one of the technologies we examined to search for simple machines within the systems. Everyone should wear the safety goggles and the groups working on the can opener and stapler will have a screwdriver. Distribute the bags of technologies and have groups begin to disassemble and search for simple machines. As they do, circulate to ask:
TIP: Establish some safety protocols for students to follow when using tools in the classroom.
5 min Discussion: Gather students together to discuss what simple machines they discovered within the technologies. Use the questions above to lead a group discussion.
5 min: Engineering is a very broad field with so many different problems to solve. Today, we’ll watch a video about Debbie Sterling, a mechanical and product engineer who designs toys to help get more girls interested in STEM and engineering. She is the founder of a company called GoldieBlox.
Watch: IF/THEN Collection: Debbie Sterling (https://www.ifthencollection.org/)
5 min Discuss:
Have students look for technologies and systems within their homes. Have students record 3-5 technologies/systems and describe the problems that those technologies solve. If appropriate, encourage students to work with an adult to safely disassemble a simple technology to look for simple machines.
