Picturestem: Designing Hamster Habitats

PictureSTEM: Designing Hamster Habitats

Lesson 7 STEM: Water Storage Designs Inspired by Nature

Lesson Summary:

After reading the story, A Cool Drink of Water, and talking about all of the different ways that people gather, use and conserve water; students will have a chance to design a technology that will help to gather, store or conserve water. In this lesson, students will apply the science and mathematics knowledge that they have learned in previous lesson to help them design, build and test a prototype that has been inspired by nature. After designing their prototype, they will have the opportunity to share their designs with the class and then have an opportunity for a redesign of their water technologies.

Lesson Objectives:

Define the word biomimicry
Identify the problem and describe how their design solves the problem
Describe the steps of the Engineering Design Process
Describe how their design was inspired by nature

Time Required:45- 60 minutes

Standards Addressed:

National / Minnesota

ITEEA Educational Standard(s):

Standard 8. Students will develop an understanding of the attributes of design.
3-5 C.The design process is a purposeful method of planning practical solutions to problems.
3-5 D.Requirements for a design include such factors as the desired elements and features of a product or system or the limits that are placed on the design.
Standard 9: Students will develop an understanding of engineering design.
3-5 C.The engineering design process involves defining a problem, generating ideas, selecting a solution, testing the solution(s), making the item, evaluating it, and presenting the results.
3-5 D.When designing an object, it is important to be creative and consider all ideas.
Common Core Mathematics: /

Mathematics Standards:

Vocabulary:

Word / Definition
Biomimcry / “bios” = life, “mimicry”=imitating. It is a way of thinking that encourages scientists, and engineers to study nature and use its solution to solve our problems
engineer / A person who designs product or processes to solve problems or meet a need
engineering design process / A series of steps used by engineers to help them solve a problem or meet a need.

Background:

Before the Activity

Print off copies of the Test and Evaluate worksheet
Create a large class chart of the following:
Test and Evaluate packet.
Testing sheets
Materials Cost Sheet
Organize the following materials for students to build their designs:
Masking Tape – 15 cm
Duct Tape – 15 cm
Plastic Wrap – 100 cm2
Aluminum Foil (reg)- 100 cm2
Aluminum Foil (heavy duty)- 100 cm2
Copy Paper- 100 cm2
Wax Paper - 100 cm2
Foam sheet - 100 cm2
Craft Stick (jumbo)
Craft Stick (regular)
Pipe cleaner (jumbo)
Pipe cleaner (regular)
Cotton Ball

Introduction:

Review literacy lesson. To help students review the previous STEM lesson and tie in the literacy activity, say: “We just finished reading, A Cool Drink of Water, as we learned about all of the different ways that people get, store and use water. Now let’s revisit the engineering design process and our design challenge. We said that the engineering design process is a set of a few different steps used by engineers to help them think about and solve a problem. Then we thought about our problem. Who can remember what problem we are trying to solve?” (Use our knowledge of plant adaptations to design a technology that will help to provide water to two schools in Western Africa).

Review Design Challenge. “OK, I want you to listen as I read the design challenge again and think about the planning and brainstorming that you did in the previous lesson and think about if your design is meeting this design challenge.”

Design Challenge: Engineers without Borders is an organization that has approximately 350 projects in over 45 countries around the world and they help to provide practical engineering solutions to help people have access to important needs, like water, food and energy.
A member of the RPI chapter has been working on a project to help to provide clean, reliable water all year to the people who live on Popa Island in Panama. During the rainy seasons water is abundant, but in dry seasons, they have very little water and it comes from contaminated wells and they have to walk long distances to collect water.
Since they are currently in the design phase, they are working on brainstorming new ideas and possible designs for the top and bottom design.

Ok, so think in your head, does your design help to solve that challenge? If yes, then today we are going to be building a prototype of our technology. What is a prototype? (It is an early model of our design). If your design doesn’t help to solve the challenge, then you will want to talk to your group and you might want to decide on a different design.

One more thing before we start building our prototypes. How will we know if they are successful? Think back to the Engineering Design Process – after creating our designs what do we need to do? (We need to test our designs).

Review Tests. Yes, so we are trying to create a technology that is inspired by nature and will help to provide the people of Popa Island with clean and reliable water. So, let’s review the tests that we will use to test our designs. (Refer to the Test & Evaluateworksheet).

/ Comments:
Activity:

Have students get out their Planning packets from the previous STEM lesson and move to sit with their group members.

Students should have decided on a group plan and each member should have that design on their paper, along with the necessary materials. If groups do not have their group plan and materials, then you will want to provide additional time for groups to finish.

Once groups have finished with their plan and materials, they should get their plan checked by the teacher to ensure that it has been completed and is ready for getting materials and building their prototype.

Students go to the materials “store” to gather the necessary materials and then start building their prototype with their group.

When groups have finished creating their prototype then have them place their prototype in the correct area for testing based on the type of water supply problem they were trying to solve (gathering, storing or transporting).

Before testing, have one group member quickly (30 seconds max) share their design plan and how it was inspired by nature.

After all groups have shared and tested their design, then have students return to their own seats and fill out the Improve section of their Design, Test and Improve worksheet.

/ Comments:
Closure:

Closure: When groups have finished filling in the Improve section of their sheet, then have each group meet and talk about some of the changes that they might make for their design before completing the final client report to send to the local chapter of Engineers without Borders.

/ Comments:

Assessment:

Pre-Activity Assessment

During the Introduction, the teacher will lead a class discussion, where students are asked to recall the steps of the engineering design process and the problem that they are trying to solve.

“Now let’s revisit the engineering design process and our design challenge. We said that the engineering design process is a set of a few different steps used by engineers to help them think about and solve a problem. Then we thought about our problem. Who can remember what problem we are trying to solve? (Use our knowledge of desert animals to design a technology that will help to provide water to two schools in Western Africa).”

Activity Embedded Assessment

Throughout the lesson, students will be completing the Design, Test, & Improve worksheet, which can be used to assess how they are progressing in terms of completing and understanding the steps and concepts in their engineering design challenge. Students will also be creating a prototype in small groups, which they will be testing and revising and this could be used as a performance assessment to see if students are making the connections between plant and animal adaptations and the constraints/improvements for their designs

Post-Activity Assessment

The final assessment for this unit, is the client report, which students will complete in groups to send to their local Engineers without Borders chapter. This letter should include their final design and why they think that their design would be helpful in thinking about how to get or store water to the two schools.

PictureSTEM: Designing Hamster Habitats

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