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Engineering Curriculum

Last modification February 18, 2009 12:17 PM by Byron Philhour

Department Mission

Our mission is to teach students the scientific method so they can understand modern scientific descriptions of the universe and come to objective conclusions about the natural world. Like all members of the SI community we aim to educate the whole person, emphasizing the academic, extracurricular, and spiritual development of our students.

We would like to see graduates of SI ...

To this end, we strongly advise students to take all three of our core classes (Biology, Chemistry, and Physics) as well as a 4th year elective course.

 

Important resources

 

Wiggins and McTighe describe four criteria which “serve as filters to select ideas to teach for understanding. The idea, topic, or process (1) represents a big idea with enduring value beyond the classroom, (2) resides at the heart of the discipline, the ’doing’ of the subject in context, (3) requires uncoverage, and (4) offers potential for engaging students.”

Coursewide topics for enduring understanding

  • in preparation

Wiggins and McTighe describe essential questions that “(1) have no one obvious right answer, (2) raise other important questions, often across subject-area boundaries, (3) address the philosophical or conceptual foundations of a discipline, (4) recur naturally, and (5) are framed to provoke and sustain student interest.”

Coursewide essential questions

  • What is the relationship between science and engineering? How is engineering not science?
  • How do various constraints impact design?
  • What moral, ethical and legal obligations do practicing engineers have to the public and to the environment?

We offer two independent semesters of the Engineering course. The two semesters are divided into the following units:

Semester I (Engineering A)

I.      Mechanical and Structural Engineering

II.    Automotive Engineering

III.    Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering

 

Semester II (Engineering B)

IV.     Electrical Engineering

V.     Robotics and Industrial Engineering

 

Methodology (all units)

 

Note: Topics in light grey font are optional -- these are taught at the discretion of the instructors of the course depending on time, resources, student interest, etc.

I.    Mechanical and Structural Engineering

Topics

  • We will study the design process, in particular how design is influenced by the laws of physics, various practical (including financial) constraints, and our necessarily limited technical knowledge and expertise. We’ll learn how to review and refine designs of mechanical structures before building test models. By testing our models under a variety of adverse conditions, we’ll learn how further revision can lead to an increasingly reliable and stable mechanical structure. Ultimately, we aim to view design as an iterative process.

Questions

  • What is the relationship between physics and engineering? How is engineering not physics?
  • How does a truss work? How can it support loads much greater than it own weight? Why is a truss more efficient that a simple beam?
  • Why do some structures collapse? Why do other structure survive extraordinary loads (overloading, accidents, earthquakes)
  • Why do I use a pry bar or wheelbarrow instead of merely lifting or carrying?
  • What advantages do we gain through the use of simple machines? How does the law of conservation of energy constrain what we can accomplish?
  • How do objects move (accelerate) when forces are applied?
  • How do object rotate when forces are applied? How does the distribution of mass change this?
  • How much energy is required to run an escalator or lift and elevator?
  • What is the relationship difference between energy and power?
  • How does mechanical power requirements compare to electrical power availability?   
  • How do various constraints impact design? What kinds of constraints do typical mechanical and structural engineering projects face?
  • What moral, ethical and legal obligations do practicing engineers have to the public and to the environment?

Knowledge and Skills

  • By the end of this unit, students will be able to
  • Apply fundamental concepts learned in their math and science courses to the solution of new problems in mechanical and structural engineering.
  • Effectively communicate design ideas to a variety of audiences.
  • Employ individual and team approaches while solving engineering problems.
  • Draw free body diagrams for objects in static equilibrium.
  • Identify contact forces and distinguish between contact, tension, and gravitational forces.
  • Evaluate torques (moments) for an extended object in static equilibrium.
  • Use the conditions of force and torque balance to solve problems in static equilibrium.
  • Distinguish between stable and unstable equilibrium by analyzing the potential energy of a system in various states.
  • Determine the center of gravity (center of mass) of simple geometric shapes.
  • Use the position of the center of gravity relative to an object’s base to determine if the object will topple under gravity.
  • Easily transform between metric (SI) and English units for force, distance, torque, and energy.
  • Qualitatively describe the interaction between stress and strain.
  • Qualitatively describe tension, compression, and shear forces and describe how some typical materials will react to each.
  • Define and identify a simple truss.
  • Qualitatively describe and make use of trusses in design.
  • Qualitatively describe the elastic limit and the process of deformation.
  • Describe the basic types of simple machines (listed below) and the purpose for each.
  • Calculate the mechanical advantage provided by simple machines such as the lever or multiple-pulley system by exploiting the relationship between work and potential energy.
  • Qualitatively describe linear, reciprocal, and rotational motion.
  • Use kinematical equations to determine the mathematical relationships between linear, reciprocal, and rotational motion.
  • Demonstrate the effective and appropriate use of simple machines in real situations.
  • Sketch and dimension (with tolerances) a part for fabrication.
  • Describe the fundamentals of drafting and computer-aided drafting.
  • Describe the mechanical properties of particular materials (metals, plastics, wood, concrete)
  • Describe how materials can be shaped through machining, welding, and other processes
  • Describe and comment on a variety of ethical, moral, and legal obligations faced by mechanical and structural engineers.
  • Describe what a career in mechanical engineering or structural engineering might look and feel like.
  • By the end of this unit, students will understand that

 

    • Smart design is not enough: ideas must be tested and refined to achieve success.
    • Complex, time-consuming projects require team effort, adherence to a preplanned schedule, and adequate time left for testing.
    • Analysis of structures involves applying static equilibrium conditions for force and torque (moment) balance.
    • When specifying dimensions, one must always include a tolerance for error in the finished product.

     

  • By the end of this unit, students will be familiar with the following vocabulary words in their engineering context

torque (moment), linear motion, reciprocal motion, rotational motion, stress, strain, elastic limit (yield point), deformation, truss, cantilever, the simple machines: lever, wheel, gear, pulley, block and tackle, cam, screw, and spring; machining, lathe, drill press, mill, forge/stamper, sheet metal, forming, bending, shearing, welding, adhesives, soldering, fasteners, dimensions and tolerances, CAD, yield, tensile strength, elastic and plastic deformation, bending moment

  • By the end of this unit, students will be familiar with the use of the following equations:

 

    • τ = r × F = r┴F = rF┴
    • Fg = mg
    • W = F • d = F║d
    • U = mgh
    • ω = 2π/T
    • v = rω
    • x_cg = Σmx /  Σm
    • σ = Eε   (Hooke’s Law)

Wiggins and McTighe describe performance tasks as involving “complex challenges that mirror the issues and problems adults face. The challenges are authentic … they differ from academic prompts in that they (1) use real or simulated settings with the kinds of constraints, background noise, incentives, and opportunities an adult would find in a similar situation; (2) require students to address an identified audience; (3) are based on a specific purpose that relates to the audience; (4) allow students greater opportunity to personalize the task; and (5) are not secure; the task, criteria, and standards are known in advance and guide student work.”

Performance Tasks

  • Students will use computer simulations to solve constrained mechanical engineering problems. For instance, students may use the Bridge Construction Set by Chronic Logic (see bibliography – we have a site license) or an equivalent program. BCS involves building increasingly more demanding bridges with constraints on cost and material strength. The physics engine for this program is sound. Benchmarks will be set to determine proficiency, and the highest grades will be open to competition among individuals. The final bridge design results will be shared among classmates.
  • Students will design, build, test, and refine a sturdy wood bridge with a high strength to weight ratio. Benchmarks will be set to determine proficiency, and the highest grades will be open to competition among groups. The competition will be public.
  • Students will design and build a sturdy, low-cost wood dollhouse. This dollhouse will play an integral role in the electrical engineering unit to follow. Dollhouses will go on display at the end of the semester to advertise the course to future students. Students will sketch and dimension the general assembly and individual parts using CAD software (see resources below). Finished products will be graded for aesthetic as well as practical value.
  • Students will use Knex materials to study the properties of simple machines and basic architectural structures
  • Students will carbonate water and use it (with Mentos) to create a Geyser
  • Students will build and demonstrate a Trebuchet

Resources

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf04316/

  • Engineering Syllabus [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Course Advertisement [.ppt format]
  • Course Introductory Presentation [.ppt format]
  • Introductory Presentation [.ppt format]
  • Mechanical Engineering Equation Sheet [.doc]
  • Units Worksheet [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Torque Worksheet [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Simple Machines Worksheet [.doc, .pdf, key.doc and key.pdf]
  • Block and Tackle Image [.jpg]
  • Mechanical Engineering Quiz [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Mechanical Engineering Exam [.doc]
  • Rube Goldberg Competition [.doc, .pdf formats]

II.   Automotive Engineering

Topics

  • Part of being a competent engineer entails understanding complex technical systems in depth. The automobile is a complicated and intertwined combination of various subsystems: mechanical, thermodynamic, electrical, etc. By studying the automobile we move beyond the idealizations of typical physics and chemistry classes and get into the nitty-gritty of a real working machine. We begin the unit by aiming to understand the automobile, as presently constituted, through and through. Then we turn our sights to the future:  the automobile presently dominates our society and drives our foreign policy. We look at alternatives to the petroleum-based internal combustion engine and consider the directions automotive engineering will take given the financial, environmental, and political constraints the field faces.

Questions

  • How does an automobile turn gasoline and air into motion?
  • How do the various subsystems in an automobile achieve the efficiency and reliability required to keep it moving over hundreds of thousands of miles?
  • What is the future of the automobile? How will our society change when and if we reach ‘peak oil’? How will we make cars more efficient?
  • What financial, environmental, and political constraints do the various alternatives to petroleum-based internal combustion engines face?

Knowledge and Skills

  • By the end of this unit, students will be able to
    • Describe and understand the purpose of the fundamental subsystems of the automobile, including but not limited to:
      • engine
      • lubrication
      • transmission
      • steering
      • braking
      • fuel system
      • cooling system
      • electrical system
      • emissions
  • Identify automobile components on sight or from sketches and photographs.
  • Describe the role of various automobile components.
  • Describe the two-stroke and four-stroke engine cycles.
  • Jump-start a dead battery.
  • Change the oil and oil filter on their personal car.
  • Calculate the fuel efficiency of a car (in mpg) and estimate the cost savings for different fuel efficiencies over the lifetime of a car.
  • Calculate the linear speed of a car based on engine RPMs, gearing ratios, and wheel size.
  • Convert between horsepower and Watts; evaluate engine power performance through estimates of torque and cylinder volume
  • Evaluate the differences between different grades of oil and different octane ratings for gasoline.
  • Diagnose car troubles based on common symptoms (screeching, black exhaust smoke, white exhaust smoke, knocking, etc.)
  • Describe the environmental and economic challenges facing the automobile as presently constituted.
  • Make informed speculations about the future of the automotive industry, particularly the pros and cons of electric, natural gas, hydrogen, hybrid, and other alternatives to petroleum-based internal combustion.
  • Describe and comment on a variety of ethical, moral, and legal obligations faced by automotive engineers.
  • Describe what a career in automotive engineering might look and feel like.
  • By the end of this unit, students will understand that

 

    • Understanding a complex system like the automobile requires breaking the system into more easily digestible subsystems.
    • Once a particular complex technical system has been studied and understood in full, it is easier to study and understand new systems through analogy and comparison.
    • The future of automotive transport is an open engineering question to be solved by a combination of individual and team insight, government investment, and market forces.

     

  • By the end of this unit, students will be familiar with the following vocabulary words

engine, intake and exhaust manifold, cylinders, pistons, cams, valves, lubrication, oil filter, oil pump, transmission, flywheel, clutch, gears, differential, automatic transmissions, steering, rack and pinion, power steering, front and rear wheel drive, suspension, braking, hydraulics, antilock mechanisms, drums, disks, rotors, fuel system, fuel pump, fuel injector, carburetor, choke, coolant, radiator, water pump, fan, electrical system, starter engine, solenoid, alternator, distributor, fuses, emissions, catalytic converter, muffler, electric vehicle, natural gas, hydrogen economy, hybrid fuel/electric vehicle

  • By the end of this unit, students will be familiar with the use of the following equations:
    • 1 hp = 746 W

Performance Tasks

  • Students will perform (and video tape for presentation to the class) a supervised oil change on their own car.
  • Students will build and race in competition a small, battery-powered car. The competition will be witnessed by non-engineering students as an advertisement for the course.
  • Students will choose and research an alternative to the oil-based economy and make a multimedia presentation to the class.

Resources

 

 

III.   Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering

Topics

  • Human flight is perhaps the most inspirational feat of engineering yet accomplished. In a hundred years we evolved from short, dangerous hops to trips aboard private spacecraft. We will explore in detail the four forces acting on an airplane when in level flight: lift, thrust, gravity, and drag. In order to understand these new forces in detail we must learn some basic principles of fluid dynamics. We’ll learn to take off, fly, and land a simulated airplane in order to apply our understanding to a realistic situation. Finally, we’ll explore orbital dynamics and the challenges associated with reaching distant worlds.

Questions

  •   How is flight possible?
  •   How is powered flight similar to and different from the flight of birds and insects?
  •   What costs and constraints do we face when contemplating interplanetary travel?

Knowledge and Skills

  • By the end of this unit, students will be able to

    • Describe the four forces acting on a plane in flight: lift, thrust, gravity, and drag.
    • Identify the basic subsystems and parts of an airplane.
    • Describe the pitch, roll, and yaw angles that identify the orientation of an airplane.
    • Make calculations of lift and drag forces based on wing geometry, speed, and coefficients of lift and drag.
    • Describe how changes to the position of various lift surfaces will change the pitch, roll, and yaw angles of an airplane.
    • Identify and describe a variety of airplane types, wing configurations, tail configurations, landing gear types, etc.
    • Make calculations of thrust forces based on the principles of fluid dynamics.
    • Consider a variety of thrust mechanisms (propellers, turbojets, ramjets, and rockets) describe and how the equations of fluid dynamics apply to each.
    • Apply the continuity equation to a variety of fluid dynamics problems.
    • Use the conservation of energy and momentum to motivate the fluid dynamics-based conservation and force laws that describe different thrust mechanisms.
    • Construct unpowered gliders and analyze and describe their flight paths.
    • Take off, fly, and land a computer-simulated airplane. Comment on the flight characteristics of different airplane designs.
    • Calculate the thrust and fuel necessary to achieve orbital speeds.
    • Calculate the basic orbital parameters (period, radius) for circular orbits.
    • Describe (with reference to force diagrams and orbital shapes) how transfer orbits are accomplished.
    • Comment on the costs and constraints we face when considering a manned trip to Mars.
    • Describe and comment on a variety of ethical, moral, and legal obligations faced by aeronautical and aerospace engineers.
    • Describe what a career in aeronautical or aerospace engineering might look and feel like.

  • By the end of this unit, students will understand that

    • There are two separate and equivalent ways to think about the lift force: one involves fluid dynamics, the continuity equation, and the conservation of energy to equate an increase in dynamic pressure with a decrease in standard pressure; the second involves Newton’s Third Law and the force generated through a momentum transfer when air particles strike an airplane wing.
    • The conservation laws studied in a standard physics class can be extended to fluid dynamics by considering kinetic energy density, potential energy density, and pressure as it relates to energy density.
    • Simulated flight practice leads to a deeper understanding of the underlying physics and engineering challenges intrinsic to aircraft design.

  • By the end of this unit, students will be familiar with the following vocabulary words

fuselage, aileron, flap, rudder, horizontal stabilizer, vertical stabilizer, elevator, takeoff speed,  wingspan, propeller, turbojet, ramjet, rocket, inlet, exhaust, lift, thrust, drag, coefficient of lift, coefficient of drag, barrel roll, angle of attack, dihedral angle, air foil, slats, pitch, roll, yaw, aspect ratio, stall, level flight, climb

  • By the end of this unit, students will be familiar with the use of the following equations

    • Flift = CL ∙½ρv^2 ∙ Awing-surface
    • Fdrag = CD ∙½ρv^2∙ Awing-edge
    • ρ(z) = ρ_sea level × e^(−z/h)
    • propeller: Fthrust = ½ρ(ve^2 – vi^2 )∙A
    • turbojet: Fthrust = ve(Δme/Δt) – vi(Δmi/Δt)
    • ramjet: Fthrust = (Pe – Pi)∙A + ve(Δme/Δt) – vi(Δmi/Δt)
    • rocket: Fthrust = (Pe – P0)∙A + ve(Δme/Δt)
    • Fc = mv^2/r
    • FG = Gm1m2/r^2

Performance Tasks

  • Students will take off, fly, and land a simulated Cessna aircraft using the Microsoft Flight Simulator under the tutelage of the simulated instructor. Students will perform basic flight maneuvers and some stunts to work out the principles of stall, turning, rolling, yawing, etc.
  • Students will build balsawood and paper-airplane gliders and predict the flight of the gliders based on modifications made to the principal flight surfaces. Students will use these gliders to instruct non-engineering students in physics courses on the basic principles of flight.

Resources

  • The New Way Things Work by David Macauley – in particular, “Flying” in Part 3
  • Microsoft Flight Simulator: Century of Flight (site license)

http://www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimulator/

  • Class will make a field trip to San Francisco International Airport to witness and describe takeoffs and landings near the end of the unit.
  • Class will visit a performance day for hobbyists using remote-controlled model aircraft.
  • Introductory Presentation [.ppt format]
  • Vocabulary List [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Wing Design [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Lift and Drag Forces Worksheet [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Propulsion Worksheet [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Midterm Review Sheet [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Plane Anatomy Quiz [.doc]
  • Aeronautical Engineering Exam [.doc]
 

IV.   Electrical Engineering

Topics

  • We aim to more deeply understand the basic functions and parameters of simple electric circuits before moving on to introductory material on nonlinear and active circuit elements. Students will have the opportunity to learn not just how electric circuits are analyzed, but why one would build a circuit of a certain type. We will struggle with the idea that varying electric potential (analog or digital) can carry information. We will look into ways in which electrical interactions with the physical world can be converted into information, and vice-versa: that is, how an electric circuit makes itself useful. 

Questions

  • How is electric power generated, and what are some of the moral, ethical, and legal considerations one must consider when designing systems that rely on such power?
  • How do various constraints impact design of electric circuits? What kinds of constraints do typical electrical engineering projects face?
  • How can information about the physical world be converted into information carried by voltage signals? How, in turn, can information carried by voltage signals impact the physical world?
  • What advantages and disadvantages do continuous (analog) signals have when compared to discrete (digital) signals?
  • How and why do electric circuits perform mathematical calculations?
  • What kinds of electric circuits are we surrounded by in our every day life? What improvements can be made to these in the coming decades?

Knowledge and Skills

  • By the end of this unit, students will be able to

 

    • Analyze basic electric circuits studied in the prerequisite physics course. In particular, students will be able to describe and calculate the function of circuits involving conductors, resistors, batteries & other power supplies by using the laws of Ohms and Kirchhoff.
    • Analyze and design electronic schematics.
    • Effectively communicate design ideas to a variety of audiences.
    • Employ individual and team approaches while solving engineering problems.
    • Describe magnetic induction and how it is used to generate AC power.
    • Describe and analyze household circuits and components, including circuit breakers, fuses, wall outlets, and 220/240 VAC appliances.
    • Describe and perform calculations on circuits that include capacitors. Calculate the RC time constant of a circuit and describe physically the motion of charge carriers in such circuits.
    • Qualitatively describe the function of high and low pass filters.
    • Qualitatively describe the job of an inductor in a circuit.
    • Integrate linear actuators into real circuits to convert voltage signals into physical work.
    • Qualitatively and quantitatively analyze the roles of signal diodes and light-emitting diodes in circuits.
    • Qualitatively describe the role of transistor switches in circuits.
    • Build simple digital circuits involving transistor switches and light-emitting diodes.
    • Convert between base-10, base-16, and base-2 number systems.
    • Analyze equations involving Boolean logic; use Boolean logic to analyze digital circuits.
    • Create and read truth tables for logic circuits.
    • Qualitatively describe the function of an op-amp in a circuit.
    • Read and extract information from spec sheets for simple digital circuit elements.
    • Build and analyze simple digital circuits involving logic gates and ‘flip-flops’
    • Describe analog to digital processing (and its inverse) and the Nyquist sampling theorem.
    • Describe and comment on a variety of ethical, moral, and legal obligations faced by electrical engineers.
    • Describe what a career in electrical engineering might look and feel like.

     

  • By the end of this unit, students will understand that
  • Electrical circuits are a collection of components used to:
    • Generate Electrical Power
    • Transform Electrical Energy to another form
    • Convey or process information.
  • Electrical power can be generated in a number of ways. The method of electrical power generation and distribution has economic, environmental and political consequences.
  • Electrical circuits contain components. These components are used to change electrical energy into other forms of energy: light, mechanical, heat, magnetic, etc. and the arrangement of these electrical elements determines the function of the electrical circuit. These electrical currents can be either Direct or Alternating.
  • Semiconductor material has a non-Ohmic current response to applied voltage. Semiconductor material becomes the basis of diodes and transistors.
  • Information can be contained in a time varying signal. The properties (impedance) of some electrical components changes with the rate of signal variation. This properties can be used to create resonate structures or filters. When the output is similar to the output of a signal, it is known as an analog circuit.
  • Time varying signals and be a series of ons and offs. These ons and offs can be expressed with 1 or 0. Boolean logic operations can be performed on these binary (digital) with specially designed circuits (logic gates). This becomes the basis for computer processing of data (digital circuits).
  • Schematics are used to depict functional relationships between components in an electrical circuit or system
  • Electronic schematics can be analyzed by breaking into smaller, digestible parts
  • Circuits must be tested extensively – logic circuits can be analyzed using a truth table.
  • Circuit elements have power dissipation, voltage, and current ratings that impact how and when they can be used.
  • All logic elements can ultimately be constructed with NAND gates
  • By the end of this unit, students will be familiar with the following vocabulary words

Conductor, resistor, voltage supply, electric potential, AC & DC power, capacitor, high pass filter, low pass filter, band pass filter,  inductor, actuator, diode, LED, AND gate, OR gate, NOT gate, NAND gate, op-amp, spec sheet, logic, Boolean numbers, Boolean logic, ADC/DAC converters, sampling, electronic schematic

  • By the end of this unit, students will be familiar with the use of the following equations:

 

    • I = ΔV / R
    • P = I ΔV
    • τ = RC
    • 0 AND 1 = 0; 0 OR 1 = 1; etc.

Performance Tasks

  • Students will solve a “ticking bomb” puzzle: instructor will build a complex circuit that includes a countdown timer. Three wires (red, blue, yellow) are accessible for cutting with wire clippers. If the student analyzes the circuit correctly (and in time), he or she may cut the appropriate colored wire. If time expires, or the wrong wire is cut, the “bomb” goes off.
  • Students will provide miniature household circuitry for the dollhouse they fabricated in the first term. Elements may include lighting, switches, door buzzers, garage door openers, security systems, or other creative elements. Finished products will be graded for aesthetic as well as practical value.
  • Students will build a digital circuit capable of adding two binary numbers.

Resources

  • The New Way Things Work by David Macauley – in particular, Part 4: Electricity & Automation and Part 5: The Digital Domain
  • Practical Digital Electronics by Nigel P. Cook
  • We have a copy of Horowitz and Hill in the office – this is an outstanding reference book
  • Introductory Presentation [.ppt format]
  • Electrical Engineering Cheat Sheet & Symbols [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Boolean Logic Handout [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Digital Circuits Worksheet [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Binary Numbers Worksheet [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Oscilloscope Lab [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Electrical Engineering Quiz [.doc]
  • Practice Quiz (2006) [.doc, .pdf formats]
  • Electrical Engineering Exam [.doc]
  • Revised EE Practice Final Exam [.doc, .pdf formats]
 

V.   Robotics and Industrial Engineering

Topics

  • In the spring of 2006, during the first year engineering was offered at St. Ignatius College Prep, we instituted the St. Ignatius Robotics Laboratory (SIRL) and held a competition intended to mimic the look and feel of the DARPA Grand Challenges:

    http://www.siprep.org/faculty/bphilhour/SIPrep--Engineering--RoboticsCompetition2006.cfm

    Students were tasked with building an autonomous robot that could navigate a simple maze. In building robots, students combined their expertise from each of the previous units in the course while learning basic programming skills on the TI calculators that acted as the robot CPUs. Most student groups created robots that eventually qualified for the competition, and many completed the competition. In this unit we will explore artificial intelligence, mechanical design, electrical design, automotive design, robotics, computer programming, and particularly how these disparate approaches lead to a functioning robot.

Questions

  • What are the essential elements of a robot?
  • How does artificial intelligence differ from human intelligence?
  • What degree of autonomy is required of a robot to accomplish a specified task?
  • What does it take to win a competitive robotics competition? How should a team divide responsibility and labor, set up a working timeline, and test the finished product?

Knowledge and Skills

1.   By the end of this unit, students will be able to

  • Use their TI calculator and a Vernier Logger Pro robotics system to control simple introductory robots: motion alarm, automated greenhouse, traffic light, tea brewer.
  • Control a DC motor, a stepper motor, LEDs, and a range finder using their TI calculator and a Vernier Logger Pro robotics system.
  • Design, build, test, and refine an autonomous robot capable of competing in a race under a set of predetermined constraints.
  • Effectively communicate design ideas to a variety of audiences.
  • Employ individual and team approaches while solving engineering problems.

2.   By the end of this unit, students will understand that

  • Robots consist of “a mechanical device, such as a wheeled platform, arm, or other construction, capable of interacting with its environment; sensors on or around the device that are able to sense the environment and give useful feedback to the device; systems that process sensory input in the context of the device's current situation and instruct the device to perform actions in response to the situation”
  • Smart design is not enough: ideas must be tested and refined to achieve success.
  • Complex, time-consuming projects require team effort, adherence to a preplanned schedule, and adequate time left for testing.
  • Money has a time value.
  • Businesses will invest based on a Minimum Attractive Rate of Return.
  • Investment decisions are based on quantitative analysis.
  • Projects can be analyzed as a series of interrelated steps.
  • Some steps must be completed before others.
  • Some steps are independent and are not time sensitive.
  • Available resources may or may not benefit an overall schedule.

3.   By the end of this unit, students will be familiar with the following vocabulary words

robot, DC motor, AC motor, stepper motor, servo motor, proximity sensor, central processing unit (CPU), parallel and serial tasks, “Critical Paths,” inventory control, part ordering, lead time

4.   By the end of this unit, students will be familiar with the use of the following commands for their TI calculators

LBL, IF, THEN, ELSE, SEND, GET, DISP, PROMPT, PRGM, INPUT, CLRHOME, GETKEY, GOTO, OUTPUT, and all the commands associated with running the Vernier DCU

Performance Tasks

  • Prepare a Gantt chart of a familiar process.
  • Participate in a robot-building competition.

      Resources

 

Methodology

Instructional methodology

  • ...

Common methodologies between sections

  • ...

In their Understanding by Design Handbook, Wiggins and McTighe describe quizzes and tests as “simple, content-focused questions that assess for factual information, concepts, and discrete skills.” Academic prompts are “open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically, not just recall knowledge, and to prepare a response, product, or performance … under school exam conditions.”

Quizzes, Tests, and Prompts

  • ...

Bibliography

The Understanding by Design Handbook, by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (1999)

...



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