Engineering - Math & Science in Society Class Summary 4/28/14

with Ed Insel

Intro to Rocketry

Our next team brought us the current events for the week. We talked about the many engineering fields involved in the South Korean capsized ferry tragedy and got into a good conversation about space exploration. There is a lot of interesting material on our space discoveries they have not seen, so I will make time at the next class to show them some of the amazing work that has been done in astrophysics.

This lead us to the start of our model rocket project. We talked about the phases of flight, from launch to recovery, and the importance of aerodynamics. Then the students practiced smoothing and shaping some actual rocket fins.

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Homework for Next Session

For next week, the next pair should choose a current event and be prepared to explain 1) the event they chose and 2) the role that science plays in it.

Try to decide on the Engineering Project they want to do. I put a duplicate set of ideas at the end of this post.

When we next meet, we’ll begin assembling our rockets. Please read the introductory 12-step rocket assembly guide at http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-Model-Rocket-Introduction/ - those that do will be much better prepared to do a good job on their rockets. The first page emphasizes the dangers and precautions, but they don’t need to panic – the only real safety issue will be handling the modeling knives properly. The engines and igniters will be safely kept by me until the day we launch! I will provide each student with a rocket and the tools and materials they will need. Students that want to paint or decorate their rockets will need to provide their own primer and paint(s).

More on the rocket project in my next update.

Reminder!

Each student will do an individual project and show their work during the last class of the semester. Their Engineering Journal will show the work they’ve done on the topics we’ve covered. The project must be related to engineering, and some ideas are:

• Research a specific topic, formulate a hypothesis, and test it (or explain how you would).
  
• Find a problem, propose ways to fix it, choose the solution you feel to be best, and explain why you chose that solution over the other alternatives.
  
• Analyze an existing product and propose ways that it could be improved.
• Build a working machine – explain what it does and how it works.
• Find a complex shape and make a detailed mechanical drawing of it.

• Identify a large project and develop a schedule for it using PERT charts, incl. timelines.
  
• Show several ways in which a set of experimental data can be analyzed and shown.
  
• Design a building or other structure and build a scale model of it.
  
• Lay out the things a person must do to become an engineer.
  
• Other ideas? Discuss them with me!

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