Engaging Children, Youth, and Families in Engineering through

1. Engaging Children, Youth, and Families in Engineering through Presenters: Keliann LaConte, Stephanie Shipp, and Andy Shaner Technical Support: Christopher Harrison and Ramiro Padilla

2. Engineers work to solve the basic challenges of life … includinghaving fun! • Credit: U.S. Navy / Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Gina Wollman

3. Engineers use technology to help us enjoy our world. They even use everyday materials— like PVC pipe, sand and gravel — to create solutions that save lives! • Credit: Engineers without Borders

4. Be Creative…Be an Engineer!

5. Activity 1:Design a Park

6. Plan the Park of Your Dreams! • THINK • Place different park features on the grid to create a map of your park! • Together, choose 10 or fewer park features to include on the map. Everything must fit on the grid! • Your park must include restrooms. • Use yarn to represent trails or bike paths. Give visitors a way to get to each of your park’s features. • Add yellow beads along the paths — these represent lights. Draw Explore Talk Write

7. Plan the Park of Your Dreams! • THINK • Place different park features on the grid to create a map of your park! • Keep track of the points on the park features cards — keep your total under 250 points! • Your park must include restrooms. • Cut the yarn and use the pieces to represent trails or bike paths. Give visitors a way to get to each of your park’s features. • Add yellow beads along the trails or paths — these represent lights. Draw Explore Talk Write Scale: the length of one (1-inch) square is equal to 30 feet (or about 9 meters).

8. Savings Costs

9. Activity 2:Team Machine

10. Establish a pattern • Form a circle. • Say your name. • Toss the beanbag to someone across from you (not next to you). Remember that person’s name. • Keep going until each person has caught the beanbag. • Keep the same order as you try to go even faster!

11. The faster, the better! • THINK • How can you decrease your time? Draw Explore Talk Write • Build, Test, andDo it again! • Pass the beanbag around the circle again — as quickly as possible! • Say the name of the person who will catch the beanbag each time you pass it. • Try to “beat” your shortest recorded time • Hints: • You may move around. You may stand or sit.

12. Activity 3:Water wedges

14. Which type of boat would you use in a race? • THINK andBuild • Pick the materials you think would be best for building each type of boat. • Together, plan how you will use the materials to build each boat. • Which type of boat would be best to build for a race? Why? • Follow your plan to create your model boat. Draw Explore Talk Write Do it again! Modify your two designs — but change only one thing at a time! • Test • Try pushing each type of boat in the water. • Which is easier to push? • Does the water “pile up,” or does it move easily to the sides of the boat? • Is one easier to push than the other?

15. Activity 4: Levers at Play

16. Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute

17. Your Seesaw Design • THINK andBuild • Pick the materials you think would be best for building a seesaw. • Together, plan how you will use the materials to build the seesaw. • Build andTest • Follow your plan to create your model seesaw. Draw Explore Talk Write Do it again! Modify your design — but change only one thing at a time!

18. Activity 5:low-Tech Water Filter for High-impact Clean

19. Some people in Bangladesh use cloth to clean their water… • Credit: National Science Foundation

20. …to take out small creatures in the water that help spread disease • Credit: National Science Foundation

21. Students help clean water in Nepal • Credit: Engineers without Borders

22. What works best for filtering water? • THINK • What would you like to test first? Draw Explore Talk Write • Build • Place a funnel on top of an empty container. • Add ONE TYPE of material that you would like to test to the funnel. • Balance the funnel on top of an empty container. • Test • Pour 1 teaspoon or less of “dirty water” into the filter. • Does the filtered water look different than the dirty water? • Is the water cleaner or not? • Do it again! • Can you make the water cleaner?

23. Activity 6:Wind Turbine Tech Challenge

24. There are two different types of wind turbines… Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Blades Tower Credit: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives, via Wikimedia Commons

25. Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Blades Tower Credit: Lynne Kirton [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

26. Build your own wind turbine! • Build and Test • Roll the putty adhesive into a ball and flatten it into a disk about 1-inch thick. • Push the four toothpicks into the putty so that they stand upright. Keep them close together. • Put a small scrap of paper at the bottom of the toothpicks. This will keep the straw from sticking! Stick the Post-it notes to one end of the straw. Make sure they don’t cover each other! Slide the straw over the toothpicks. Use a second straw to gently blow across the blades.

27. Make it even better! • THINK, Build, and Test • Which different material could you try using? • What else can you try changing? • The angle of the blades? • The size of the blades? • The shape of the blades? • Could the blades be more curved (cupped)? Less curved? Do it again! Modify your design — but change only one thing at a time! Draw Explore Talk Write