How Can We Design a Structure for Extreme Environments?
This
unit asks high school science students to engage in a challenging design
and engineering problem: designing a portable research structure for
scientists that will be part of a research installation in an extreme
environment, including the Sahara Desert or frozen Antarctica. Using
primary source artifacts from the Henry Ford Museum, as well as a Virtual
Exploration of these resources, students learn challenging science content
while focusing on design and problem solving activities.
Curriculum Unit Synopsis
In this unit, students are asked to design and build a model of a portable structure that can support scientists when they are working in extreme conditions. Students are given a choice of environments that they must research and design their structure for, including the desert of the Sahara, and icy Antarctica. While engaged in this project, students learn about how engineers design, build and test ideas. Students also learn science topics related to environmental conditions, static and dynamic forces, and heat transfer, as well as mathematical data analysis and problem solving. Students also examine various artifacts from the Henry Ford Museum, including current and historical structures and buildings, to better understand the problem.
During this project, students address several different science questions, including:
- What are the weather conditions of different extreme environments?
- What are the effects of static and dynamic forces on a structure?
- How do the densities of different materials affect the construction of a structure?
- How can aerodynamics be used to reduce the affects of force due to wind on a structure?
- What are different structural engineering features of a building and what do they do?
- How can we use insulation to regulate the temperature of a structure?
The unit also addresses other content areas, including the following mathematics questions and topics:
- How do we create accurately measured scale drawings and models ?
- How do we use ratios to solve problems related to scale?
- How do we use linear relations to solve problems?
Finally, students learn about the design process:
- What is the design process?
- How do we do design research?
- How do we test our product and revise our product based on test results?
- What are the different ways that designers represent their ideas
- How do I work on a team?
This design cycle, a process used by scientists and engineers, is used while students identify the context of their design, research and learn new content (including data collection and individual investigations), develop personal ideas about the design, create two- and three-dimensional artifacts, including models of their structures, and then collect feedback through data analysis and peer critique.
During this process, students use a variety of technologies to assist with their design, including Artemis, an online research tool specifically for adolescents, and Microcomputer Based Labs, in which students use a number of different probes to engage in research on the effectiveness of their structures in resisting heat, cold, and other forces (wind and pressure) of these extreme environments.
Background
This curriculum unit was initially developed in 2001 as part of the Primary Souce Network project. These materials have been revised based on research on classroom practice and student achievement, as well as from feedback from teachers using the materials. This unit is currently used by ninth and tenth grade students in the Henry Ford Academy, as well as classrooms around southeast Michigan. Development of this unit was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. This unit was developed to address the curriculum standards of the Michigan Curriculum Framework, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Research Council.
Downloads, Workshop Information, and Resources
Download the Introduction (PDF - 496kb).
Download an information sheet, which includes the synopsis, lesson list, and standards (PDF - 500kb)