Austin Jewish Academy
2015-2015 PLTW Gateway Course Description & Syllabus
Middle school is the perfect time for students to explore and learn that there is more than one way to reach a solution.PLTW Gatewayprovides engineering and biomedical science curriculum for middle school students that challenges, inspires, and offers schools variety and flexibility. Students get rigorous and relevant experiences through activity-, project-, and problem-based learning. They use industry-leading technology to solve problems while gaining skills in communication, collaboration, critical-thinking, and creativity.
For more information, click on the link below
https://www.pltw.org/our-programs/gateway
What Is Energy and the Environment? - About the Unit
Energy and the Environmentis a semester long STEM unit of study. The focus of this unit is the growing global demand for energy, available energy sources and the impact of energy consumption on the environment. Students will investigate energy consumption and the impact of that consumption from a personal, national and global perspective. They will explore sustainable energy sources and identify ways to reduce human impact on society and the environment through renewable energy solutions and energy conservation.
Lesson 1.1 What is Engineering? (5 days)
In this lesson students investigate the meaning of the word "technology". They are introduced to the broad field of engineering and many of the sub-disciplines of engineering, the interdisciplinary (STEM) nature of engineering, and the impacts of technological advancements that are developed through engineering. In addition, students learn how to organize an engineering notebook and accurately document their classwork. Students are also guided in practicing effective teamwork skills.
This lesson includes multiple activities that involve career exploration and research.
Lesson 1.2 Design Process (5 days)
This lesson focuses on an important problem solving tool, the engineering design process. The engineering design process is a systematic approach to problem solving that is purposeful and iterative. The use of the engineering design process can encourage the consideration of multiple solutions and help students choose the best solution available based on the solution criteria and constraints. To provide a consistent vocabulary and encourage students to consider alternate aesthetic features related to their designs, the elements of design are presented. Finally, students apply the design process to solve a design problem in pairs.
Energy and the Environment
Lesson 1 Investigating Energy(14 days)
In Lesson 1 students will investigate the various forms of energy and examples of each form within their own environment. Energy sources, demand for energy and the impact of energy consumption on the environment is presented. Exhaustible and renewable energy sources will be differentiated. Various technologies that have the potential to reduce energy consumption are presented. Students are asked to consider and financial cost of energy and to research information on energy and represent energy data using graphs and charts. From a personal perspective, students will identify ways in which energy can be conserved.
Wind is further investigated as a potential source of energy. Students learn about wind turbines, and develop a design for a wind turbine blade for a fictions city that wishes to reduce its environmental impact and replace coal as it's energy source. As part of this project, students will test the power output of a wind turbine using their blade design. This will require students to measure the mass of a weight and the distance and time of travel as the weight is lifted by the turbine. Then through simple calculations, students will calculate the velocity of the weight, the work done and the power output of the wind turbine.
Lesson 2 Sustainable Energy(15 days)
In Lesson 2 students will research and discuss the historical uses of energy and how energy is used today. Based on research, students will create graphs and charts to represent information related to energy uses, energy sources, and energy consumption and consider the environmental implications of increasing energy demand. Two team projects are included in this lesson. First, in teams, students will investigate a renewable energy source and then design, build, and test a model of a device that uses the renewable energy source. A student presentation of the device is also required. Student teams will also investigate global dependency on a fossil fuel to supply energy for a specific purpose and investigate alternative energy sources that could be used to replace or reduce the need for fossil fuel. They will then make a sales pitch or commercial that proposes a new solution to providing energy for the identified use.
Lesson 3 Making an Impact(16 days)
Lesson 3 focuses on reducing the impact of energy consumption on the environment through energy efficiency and conservation. Students are introduced to the product life cycle and asked to identify and describe the raw materials, processing, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, use and disposal of a product as well as recommend changes to the product life cycle that could make the product more environmentally friendly. Students are also made aware of the tremendous impact that individuals can make related to waste reduction and energy conservation and asked to identify ways in which they can conserve energy and reduce waste. Students will also learn about heat transfer and use the knowledge they gain to design a product that will minimize heat transfer within a given budget.
Flight and Space - About the Unit
Flight and Spaceis a semester long unit of study. The focus of this unit is flight technologies and their applications. Students will investigate several different types of aircraft, learn the physics behind heavier-than-air flight and explore the challenges of space travel. They will design, build, test and modify their own glider using design software to optimize flight characteristics.
Flight and Space
Lesson 1 History of Flight and Space(15 days)
Students will investigate careers associated with aerospace technologies in Lesson 1. The strengths and weaknesses of hot air balloons, airplanes, helicopters, rockets and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will be discussed. Students will differentiate between aircraft (any machine that flies) and airplanes (typical wing and motor configuration).
Groups of students will further investigate a type of aircraft by building a model and testing its flying capabilities. Different aircraft are more capable of different types of flight. Students will create an infomercial to advertise their chosen aircraft, highlighting its history and specific advantages.
Lesson 2 Aeronautics(19 days)
In this lesson students will discover the fundamental scientific principles that allow heavier-than-air aircraft to fly. On a standard airplane the forces acting on it can be divided into four components, lift, drag, thrust and weight. In order for aircraft to fly straight and level these forces must be balanced. Students will investigate Newton's Laws and how they contribute to lift and result in Bernoulli's Principle.
Students will learn about testing tools aerospace engineers use to validate or refute their hypotheses. A virtual wind tunnel is used to explore how changing design parameters of airfoils change the total lift. Students also learn about aircraft components and how they contribute to performance and control. Students will apply their acquired knowledge to design an airfoil using software to predict it's performance. They will use the airfoil to model a wing using Inventor and finally build their wing out of Styrofoam. This allows students to compare theoretical airfoil performance with actual physical wing performance.
Lesson 3 Traveling and Living in Space(11 days)
In Lesson 3 students learn about the technologies that have allowed for travel into space. They will compare and contrast technologies that allow for travel in air and in space. Students will design rockets and test them in a NASA simulator. After learning how people get to space students will explore what it takes to stay and live in space. They will utilize the game AstroEngineers to experience a design challenge similar to what NASA engineers face.