SILO 5.2 (DRAFT)

Year 5, Term 2: Engineering

Scope and sequence: Project management

Focus: Engineering

Learning intention: Students can solve problems through the safe and creative use of materials, tools and equipment.
NSW Syllabus
Australian Curriculum
"A student defines problems, and designs, modifies and follows algorithms to develop solutions" (ST3-3DP-T).
"Students learn to explain how characteristics and properties of materials, systems, components, tools and equipment affect their use when producing designed solutions" (AC9TDE6K05).


Introduction to engineering

Engineering is a problem-solving discipline focused on creating practical solutions that benefit society, ranging from designing new materials and electronics to improving infrastructure like roads and bridges. The following video (1:25) by Solina Quinton titled, What is an engineer?, explores this further.


We first looked at the design cycle in SILO 1.3 'Materials' and watched an introductory video about being an engineer in SILO 2.2 'Construction zone', but in SILO 5.2 'Engineering' we will explore the design cycle in more detail. The design cycle is often called the design process. We prefer cycle as it helps reinforce the point that this is 'iterative' which means that you can keep doing it to make improvements.

Revising the design cycle

Think Make Improve


Expanding the design cycle


The following video (6:12) is titled Engineering and the engineering design process.


Watch this video and then discuss which of the stages in the design cycle overlap or extend one another.



A well-known saying often attributed to Bert Lance (1931-2013) is, "If it's not broken, don't fix it".

What does this mean and what are the implications for engineering?


Compression forces and stacking

The following video (6:51) is titled Stacking Pringles in a Complete Circle—The Amazing Physics of Stacking. There is some more advanced information in the middle (which you might choose to skip over) but the explanation at the end about friction is also very good.

Internal forces

What would happen if you removed a chip?

Why it would do that?

Arches like Roman aqueducts and the Arc de Triomphe use the same principles as a Pringles ring. If you build it wrong and it collapses due to a weakness, it is a system failure. The following video (1:33) features Roman aqueducts and some of the engineering principles behind them.

 


Desalination plant

The following video (2:12) shows how to make a desalination plant using the sun. It is more accurate to describe this as solar thermal energy as this experiment is based on evaporation and the light energy from the sun is not transformed into electrical current.



Project management

A basic operating principle in project management is that there are three main considerations, namely; price, quality and time, and you can only have two out of three. For example if you manufacture things quickly and cheaply you can't expect to have very high quality.

Revision/extension: The affordances of triangles

In SILO 2.2 'Construction zone' we looked at the structural reasons why triangles add strength to a design. The following video (2:49) takes this idea further with additional depth and detail.



Modular Design


 

Prefabrication

Prefabrication is when components are assembled in a different location to the installation site and then transported to the construction site for installation. This practice is becoming increasingly common in the housing industry and is also emerging in other engineering contexts. The following video (2:08) shows how prefabrication is being utilised for building bridged.


Moderated self-assessment

Discussions with students around the key components of conceptual topics and how they fit together can generate insights into student achievement.



We welcome your feedback and suggestions

The chief investigator for The SILO Project is Associate Professor Brendan Jacobs, Head of Department STEM Education, University of New England. The SILO Project thrives on incremental improvement so constructive feedback is greatly appreciated. Please contact Brendan via email at bjacobs7@une.edu.au to share your thoughts and recommendations.


 

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License


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