Lesson 1.1 Overview
Mechanisms are the basic components of most machines and consist of gears, sprockets, pulley systems, and simple machines. The effective use and understanding of mechanisms has contributed to the improvement and development of technology and society for thousands of years. The first uses of mechanisms can be seen in the development of Paleolithic tools used for hunting, gathering, and shelter construction. Today mechanisms can be found in everyday life from the basic components of a bicycle to the high-tech equipment used in the medical industry.
Engineers and scientists use mechanisms to manipulate speed, distance, force, and function to meet a wide range of design and application requirements. Engineering design applications can range from large-scale manufacturing equipment to small-scale electrical equipment found in automobiles, homes, and offices. Due to the wide range of applications involving mechanisms, it is important that designers and end users understand the characteristics, applications, and limitations of mechanisms.
In Lesson 1.1 Mechanisms, you will gain an understanding of mechanisms through the application of theory-based calculations accompanied by lab experimentation.
Established Goals
It is expected that students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems.
2. Demonstrate an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability.
3. Demonstrate an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data.
4. Demonstrate an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering.
5. Demonstrate an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.
6. Pursue the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context.
7. Demonstrate an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.
8. Demonstrate an ability to function on multidisciplinary teams.
9. Demonstrate an ability to communicate effectively.
10. Gain knowledge of contemporary issues.
11. Recognize the need for, and develop an ability to engage in life-long learning.
Transfer
Students will be able to independently use their learning to:
1. Explore career opportunities in engineering and interview a professional engineer to gain insight related to pathway to engineering and current state of engineering.
2. Calculate and predict the mechanical advantage of a simple machine or system of simple machines.
3. Create a system that redirects energy within a system by manipulating force, speed, and distance
4. Calculate the work and power of a mechanical system.
Understandings
Students will understand that:
1. Engineers and engineering technologists apply math, science, and discipline-specific skills to solve problems.
2. Engineering and engineering technology careers offer creative job opportunities for individuals with a wide variety of backgrounds and goals.
3. Technical communication can be accomplished in oral, written, and visual forms and must be organized in a clear and concise manner.
4. Most mechanisms are composed of gears, sprockets, pulley systems, and simple machines.
5. Mechanisms are used to redirect energy within a system by manipulating force, speed, and distance.
6. Mechanical advantage ratios relate input forces to output forces in mechanisms; efficiency ratios relate input work to output work for those mechanisms.
7. Working in a team requires effective communication, clear responsibilities, and attention to interpersonal relationships. (Same as U4 in Lesson 1.4.)
Essential Questions
Students will keep considering:
1. Choose an engineering degree field. What are four possible occupations that represent a wide range of job responsibilities?
2. If each member of a team is working in different physical locations across the world, how might each form of communication be best accomplished?
3. Identify a mechanism in your household. Why that mechanism is designed the way it is?
4. What are some strategies that can be used to make everyday mechanisms more efficient?
5. Describe one situation in which an engineer would want to include a mechanism with a mechanical advantage greater than one? What is the advantage in this case?
6. How could designing a solution to a mechanical problem without regard to efficiency be problematic?
Knowledge
Students will:
1. Describe the job responsibilities of various types of engineers and engineering technicians.
2. Know the six simple machines, their attributes, and components.
3. Know the equations to solve for mechanical advantage, work, and power.
Skills
Students will:
1. Differentiate among the various types of engineers and engineering technicians.
2. Measure forces and distances related to mechanisms.
3. Distinguish among the six simple machines, their attributes, and components.
4. Calculate mechanical advantage and drive ratios of mechanisms.
5. Design, create, and test systems using simple machines and drive mechanisms.
6. Calculate work and power in mechanical systems.
7. Determine efficiency in a mechanical system.
8. Design, create, test, and evaluate a compound machine design.
9. Communicate a design for a machine using annotated sketches and other documentation.
10. Collaborate effectively with others in a design team.
References
ABET. (2008). Retrieved May 13, 2008, from http://www.abet.org/index.shtml
American Society of Manufacturing Engineers. (2008). Mechanical engineering & mechanical engineering technology: Which path will you take? Retrieved May 28, 2008, from http://www.asme.org/Communities/Students/K12/Technology_Which_Path_Take.cfm
Aubrecht, J.A. (1995). Energy (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Brain, M. (2007). How gear ratios work. Retrieved January 8, 2008, from http://science.howstuffworks.com/gear-ratio.htm/printable
Gage, M., & Gage, J. (2005). The art of splitting stone: Early rock quarrying methods in pre-industrial New England 1630-1825. Amesbury: Powwow River Books.
Herman, S.L. (2004). Delmar’s standard book of electricity (3rd ed.). United States: Thomson Learning, Inc.
Hewitt, P. G. (2002). Conceptual physics. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
International Technology Education Association (ITEA). (2000). Standards for technological literacy. Reston, VA: ITEA.
Kubala, T. (2006). Electricity 1: Devices, circuits, and, materials (8th ed.). United States: Thomson Learning, Inc.
Litowitz, L.S. & Brown, R. A. (2007). Energy, power, and transportation technology. Tinley Park, IL: The Goodheart-Wilcox Company, Inc.
Markel, M. (2003). Technical communication (6th ed.). New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster online. Retrieved December 15, 2007, from http://www.webster.com
Microsoft, Inc. (n.d.). Clip art. Retrieved January 10, 2008, from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and International Reading Association (IRA) (1996). Standards for the English language arts. Newark, DE: IRA; Urbana, IL: NCTE.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: Author.
National Research Council (NRC). (1996). National science education standards. Washington, D. C.: National Academy Press.
Naval Education and Training Program Development Center. (1994). Basic machines and how they work. (Rev. ed.). Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc.
Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). OED Online. Retrieved January 18, 2008, from http://www2.lib.purdue.edu:2427/entrance.dtl
Oxford University Press. (n.d.). AskOxford: Oxford reference online. Retrieved December 15, 2007, from http://www.askoxford.com/dictionaries
Remick, P. & Cook. F. (2007). 21 things every future engineer should know: A practical guide for students and parents. Chicago, IL: Kaplan AEC Education.
Wentzell, T.H. (2004). Machine design. United States: Thomson Learning, Inc.
Wright R.T. (1996). Technology systems. South Holland, IL: The Goodheart-Wilcox Company, Inc.
Engineers and scientists use mechanisms to manipulate speed, distance, force, and function to meet a wide range of design and application requirements. Engineering design applications can range from large-scale manufacturing equipment to small-scale electrical equipment found in automobiles, homes, and offices. Due to the wide range of applications involving mechanisms, it is important that designers and end users understand the characteristics, applications, and limitations of mechanisms.
In Lesson 1.1 Mechanisms, you will gain an understanding of mechanisms through the application of theory-based calculations accompanied by lab experimentation.
Established Goals
It is expected that students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems.
2. Demonstrate an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability.
3. Demonstrate an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data.
4. Demonstrate an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering.
5. Demonstrate an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.
6. Pursue the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context.
7. Demonstrate an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.
8. Demonstrate an ability to function on multidisciplinary teams.
9. Demonstrate an ability to communicate effectively.
10. Gain knowledge of contemporary issues.
11. Recognize the need for, and develop an ability to engage in life-long learning.
Transfer
Students will be able to independently use their learning to:
1. Explore career opportunities in engineering and interview a professional engineer to gain insight related to pathway to engineering and current state of engineering.
2. Calculate and predict the mechanical advantage of a simple machine or system of simple machines.
3. Create a system that redirects energy within a system by manipulating force, speed, and distance
4. Calculate the work and power of a mechanical system.
Understandings
Students will understand that:
1. Engineers and engineering technologists apply math, science, and discipline-specific skills to solve problems.
2. Engineering and engineering technology careers offer creative job opportunities for individuals with a wide variety of backgrounds and goals.
3. Technical communication can be accomplished in oral, written, and visual forms and must be organized in a clear and concise manner.
4. Most mechanisms are composed of gears, sprockets, pulley systems, and simple machines.
5. Mechanisms are used to redirect energy within a system by manipulating force, speed, and distance.
6. Mechanical advantage ratios relate input forces to output forces in mechanisms; efficiency ratios relate input work to output work for those mechanisms.
7. Working in a team requires effective communication, clear responsibilities, and attention to interpersonal relationships. (Same as U4 in Lesson 1.4.)
Essential Questions
Students will keep considering:
1. Choose an engineering degree field. What are four possible occupations that represent a wide range of job responsibilities?
2. If each member of a team is working in different physical locations across the world, how might each form of communication be best accomplished?
3. Identify a mechanism in your household. Why that mechanism is designed the way it is?
4. What are some strategies that can be used to make everyday mechanisms more efficient?
5. Describe one situation in which an engineer would want to include a mechanism with a mechanical advantage greater than one? What is the advantage in this case?
6. How could designing a solution to a mechanical problem without regard to efficiency be problematic?
Knowledge
Students will:
1. Describe the job responsibilities of various types of engineers and engineering technicians.
2. Know the six simple machines, their attributes, and components.
3. Know the equations to solve for mechanical advantage, work, and power.
Skills
Students will:
1. Differentiate among the various types of engineers and engineering technicians.
2. Measure forces and distances related to mechanisms.
3. Distinguish among the six simple machines, their attributes, and components.
4. Calculate mechanical advantage and drive ratios of mechanisms.
5. Design, create, and test systems using simple machines and drive mechanisms.
6. Calculate work and power in mechanical systems.
7. Determine efficiency in a mechanical system.
8. Design, create, test, and evaluate a compound machine design.
9. Communicate a design for a machine using annotated sketches and other documentation.
10. Collaborate effectively with others in a design team.
References
ABET. (2008). Retrieved May 13, 2008, from http://www.abet.org/index.shtml
American Society of Manufacturing Engineers. (2008). Mechanical engineering & mechanical engineering technology: Which path will you take? Retrieved May 28, 2008, from http://www.asme.org/Communities/Students/K12/Technology_Which_Path_Take.cfm
Aubrecht, J.A. (1995). Energy (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Brain, M. (2007). How gear ratios work. Retrieved January 8, 2008, from http://science.howstuffworks.com/gear-ratio.htm/printable
Gage, M., & Gage, J. (2005). The art of splitting stone: Early rock quarrying methods in pre-industrial New England 1630-1825. Amesbury: Powwow River Books.
Herman, S.L. (2004). Delmar’s standard book of electricity (3rd ed.). United States: Thomson Learning, Inc.
Hewitt, P. G. (2002). Conceptual physics. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
International Technology Education Association (ITEA). (2000). Standards for technological literacy. Reston, VA: ITEA.
Kubala, T. (2006). Electricity 1: Devices, circuits, and, materials (8th ed.). United States: Thomson Learning, Inc.
Litowitz, L.S. & Brown, R. A. (2007). Energy, power, and transportation technology. Tinley Park, IL: The Goodheart-Wilcox Company, Inc.
Markel, M. (2003). Technical communication (6th ed.). New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster online. Retrieved December 15, 2007, from http://www.webster.com
Microsoft, Inc. (n.d.). Clip art. Retrieved January 10, 2008, from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and International Reading Association (IRA) (1996). Standards for the English language arts. Newark, DE: IRA; Urbana, IL: NCTE.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: Author.
National Research Council (NRC). (1996). National science education standards. Washington, D. C.: National Academy Press.
Naval Education and Training Program Development Center. (1994). Basic machines and how they work. (Rev. ed.). Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc.
Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). OED Online. Retrieved January 18, 2008, from http://www2.lib.purdue.edu:2427/entrance.dtl
Oxford University Press. (n.d.). AskOxford: Oxford reference online. Retrieved December 15, 2007, from http://www.askoxford.com/dictionaries
Remick, P. & Cook. F. (2007). 21 things every future engineer should know: A practical guide for students and parents. Chicago, IL: Kaplan AEC Education.
Wentzell, T.H. (2004). Machine design. United States: Thomson Learning, Inc.
Wright R.T. (1996). Technology systems. South Holland, IL: The Goodheart-Wilcox Company, Inc.