Class Modules
The teaching modules provided as part of the SWEET project are geared to help middle and high school students gain an appreciation for how engineering impacts our lives, environment, and society. Each module was jointly developed -- usually as a teaming of high school teachers along with university professors, who provided guidance and expert knowledge within a specific engineering discipline.
2004
- The Human Neck: A Simplified Method of Teaching Anatomy
- The human body is an amazing jungle of complicated structures. Perhaps one of the more complicated areas is the neck. Because there are so many small parts to it, this module will take a holistic approach to teaching the anatomy of the neck.
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Download Module (Word) - Finding Your Niche: Microbial Growth Functions for Native and Extreme Bacteria
- This teaching module is designed to provide students with the opportunity to explore problem-solving, engineering-oriented exercises. Students will be given a problem requiring collaborative efforts to design, construct, and test an engineering application needed to answer a biological question.
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Download Module (Word) - A Teaching Module Integrating Literature and Genetic Engineering
- This module is designed to encourage students to read and to introduce them to the biotechnology and principles of genetic engineering. Laboratory exercises will include DNA extraction, comparison of chromosome banding patterns, transformation of bacteria using an engineered plasmid, and callus induction from seeds.
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Download Module (Word) - Using Electrophoresis and other Separation Techniques in High School Science
- This module was designed to introduce separation techniques while incorporating biotechnology into the classroom. This module introduces the use of basic techniques to teach concepts including solubility, electrophoretic mobility and molecular weight. These techniques are often used by Chemical Engineers to separate various biomolecules for improving scientific knowledge and solving many of the biomedical challenges society encounters.
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Download Module (Word) - Biomedical Engineering Knee replacement & Knee Surgery
- In this module you will find an overall summary of the field of engineering, and a subdivision of the many branches of engineering with a special emphasis on Biomedical Engineers and learning about the human knee. Engineers can improve the lifestyles of people who have knee injuries.
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2005
- Ion-Selective Electrodes In the Classroom and their Application to the Real World
- This module has been designed to enhance interest in engineering and its practical application through the use of ion-selective electrodes in the middle school and high school classroom. These lessons can provide for opportunities in the testing and analyzing of various substances in solution.
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Download Module (Word) - Biomechancis of Skeletal Systems: A Study of Impossibilities and the Adaptations That Make Them a Reality
- This module was designed to introduce students to bioengineering and its applications in science and engineering, using scaling relationships and modeling, but it was also constructed with the objective of allowing the students to have fun and express creative license within given parameters.
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Download Module (Word) - Laser Simulation-Visual Light Lab for High School Students
- The purpose of this teaching module is to give students a hands-on introductory experience involving the science and engineering applications of lasers and light of various frequencies. This will include the topics of light, color, energy, heat, and absorption. The students will investigate how different objects absorb energy at different frequencies and then use their observations to make predictions and draw conclusions.
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Download Module (Word) - Using Separation Techniques to Introduce Engineering in High School Science
- Separation techniques are used for a variety of reasons, from purifying medicines to combating crime. The four activities in this module will help students establish knowledge of chromatography as a way of introducing students to the types of activities a chemical engineer might experience.
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Download Module (Word) - Microfluidic Mixing Using Microchannels in High School Science and Math
- This project explores groundbreaking research which is being developed in the mixing of microscopic quantities of fluids using microchannels. The research is being used to replace small pumps and other mechanical devices that are costly to produce with micro-pumps that use a small amount of voltage to perform the same function. The module will explore the difficulties and challenges associated with the microscale by using a slightly larger version in the classroom.
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Download Module (Word) - Mapping Microwave Cooking Patterns
- Many things in our everyday lives are invisible. So how do we know they are there? This is an opportunity to learn how science works when something is not directly observable with the human senses. Students will be able to see the effects of a microwave, and from the results work to arrive at some conclusions about how they cook food. This module will show very clearly which parts of a microwave oven get hot and allow students to study the effects of microwaves while the waves themselves remain invisible.
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2006
- Observation of PH Shifts Using the Process of Ionic Exchange
- This module is an active learning module, which can be adapted to a teacher’s time schedule and laboratory equipment. The overall focus is to gain an understanding of the effect of ion concentration effect on a changed surface by observing pH shifts that occur during ionic exchange chromatography. The students will also gain a better understanding of such scientific concepts as: Molarity, pH scale, pH indicators, buffers, diffusion, and charged surfaces. Engineering concepts, such as chromatography, are discussed and performed within this lab.
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Download Module (Word) - Fluid Dynamics and Micro-Fluidic Mixing
- This module attempts to enhance student understanding of fluid dynamics using the context of the emerging discipline of micro-fluidic mixing and “Lab-on-a-Chip” fluid analysis technology. Students will explore the basics of fluid dynamics before attempting to tackle the more sophisticated concepts of micro-fluidics and nanotechnology.
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Download Module (Word) - Using Biopotential Amplifiers in High School Science
- A Biopotential Amplifier (BPA) is a device used to read electrical impulses created in living tissues. These electrical impulses include electromyograph (EMG; muscle contractions), electrocardiograph (EKG; heart contractions), and action potentials in nerves. The use of a Biopotential Amplifier in a high school classroom can aid students in understanding the way in which these electrical impulses travel through muscles and nerves.
Download Module (Word) - The Power of Fruit: A Study in Electrochemistry
- This module has been designed to enhance interest in engineering amongst middle school students through the design of batteries using fruit and common household items. The reading material and lab activities provide opportunities to better understand electricity, the chemistry involved in battery function, battery structure and the basic principles of engineering.
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Download Module (Word) - Environmental Water Quality Monitoring in Regional Rivers and Streams
- This module uses ion-selective electrodes to increase student interest in engineering and its applications. These lessons provide middle school and high school students the opportunity to test and analyze water quality for regional rivers and streams. Students will investigate concentrations of ions in water samples (e.g, H+, Ca2+, K+, Na+, Mg2+, SO42-). Using standards of known concentrations of ions students can find regression lines that will allow them to identify the concentration of ions in unknown samples.
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