engineering notebook€¦ · it’s easy to use graph paper to set up a scale for your floorplan....

Engineering Notebook

Here Comes the Sun: Engineering Insulated Homes

Name:

1Engineering Insulated Homes © Museum of Science 7

Shipping Container HomesA

ctiv

ity1

Shipping containers are large boxes used to transport goods around the world. Most shipping containers are about the size of a school bus.

People around the world have started to repurpose old shipping containers as homes.

San Antonio, Texas

2Engineering Insulated Homes © Museum of Science

Shipping Container Homes

Act

ivity1

France

Costa Rica

Chile


Make Your Model

Materials: 1 sun lamp 1 L bracket 100 watt light bulb 1 small cardboard box A pen or pair of scissors

Follow these directions to set up your model:

1. Use a cardboard box as your model shipping container home.2. Use a pen or the sharp point of a pair of scissors to make a hole in the center

towards the bottom of your box.3. Slide the thermometer into the hole. Be sure you can still read the temperature.4. Tape one end of your L bracket to the table. Be sure the bracket is sturdy!5. Hang your sunlamp off the end of the bracket not taped down.6. Put your model house under the sunlamp.7. Your setup should look like the picture below when you are done.

Model HomesA

ctiv

ity1

Sunlamp

ThermometerModel Home

L Bracket

Engineering Insulated Homes © Museum of Science4

Imagine Insulation ideasDo you have any ideas about how you could insulate your groups model home? Imagine some ideas and sketch them out below.

Test Your Model

1. Use the clock to keep track of how long you’ve had your lamp on. Use the chart below to record what you find.

Start Time: Start Temperature:

End Time: End Temperature:

2. When you turn off your sun lamp, touch your model home roof. How does it feel?

3. Leave your experiment set-up as-is for now.

4. Calculate the total change in temperature of your model. How did the sunlamp affectthe air inside?

Here Comes the Sun

Act

ivity1

end temp start temp change in temp


Test1. Use the clock to keep track of how long you’ve had your lamp on. Use the chart

below to record what you find. 0 Minutes (Start Time) Start Temperature:

__ Minutes

__ Minutes

__ Minutes

__ Minutes

__ Minutes (End Time) End Temperature:

2. Calculate the total change in temperature

Investigating InsulationA

ctiv

ity2VariablesAfter the group has decided on the experimental set up, use the diagram below to record the details.

Distance from sunlamp to insulation

_______________

Collecting Data

• How long will we collect data for? _____ minutes.

• How often? Every ____ minutes.

Thickness of insulation

_______________

3. How does this change in temperature compare to the control? What does that tellyou about the effectiveness of this material as insulation?


Insulation Word Search

Act

ivity2

B N Y I J Z Q Z B A I V B Y V V Q Z E F

L V S L W O U O L D K V G A P Q I F N M

W H S A J P K B Y Z D O A U H M G O G T

C W S O B Y V H V Y L F K R D M N C I I

I V P W X T J H M O V Z D D I K T L N M

B C F X Q Y Z W N I R V N V N A C Y E B

X A A V W R X H V Z C K J R O J B C E C

I C V C Y M C C L T B W V V I I O L R N

S F A H R E N H E I T R E H T S E T E M

S T P M T O W F N Y L Q F J A U A A J S

W W N M B V X Q E F C N F C L N U D E F

T J C I M E H G P I K G R Q U I E J O H

A U A A A C Y A V Q V I Z M S G K E M N

E Q C L O R T N O C T T T F N T B M R G

H H Y M L H T H L E W L V N I A C S I G

B O S D L H F S R B U G S W X V O T C V

Y Q V U Y J M I N H E O M Z J H N L K I

I L J P H P A E R O Q X F U V A G X Y H

S E T K Z M O E K K C R L X I A L J W T

G C N P P L K C W W R Z J Z Q I V E O L

ConstraintsControlCriteria Engineer

FahrenheitGreenHeatInsulation

TechnologyVariables

Can you find the words listed below? Completing the Word Search will earn you $500 in Insulation Bucks to buy materials for your final design.


Shipping Container Home SpacesA

ctiv

ity3

Below are some average footprints for pieces of furniture and appliances common in homes.

It’s easy to use graph paper to set up a scale for your floorplan. Just pick how many squares will represent one foot. If 1 square = 1 foot, then your shipping container would be 40 squares long and 8 squares wide (40 feet by 8 feet). What about if 2 squares = 1 foot?

Most shipping containers are about 40 feet by 8 feet. That’s 320 square feet, or about the same size as a school bus.

40 feet

8 feet

Queen Bed5’ x 7’

Sofa3’ x 7’

Table and Chairs6’ x 6’

Arm Chair3’ x 3’

Stove Top3’ x 3’

Sink2’ x 3’

Bathtub3’ x 6’

Toilet2’ x 3’


My Shipping Container Floor Plan

Act

ivity3

Tape the graph paper floor plan for your shipping container home in the space below.


Insulation CrosswordA

ctiv

ity31

6 2

4

5

3

Across4. A limitation5. Anything designed by people to solve problems6. The steps engineers use to help them engineer technologies

Down1. A thing or factor about an experiment that you can change2. Materials that slows the movement of energy, such as heat3. People who use knowledge of science, math, and creativity to

solve problems4. Things your design needs to do

Completing the Crossword will earn you $500 in Insulation Bucks to buy materials for your final design.

Word Bank

EngineerEngineering Design ProcessInsulatorsCriteriaConstraintTechnologyVariable


How many insulation bucks do you have to put towards materials?Each team gets $1000 Insulation BucksDid you complete the Insulation Word Search? No $0 Yes $500

Did you complete the Insulation Crossword? No $0 Yes $500

Total

Material Cost in insulation bucksAluminum foil $50 per sheetFoam sheets $100 per sheetFelt sheets $100 per sheetConstruction paper $75 per sheetBubble wrap $200 per sheetCotton ball bag (6 cotton balls per bag) $200 per bagTransparency sheets $50 per sheetSand bag (1/2 cup per bag) $200 per bag

Engineering Challenge Details

Act

ivity4

How many people will live in the home your model represents? 1 person 2 people 3 people

ImagineUse the space below to imagine your design. Will you use one or two model shipping containers? What insulation material(s) will you use?


Work with your group to plan your insulated model home design and draw it below.

Plan Your ModelA

ctiv

ity4Your Goal:

To use insulation to engineer a model home that stays at a comfortable temperature inside no matter how high or low the temperature gets outside.

Materials list Cost

Total Cost


Test your model1. Use the charts below to record what you find.

Control Findings (Your model with no insulation)

0 Minutes (Start Time) Start Temperature:

__ Minutes

__ Minutes

__ Minutes

__ Minutes


2. How well did your design insulate your home?

Improvement Ideas1. Are there parts of your insulated model home design you would like to improve?

Circle them on your Plan page, or write about the changes below.

Testing

Act

ivity4

Is your insulated model home a technology? Why or why not?

Insulated Model Findings


__ Minutes

__ Minutes

__ Minutes

__ Minutes



Implement some of the improvement ideas you had last time. Then predict and test.

PredictHow do you think placing your insulated model home in a low temperature environment will affect the temperature inside?

Test your model1. Use the chart below to record the change in temperature of your insulated model

home when it is being tested outside, in low temperatures. Control Findings (Your model with no insulation)


__ Minutes

__ Minutes

__ Minutes

__ Minutes


2. What did you find? Did it matter that your model was tested in a low temperatureand not a high temperature?

Improvement Ideas1. Are there parts of your insulated model home design you would like to improve?

Circle them on your Plan page, or write about the changes below.

ImproveA

ctiv

ity5

Insulated Model Findings


__ Minutes

__ Minutes

__ Minutes

__ Minutes



During the next activity, you’ll get to share information about your engineering challenge with people who are not familiar with the problem. What are some things you might want to tell them about engineering insulating homes?

Communicate

Act

ivity5


Now that you’ve worked on this engineering challenge, think about how your engineering skills have changed.

My Engineer Profile A

ctiv

ity6 Use a red marker to check off your engineering strengths. Use a blue marker to circle any engineering skills you’d like to practice getting better at throughout the rest of this engineering unit.

communicating

building things

imagining

being creative

drawing

working on a team

leading a team

analyzing data

making a plan

offering critical feedback on others work

receiving feedback on your own work

moving forward after something doesn’t work

thinking of different ways to do something

solving problems

troubleshooting problems

What engineering skill do you think you’ve improved the most over the course of this unit?

What would you like to engineer next?

engineering notebook€¦ · it’s easy to use graph paper to set up a scale for your floorplan....

Documents