Getting Started with Engineering

Camille McCue, Ph.D, is a veteran STEM educator who has teletaught for NASA and PBS and instructed math, tech, and engineering in the classroom. She currently teaches in Las Vegas, NV.

• Introduction 1About This Book 1About You 3About the Icons 4The First Step 4Project 1: Engineering 101 5What Is Engineering? 5Where Do Engineers Work? 5What Are Some Engineering Fields? 6What Is the Engineering Design Cycle? 7What Does a Design Look Like? 8What Is the Golden Rule of Engineering? 10What Is the Iron Triangle of Engineering? 10Mini Project: Classic Pocket Rocket 12Project 2: Touchdown Mars 13Introduction to Planetary Landers 13Materials 15Simulate a Landing with Technology 16Play with a descent to Mars 16Control a descent to Mars 18Design Your Mars Lander 19Build Your Mars Lander 21Test Your Mars Lander 24Improve Your Mars Lander 25Aerospace Engineering and the Iron Triangle 25Project 3: The Clock Is Ticking 27All Here, In Order, On Time. Let’s Go! 27Materials 29Simulate a Simple Logistics Process 30Simulate a More Complex Logistics Process 32Plan Your Industrial Engineering Process 34Plan with a Gantt chart 34Plan by acting it out 36Implement Your Logistical Plan 37Evaluate Your Success 39Improve Your Process 39Iron Triangle of Engineering 40Gantt Charting with a Spreadsheet 40Project 4: Squeaky Clean Up 42Introduction to Oil Spill Clean Ups 42Materials 44Plan Your Oil Spill Clean-Up Process 45Plan to contain the oil 46Plan to skim the oil 46Plan to use sorbents 46Plan to disperse the oil 47Sketch your process 48Implement Your Clean-Up Process 49Simulate the oil spill 49Execute your clean-up plan 50Evaluate Your Success 51Improve Your Process 52Iron Triangle of Engineering 53Mini Project: Cleaning Feathers and Fur 54Project 5: Load the Bridge 55Civil Engineers Build the World 56Introduction to Bridges 56Materials 58Model Your Bridge with Technology 58Design Your Truss Bridge 63Build Your Pasta Bridge 66Test Your Pasta Bridge 68Improve Your Bridge 70Civil Engineering and the Iron Triangle 70Project 6: Electric Alien Cap 73Electronics 101 73Electrical circuits 74Symbols and schematics 74Series and parallel circuits 75Materials 77Design Your Electric Alien Cap 79Build Your Cap 80Get your components ready 80Mark your circuit onto the hat 81Stitch the positive connections in your circuit 81Stitch the ground connections in your circuit 83Test Your Circuit 85Improve Your Cap 85Electrical Engineering and the Iron Triangle 85Project 7: Now You’re Cooking! 88Early Mechanical Engineering 88Archimedes the engineer 89Energy everywhere 90The First Law of Thermodynamics 90Materials 91Design Your Solar Oven 92The Second Law of Thermodynamics 92Oven design criteria 92Build Your Design 94Build the food chamber 94Add the oven insulation 95Attach the solar reflector 97Test Your Design Plan 98Improve Your Cooker 99Solar Cooking and the Iron Triangle 100Mini Project: Vdara Death Ray 102Project 8: Roller Coaster Mania 103Introduction to Roller Coasters 104Mass in a roller coaster system 105Energy in a roller coaster system 105Materials 106Model Your Coaster with Technology 106Design Your Roller Coaster 112Build Your Roller Coaster 113Test Your Roller Coaster 116Improve Your Roller Coaster 117Entertainment Engineering and the Iron Triangle 117Appendix: Cool Tools (and More!) 120