Thinking Like an Engineer
Planning and Process in Engineering Your Bridge
Innovations and Inventions Brainstorm
What do you think an engineer is or does?
Brainstorm
What do you think an inventor is and does? Definitions
Engineer‐ A person who uses science and math to help us understand the world and to apply what they know to improve things and solve problems.
Engineering‐ The application of science and math by which the properties of matter and the sources of energy in nature are made useful to people.
Innovation ‐ A new idea, method or device.
There are different types of Engineers such as Aerospace, Biomedical, Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Material, Nuclear, Power, Renewable Energy. Building bridges will involve science and being a civil engineer.
Brainstorm
What is an Inventor, and what do they do?
Definitions
• Inventor: A person who invented a particular process or device or who invents things as an occupation.
• Invent: Create or design something that has not existed.
• Inventors: Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Rube Goldberg, Eli Whitney, Elisha Otis, Kellogg Brothers, George Eastman, etc.
Inventors and Engineers do very much of the same things!
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Identify the problem
Research the problem
Develop solutions
Select best solutions
Construct a prototype
Test and evaluate the solution
Redesign to improve original design*****
YES, IT IS TRUE!
Each one of you has an Engineer and Inventor in
YOU
ARE YOU READY FOR A CHALLENGE?
Lets take an Invention Quiz to introduce some interesting facts about some famous inventions!
Here we go…..
Number your paper 1‐10 and let’s see how you do!
THE QUIZ
1. For thousands of years doctors told patients suffering from pain to check on the bark of a willow tree. Even as far back as 400 B.C. Hippocrates recommended a tea made from yellow leaves. It wasn’t until the 1800’s that scientist discovered what was in the willow tree that relieved pain and reduced fever. What was the substance called?
2. It may be hard to believe, but what home video game instruction began with the phrase, “Avoid Missing Ball for High Score?” 3. It started in the U.S. and has conquered the world. In some parts of the world, it sells for three times the price of a high priced Starbuck’s coffee. It was originally sold as a brain tonic, but was poorly received. What is the name of this drink?
4. What flip flops as much as an American politician and is still popular with the public after all these years? It flip‐flops all over the place, especially down the stairs.
5. How did a trip to the drug store help this candy manufacturer invent a new candy type that is still on the marked over 80 years later, even though the idea had a hole in it. What is this candy called?
6. In 1904 St. Louis, Missouri hosted the 1904 World’s fair. One major event took place that may have saved the ice cream vendors from having to shut down. What was invented during those hot summer days?
7. An American Indian of the Huron tribe long ago invented a snack food that became very popular with the new Americans, so popular that sales now exceed over four billion dollars a year. What is this snack food called?
8.A toy still popular today was incented at Yale University, on the East coast in the 1940’s, modified by a space enthusiast from the West coast in the 1950’s and renamed by a California manufacturing company president in the 1960’s What is the name of this toy?
9. People all over the world made this item from grape vines and stiff grasses as both a religious adornment and as an item of amusement. It took a couple of Americans, however, to figure out how to make money out of it. What was this item called?
10. What invention , more than 100 years old, has a product, a company, a town, an institution and a school named after it?
Now, drum roll, please. The answers.
THE ANSWERS
1. Aspirin, 1897, U.S. Patent #644,977, issued 2/27/1900
2. Pong video Game, 1972, U.S. Patent #3,793,483, issued 2/19/1974
3. Coca Cola, 1886, Patent issued 1893
4. Slinky, 1945, Patent issued 2/28/1947
5. Life Savers, 1912,Patent issued 8/19/1913
6. Ice Cream Cone, 1904, Patent issued 6/1/20
7. Potato Chips, 1854, Never patented
8. Frisbee, 1950
9. Hula Hoop, 1958, could not patent an ancient object
10. Hershey Bar, 1900, Patent issued 2/8/1906
Patents
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=play
er_detailpage&v=VEU3BJewuKI
Why Patenting is Important - YouTube.htm
We are now going to do a team activity regarding called “The World’s Ten Greatest Inventions.”
With your team, you are to complete what your team believes are the 10 greatest and must be able to support your reasoning on the lines provided on your handout.
Work cooperatively, collaboratively and creatively!
Is it important to be famous? Did Ruth Wakefield know she would be famous for her Toll House Cookie?
Michael Jordan for his patents on shoes, clothing, and fragrances?
Without Ralph Samuelson, we may not have water skis!
Thanks to Ruth Harden for creating Barbie!
The cotton gin, by Eli Whitney, is historical.
Did Margaret Knight realize that her paper bags are used around the world?
Next Steps
It is important to know that engineers often improve things or make things better. For example, we have always needed transportation. However, we are not going to hop up on a horse to get to school! We walk, take the bus, or get a ride in a car, truck or van.
Now, let’s take a look at our “Speedy Inventions” activity. Let’s read the directions together and discuss how to calculate the correct answer and then graph it correctly. We will do the first one together.
It is important to gather data and to be able to organize the data in a way that can be understood and used by others. In this activity, you are making a bar graph and then will have questions to answer about it.
HOMEWORK: Finish Speedy Inventions sheet and read the article “History of Bridge Development.” Also take time to actually meet an engineer online. See handout with the websites.