Engineering (Society of Women Engineers) IP

Insert Name The Engineering (Society of Women Engineers) IP is an interest project from the Girl Scouts of Columbia River Council.

1. Brainstorm a list of ten engineering inventions that you think have changed the world (for better or worse) and your reasons for listing them. Have a debate with your Girl Scout troop or parents to select the invention with the greatest impact.
   

2. Think of an engineering or design problem at your home, your school, or your community that needs to be solved. Look for problems found in your daily life such as kitchen tools or traffic patterns in your neighborhood. List possible solutions to the problem and the different fields of engineering that would be needed to resolve the problem.
   

3. Design a roller coaster ride for a marble. The goal is to have your marble travel slowly, so it takes as long as possible to go from the top to the bottom. Supplies: large piece or cardboard or foam core board (20" x 30"), ruler, and masking tape. Building materials (things like construction paper, paper towel tubes, sandpaper, yarn, styrofoam, cloth, cotton balls, sponges, or clay). Marble. First, set up the marble ride board. Lean the board against a wall. Make sure the bottom is 8 inches from the wall. Plan your design. Think about what you can do to slow down the marble. Start building. Each time you add a new part to your roller coaster, test it with your marble. When you are ready time how long it takes your marble to complete the ride. Have a competition with other girls. Whose ride takes the longest?
   

4. What engineering task would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? Imagining your “perfect world”, how would you do this task? Visit the Discovery Channel’s Extreme Engineering site to learn what others are imagining and doing. http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/engineering/archive/archives.html
   

5. Learn about the laws of motion by building a simple crankshaft device. Supply lists and instructions can be found at http://www.intel.com/education/design/session05/handout3.htm

1. Review the following four Building Big lab links and test each one.
   

• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/lab/forces.html
  

• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/lab/materials.html
  

• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/lab/loads.html
  

• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/lab/shapes.html
  

2. Review the following four links and learn about Ohm’s Law. Do the exercises found on the links. Write a short report defining Ohm’s Law and explaining how changing one variable affects the other variables.
   

• http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K- 12/Sample_Projects/Ohms_Law/ohmslaw.html
  

• http://jersey.uoregon.edu/vlab/Voltage/
  

• http://www.physics.uoguelph.ca/tutorials/ohm/Q.ohm.intro.html
  

• http://ohmslaw.com/ohmslaw.htm
  

3. What is Bernoulli’s Principle? Who was Bernoulli? Do the exercise outlined on the following link. Write a report on what you learned. Were you able to obtain the results listed in the discussion section? Research various engineering applications that use this principle.
   

• http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K- 12/TRC/Aeronautics/Ping_Pong_Curve.html
  

4. Newton’s Laws of Motion Study the following two links, do the exercises, and write a short report on Newton’s three Laws of Motion.
   

• http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K- 12/WindTunnel/Activities/first2nd_lawsf_motion.html
  

• http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K- 12/WindTunnel/Activities/third_law_motion.html

1. Arrange a hands-on engineering workshop for Brownie or Junior Girl Scouts in your Neighborhood. Work with women engineers to select appropriate activities. Ideas for activities can be found at http://www.societyofwomenengineers.org/careerguidance/activities/, http://www.asme.org/education/precollege/gsusa/index.htm, http://www.asce.org/public/handson.cfm and http://pbskids.org/zoom/too/engineering to name a few.
   

2. Contact a local manufacturing facility and arrange a tour for Brownie or Junior Girl Scouts in your Neighborhood. Help the girls identify the following simple machines during the tour.
   

• Pulley
  

• Inclined
  

• Plane
  

• Wheel
  

• Lever
  

• Screw
  

• Wedge
  

3. Use your engineering skills as a volunteer. Potential sites include the Community Cycling Center, Free Geek, and Habitat for Humanity.

1. Read the Women in Science article found at: http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen. Write a paragraph on the woman who impressed you the most and why.
   

2. Job shadow an engineer for a day. Give a presentation to your Girl Scout troop on what you learned.
   

3. Visit the Engineering Your Future website and complete the self assessment: http://www.asee.org/precollege/assess.cfm
   

4. From the site http://www.asee.org/precollege/, review the link for Engineering Disciplines and write a paragraph on the field of engineering interests you the most and why.
   

5. Contact a university engineering department and find out the requirements for admission. Which high school courses are recommended? What is the minimum GPA for admission? What is the average SAT score for enrolled students?

List of Council's Own Interest Projects
Engineering IP

Council's Own Awards - Columbia River Council
Engineering (Society of Women Engineers) IP