Please join the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) for a free and open webinar on Designing for Open Pedagogy. Open Pedagogy was first introduced by Lumen Learning co-founder David Wiley, as a way to capture how the use of OER can change educational practices. He relates that using OER in the same way as traditional textbooks is like driving an airplane down the road – it is missing out on what open can provide for student and teacher collaboration, engagement, and learning.

Through this lesson and its two associated activities, students are introduced to the use of geometry in engineering design, and conclude by making scale models of objects of their choice. The practice of developing scale models is often used in engineering design to analyze the effectiveness of proposed design solutions. In this lesson, students complete fencing (square) and fire pit (circle) word problems on two worksheets—which involves side and radius dimensions, perimeters, circumferences and areas—guiding them to discover the relationships between the side length of a square and its area, and the radius of a circle and its area. They also think of real-world engineering applications of the geometry concepts.

DISCLAIMER:Lessons that are posted under the Teacher Submitted section have been submitted to the AZ CTE Curriculum Consortium by teachers for use by everyone. These lessons do not necessarily follow the approved format and have not been edited. We believe that they still may be very good and useful to teachers.

DISCLAIMER:Lessons that are posted under the Teacher Submitted section have been submitted to the AZ CTE Curriculum Consortium by teachers for use by everyone. These lessons do not necessarily follow the approved format and have not been edited. We believe that they still may be very good and useful to teachers.

DISCLAIMER: Lessons that are posted under the Teacher Submitted section have been submitted to the AZ CTE Curriculum Consortium by teachers for use by everyone. These lessons do not necessarily follow the approved format and have not been edited. We believe that they still may be very good and useful to teachers.

Econ Lowdown is an award-winning free economic education portal for teachers and students. In addition to classroom management tools, Econ Lowdown provides online modules, articles, videos and podcasts for teaching economics and personal finance in ways that are engaging and relevant to students.

A web-based textbook/course created by Lumen Learning. Part 1 concerns Educational History and Policy, covering common educational policies from 1770's to the present; Part 2 is Educational Psychology, covering topics such as human brain, language and physical development, Nature v. Nurture, and theories and practices for working with K-12 youth.

Students learn about the scientific and mathematical concepts around electromagnetic light properties that enable the engineering of sunglasses for eye protection. They compare and contrast tinted and polarized lenses as well as learn about light intensity and how different mediums reduce the intensities of various electromagnetic radiation wavelengths. Through a PowerPoint® presentation, students learn about light polarization, transmission, reflection, intensity, attenuation, and Malus’ law. A demo using two slinky springs helps to illustrate wave disturbances and different-direction polarizations. As a mini-activity, students manipulate slide-mounted polarizing filters to alter light intensity and see how polarization by transmission works. Students use the Malus’ law equation to calculate the transmitted light intensity and learn about Brewster’s angle. Two math problem student handouts are provided. Students also brainstorm ideas on how sunglasses could be designed and improved, which prepares them for the associated hands-on design/build activity.

Through this lesson and its series of hands-on mini-activities, students answer the question: How can we investigate and measure the inside of an object or its structure if we cannot take it apart? Unlike the destructive nuclear weapon test (!), nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods are able to accomplish this. After an introductory slide presentation, small groups rotate through five mini-activity stations: 1) applying Maxwell’s equations, 2) generating currents, 3) creating magnetic fields, 4) solving a system of equations, and 5) understanding why the finite element method (FEM) is important. Through the short experiments, students become familiar with the science and physics being used and make the mathematical connections. They explore components of NDE and see how engineers find unseen flaws and cracks in materials that make aircraft. A pre/post quiz, slide presentation and worksheet are included.

Students are introduced to the five fundamental loads: compression, tension, shear, bending and torsion. They learn about the different kinds of stress each force exerts on objects.

If you haven’t discovered already, there are myriad open resources that exist. Often the trouble lies in locating those that fit precisely what you need. We’ve broken down these resources with the intent of making the search process more efficient and effective. For each you’ll find a list of unique traits, licensing information, and an example of how to attribute the source. Click one of the media sources in the Find Resources sub-menu for the details.

The flight of a fixed-wing aircraft is controlled by altering the three primary flight control surfaces; ailerons, rudder, and elevator. In this activity, students will experiment with a profile model fixed-wing aircraft to learn the use of the primary flight control surfaces.

The concept of geocaching is introduced as a way for students to explore using a global positioning system (GPS) device and basic geographic information (GIS) skills. Students familiarize themselves with GPS, GIS, and geocaching as well as the concepts of latitude and longitude. They develop the skills and concepts needed to complete the associated activity while considering how these technologies relate to engineering. Students discuss images associated with GPS, watch a video on how GPS is used, and review a slide show of GIS basics. They estimate their location using latitude and longitude on a world map and watch a video that introduces the geocaching phenomenon. Finally, students practice using a GPS device to gain an understanding of the technology and how location and direction features work while sending and receiving data to a GIS such as Google Earth.

Students learn about common geometry tools and then learn to use protractors (and Miras, if available) to create and measure angles and reflections. The lesson begins with a recap of the history and modern-day use of protractors, compasses and mirrors. After seeing some class practice problems and completing a set of worksheet-prompted problems, students share their methods and work. Through the lesson, students gain an awareness of the pervasive use of angles, and these tools, for design purposes related to engineering and everyday uses. This lesson prepares students to conduct the associated activity in which they “solve the holes” for hole-in-one multiple-banked angle solutions, make their own one-hole mini-golf courses with their own geometry-based problems and solutions, and then compare their “on paper” solutions to real-world results.

Students are challenged to think as biomedical engineers and brainstorm ways to administer medication to a patient who is unable to swallow. They learn about the advantages and disadvantages of current drug delivery methods—oral, injection, topical, inhalation and suppository—and pharmaceutical design considerations, including toxicity, efficacy, size, solubility/bioavailability and drug release duration. They apply their prior knowledge about human anatomy, the circulatory system, polymers, crystals and stoichiometry to real-world biomedical applications. A Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation and worksheets are provided. This lesson prepares students for the associated activity in which they create and test large-size drug encapsulation prototypes to provide the desired delayed release and duration timing.

Students see that geometric shapes can be found in all sorts of structures as they explore the history of the Roman Empire with a focus on how engineers 2000 years ago laid the groundwork for many structures seen today. Through a short online video, brief lecture material and their own online research directed by worksheet questions, students discover how the Romans invented a structure known today as the Roman arch that enabled them to build architecture never before seen by humankind, including the amazing aqueducts. Students calculate the slope and its total drop and angle over its entire distance for an example aqueduct. Completing this lesson prepares students for the associated activity in which teams build and test model aqueducts that meet specific constraints. This lesson serves as an introduction to many other geometry—and engineering-related lessons—including statics and trusses, scale modeling, and trigonometry.

This lesson conveys core information about why air quality is important and how engineers tackle complex environmental problems—providing a foundation for the subsequent five activities. Students learn the basics about the structure of the Earth’s atmosphere, the types of pollutants that are present in the atmosphere (primary, secondary, gas-phase compounds, particulate matter), and the importance of air quality research. They are also introduced to some engineering concepts such as how air quality measurements are made and how control technologies work. A PowerPoint® presentation, teacher slide notes, blank vocabulary list, post-lecture quiz, homework handout, and a pre-unit STEM survey are provided. This lesson and its five associated activities are intended to prepare and guide students to take on their own research projects.

Students learn about the current applications and limitations of 3D bioprinting, as well as its amazing future potential. This lesson, and its fun associated activity, provides a unique way to review and explore concepts such as differing cell functions, multicellular organism complexity, and engineering design steps. As introduced through a PowerPoint® presentation, students learn about three different types of bioprinters, with a focus on the extrusion model. Then they learn the basics of tissue engineering and the steps to design printed tissues. This background information prepares students to conduct the associated activity in which they use mock-3D bioprinters composed of a desktop setup that uses bags of icing to “bioprint” replacement skin, bone and muscle for a fictitious trauma patient, Bill. A pre/post-quiz is also provided.

Students learn about video motion capture technology, becoming familiar with concepts such as vector components, magnitudes and directions, position, velocity, and acceleration. They use a (free) classroom data collection and processing tool—the ARK Mirror—to visualize and record 3-D motion. The Augmented Reality Kinematics (ARK) Mirror software collects data via a motion detector. Using an Orbbec Astra Pro 3D camera or Microsoft Kinect (see note below), students can visualize and record a robust set of data and interpret them using statistical and graphical methods. This lesson introduces students to just one possible application of the ARK Mirror software—in the context of a high school physics class. Note: The ARK Mirror is ported to operate on an Orbbec platform. It may also be used with a Microsoft Kinect, although that Microsoft hardware has been discontinued. Refer to the Using ARK Mirror and Microsoft Kinect attachment for how to use the ARK MIrror software with Microsoft Kinect.