Introduces basic building, waits. Introduces dead reckoning and provides a nice link with mathematics line of best fit, interpolation, extrapolation.
Line Following and Proportional Controls — Create a robot vehicle that follows a line and avoids collisions with obstacles. Introduces bang-bang and proportional controls. Light and Dark Scavenger Hunt — Collect a wide range of light readings from your environment and display them on your computer screen.
Introduces basic datalogging and leads into graph programming. Introduces working with the display. Cookie Clicker — Create a Cookie Clicker game.
Count how many times the touch sensor has been pressed and display the score on the screen. Introduces variables. But is your structure functional? Find out more on the next page. Loading constraints can influence how structural engineers approach a given project. Though the term might not sound familiar, it's basically a way of questioning what will happen when weight or other factors act on a structure or object.
By using Lego bricks , you can better picture two basic principles engineers consider: static loading and dynamic loading. Static loading includes the weight and pressure on the structure while it's stationary, while dynamic loading refers to how outside forces act on the structure while it's being used.
For example, every building has its physical limits for what it can support -- its static loading capacity. But what about something that's a bit more mobile -- such as an airplane that's crafted to accommodate passengers and always changing flying conditions?
Engineers must consider these factors to ensure that when a plane is dynamically loaded with people, and in midair it's safe and efficient. To test dynamic loading constraints, build a Lego bridge and then use a remote control car or wooden box cars of various weights to look at how they affect the structure as they move across it. Does one of the beams buckle under the added weight? Toying around with dynamic loading is far more effective than reading about it in a text book, where weights and numbers aren't tangible.
Knowing how to use bricks to reinforce the strength of a structure will not only give you an edge while using Lego products , but it could also help you wrap your brain around the complex structures throughout your Lego community. Let's say you create a quaint miniature village and realize one building isn't very stable and it topples over.
Upon picking it up, you realize it's still relatively intact. Should you scrap it? Not necessarily. See if you can provide extra support through bracing , or adding additional pieces for support. For a structural engineer, trusses, columns and beams should do the trick, but connector pegs and axles will provide extra support for his Lego counterpart.
Also, it's wise to ask yourself: Were you stacking mismatched pieces or were you building with the same types of bricks on top of one another? Using the same types of pieces for stacking is a good strategy to make structures more stable.
Geography and weather patterns influence how engineers create a structure. How can you test these conditions using Lego products? Though the two professions often collaborate, structural engineers and architects perform different jobs.
Often, the architect comes up with a design and works alongside a structural engineer to look at the safety and effectiveness of the plan. Several competitions and visual experiments have used Lego projects to model the pitfalls of structural engineering during natural events such as earthquakes. Competitors learn how seismic loading , or the extra stress a building endures during an earthquake, affects their small-scale structures. What both Lego builders and structural engineers collectively admit is that creating a sturdy model -- or even a real building, for that matter -- requires understanding a range of seismic waves and the problems they pose.
Grantees undertaking such projects are encouraged to express freely their professional judgement. This curriculum, therefore, does not necessarily represent the position or policies of the National Science Foundation. Skip to content The following four curricula are designed to introduce students in Grades 3 to 5 to various science concepts through design-based LEGO projects. The following two tabs change content below.
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