National Geographic Magazine: Engineering of Everyday Things

National Geographic magazine online STEM

Hi Don Morgan: Technology and Engineering Colleague,
Edutopia.org  ...Science, Technology, Engineering, Math teachers group

I am new to this group and a computer newbie, so I will have to make several postings to include the several "Engineering" resources available online... I agree totally with you concerning the real everyday experience we all have with "Engineering" and its products etc.

 First I am going to post a link to the current edition of National Geographic magazine: (November 2010) their "Big Idea / Innovation" section (published every month):
"Big Ideas - Little Packages" pages 24-31.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/big-idea/16/little-packages

This is a brief very visually effective 5-page spread about current engineering projects, that are included in the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum exhibition from 2007:
"Design for the Other 90%" (and currently wonderfully permanently online! --that will be my second post, because I do not yet know how to copy & paste more than one hyper-link at this forum format ...but I will learn... :-)

btw: if you read about the Water Purifying Straw, called "LifeStraw", and go to their website: lifestraw.com
They list the Maufacturer of the product, which is a Professional European Engineering Firm, and if you click on their link for the English version "Bochure" of their product you can download the Adobe file --which I highly recommend -- because

It is a real-life Professional Engineering Product Description and Social Environmental Impact Report/Evaluation Example for students to read and view and learn about Engineering "Best Practices" including: graphics, technical writing, research data, tables, scientific journal references,etc.

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Then after the second link, I will post my one-page lesson/project outline for "The Engineering of Everyday Things: Structure and Function  -- The Anaysis of a Whole and its Parts"
Then there are a couple of pages of Teacher Resource Lists of
"Compare and Contrast Everyday Things" (Objects)
such as:
1. pencil vs. pen
2. flashlight vs. desk lamp
3. paper clip vs. stapler
4. ladder vs. staircase
5. nail clipper vs. Swiss army knife
6. child's bicycle vs. multi-gear bike
7. landline phone/home phone vs. cell phone
etc.
Then there cool books (CoolStuff and CoolStuff 2.0 etc.)
then there are cool website links...
then there are my arts & crafts 3-D geometry sculptures projects
and papermodel crafting websites etc.
to be continued...

I appreciate your collegial collaboration
Allen Berg  (phineas8888 :-)