Analysis of a Whole and its Parts: Cool Stuff

Education Fun,

There are two cool picture books I got from the library about understanding how everyday things work
by illustrating their various engineered parts. The books are called: Cool Stuff and Cool Stuff 2.0

The graphix are way cool and the description text is way brief and very informative.
Check them out; here's some pix:

These two books have lots of Cool Stuff and Cool Stuff to learn

about what Engineers do and how they make / (wo-man-ufacture :-) 

the everyday things that we use.

So enjoy your journey and start looking care-fully at some of the Stuff / Things you use everyday

and think about how it was made...

I would also suggest for starters, that you look "close-up" at the products you use everyday,

to find the small print that says what Country it was made in...

Does it say:  Made in USA

                     Made in China

                     Made in Pakistan

                     Made in Mexico

                     ... or somewhere else...???

Happy hunting and learning about Engineering and How Stuff Works...

phineas8888

A List of a Whole and its Parts: 61 "Compare and Contrast" Examples

[DRAFT:  61 items]        Nova-Ember: Star & Fire: 6, 2010

   A List of a Whole & its Parts:

   including “Compare and Contrast” examples

   by Allen Berg

1.  pencil v, pen  
2. flashlight v. desk lamp
3. paper clip v. stapler
4. ladder v. staircase
5. nail clipper v Swiss army knife
6. child's bike v. multi-gear bike
7. landline /home phone v. cell phone
8. 12” ruler  v.  12’ tape measure (eg. Lufkin Hi-Viz product)

9. scotch tape roll and dispenser  v.  duct tape roll and dispenser

10. 3-ring binder and paper  v.  spiral-bound notebook

11. scissors  v.  knife

12. wallet v. purse

13. dollar bill v. coin
14. dictionary  v.  yellow pages business directory

15.  hand tool  v. another one

16.  musical instrument  v.  another one

17.  shoe  v. another one

18.  lunch box  v. knapsack

19.  warm jacket  v. another type

20.  hand  v. foot

21.  wall clock  v.  clock radio

22.  calendar (USA)  v. calendar (other country etc.)

23.  flower  v. another one

24.  sandwich  v.  another type (or burrito etc.)

25.  door key and lock  v.  combination lock

26.  a bicycle bell v. a horn

27.  the human eye  v.  eyeglasses

28.  sports equipment  v. another type

29.  skateboard  v.  in-line skates

30.  school chair  v.  home chair

31.  food container  v.  another one

32.  comic strip  v.  comic book (or graphic novel)

33. crossword puzzle v. picture puzzle
34.  board game  v.  outdoor game

35.  a toy  v.  another one

36.  model construction kit  v.  another one

37.  phone bill  v.  tax return

38.  apartment  v.  house

39.  store  v.  another one

40.  newspaper  v.  magazine

41.  school  v.  another (elem-jhs-hs, or public v. private, etc.)

42.  snail mail  v.  email

43.  sports team v. another

44.  book report v. movie review

45.  puppet: hand, rod, marionette

46.  school day v. weekend day

47.  party or celebration v. another

48.  garden v. patio

49.  school map v. road map

50.  music band v. orchestra

51.  library v. gymnasium

52.  website v. another

53.  incandescent light bulb v. fluorescent light bulb

54.  breakfast v. dinner

55.  candy bar v. another

56.  hair style v. another

57.  clothes style v. another

58.  umbrella v. tent

59.  sentence v. paragraph v. essay

60.  textbook v. novel

61.  microscope v. telescope

Et cetera…

phineas8888

Engineering of Everyday Things -- A Lesson Plan

Engineering of Everyday Things -- A Lesson Plan by Allen Berg

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howdy Engineers and Imagineers
This is the 3rd page is my series about Engineering Curriculum Resources

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The Engineering of Everyday Things: Structure and Function
---The Analysis of a Whole and its Parts.
Lesson Plan by Allen Berg

[Photograph of a ball point pen disassembled: the clear plastic tube of ink, the small inner spring, and the 2 parts of the outer casing with their molded screw connection. ]

I am not incurious;
I like to look at things, care-fully
and understand how they work.
Observation and then description
are important tools of Science.

As you can see from the picture of the pen above,
Things have parts that make up the whole.
In this lesson, you will choose an object
and analyze its structure and function.

1. Name and define the object. (You can check a dictionary.)
The definition of an object is often its purpose.

2. Draw a picture of the object as a whole and as its separate parts.
2a. Take digital photographs of the object as a whole and of its various parts.
2b. Advanced students can use free 3-D software to produce computer-generated 3-Dimensional images. (Google’s “Sketch-Up” etc.)

3. Label each part.
Describe the material each part is made of.

4. Explain the function of each part and how it is related to the
whole object.

5. Look close-up and carefully at the object to find the name of the
country where it is made.

6. Evaluate the object:
a. Does it do the job it is supposed to do?
Rate its performance: poor__ ok__ good__ excellent__ etc.
b. What is the object’s durability?
How long does it last? Can you repair or replace the parts
or do you just throw it away?
c. What is its cost? Is this a “fair value”?
d. Would you recommend using this object? Why or why not?
e. Can you suggest improvements in its design?
List and explain your suggestions.
Provide a visual image(s) of your improved design.

7. Conclusion:
How does this object compare to similar objects, for use?
[Example of an “improved design”: the addition of a soft rubbery fingers grip… Photograph of the “improved” pen]

8. Share your Analysis with other students, family, and friends…
Be proud that you are a Beginning Engineer…

Allen (phineas8888)

National Geographic Magaine STEM (continued)

National Geographic Magazine Online STEM (continued)

Hi Don and other colleagues:

as promised here is the second link to a fantastic Engineering website:
"Design for the Other 90%" sponsored by the aforementioned Smithsonian
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum:
http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/

Coincidentally, the Museum just concluded a second in this series of exhibitions: "Design for the Other 90%" (it ended in September, 2010...) but I could not find any online links to their collection...
I guess that is still a work-in-progress...

ps: if you go to the National Geographic current link for Big Ideas -
Little Packages and read carefully the one paragraph about the "Infant Warmer", you will find a website link called:
embraceglobal.org
Which I higly recommend because they have a fantastic diagrammatic
explanation of the "Analysis of the Whole and its Parts" of their product... including a new fabric technology (called something like a "Phase Sensor Textile" )

Sincerely yours,
Allen Berg

ps 2: and the "Asthma Device" in the article is made from
"folded paper" !!! at 1/20th the cost of conventional Asthma Devices:
one dollar from paper vs twenty dollars for the other conventional product...

Allen (phineas8888)

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.

**********************

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 :-)

Astronomy Picture of the Day: the Pleiades Star Cluster

Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is a fun daily view of our Universe, with Professional
state-of-the-art Photographs accompanied by brief but very informative text explanations.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Whenever I need  an 'expansive view of things' (to counter-balance some of the stresses, routine here on Earth... I simply look up at our Moon and then some stars from the Constellations...
 (weather permitting :-)

And one of my favorite Celestial views is the Star Cluster called the Pleiades, which is visible simply with your unaided eyes... but if you have binoculars or a low power/wide field-of-view telescope, you're in for a treat: The Jewel Box of the Stars...

You can get more information online from Astronomy magazines and  organizations, such as:

http://ya.astroleague.org/

http://www.hobbyspace.com/Astronomy/index.html
http://www.jupiterscientific.org/virtualastronomer/amateurobservations/aointroduction.html

or at your local library, where they would know about local Astronomy Clubs in your community...

phineas8888

Paper Mozart Dance: Silent movie at Youtube...

Education Fun:

The previous post was about a Master Paperfolder who uses USA one dollar paper money bills
to fold and create stunning miniature sculptures.  I am an amateur papercrafter with little background in the specialty of Origami, but I have always loved working with paper for drawing and model-building etc.

I recently posted my paper cutout card of a traditional folkart design of a Tree of Life and Light.
The original card is 9"x12", so for color copying on standard 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock, I had to reduce the size for the copy machine.  This led to a narrow white border area on all four sides of the dozen prints I made.  I used an x-acto knife to cut (or "trim") these borders so that the purple background became the exact edge of the card, with no extra margin of the white border.  I cut these pieces precisely using a metal ruler to guide my knife. Some very thin slivers of white 'pearlescent' paper remnants resulted with curlicue spirals... I was about to toss them in the waste basket, as remnants, but for a fortunate moment before doing so, they caught my eye with "artistic possibilities"... 

So I now have a brief (2 1/2 minute) youtube video (silent movie clip) of their expressive forms...
to share with you...

I titled the video "Paper Mozart Dance" because the photographs I composed made me think and hear  Mozart's romantic slow Andante's for "Piano Concerto K467" and "Flute and Harp Concerto K299"...

But I decided to keep it pure and simple, and soundless/silent, so that you the viewers could hear your own music or choice of music...

Here is the youtube video link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2AtGu1PsIo


phineas8888