Shake+Things+Up+Unit

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Day One: Message from the Duo

Hi everyone,

We’re so excited to meet you! Our names are India and Jacob. We do a lot of traveling all over the world. We meet interesting people and see some amazing countries. Each place is unique, but we’ve found one thing in common. Everywhere we go in the world, we find problems that can be solved by engineers.

Engineers are problem solvers. They’re people who design things that make our lives better, easier, and more fun! We heard you might be able to help us engineer solutions to some of the problems we find. That means you’ll be engineers, too!

Today, we came across an engineering challenge we think you can help us solve. There are some animals living in a swamp along with lots of hungry alligators. The animals need to be at least 10 inches above the alligators to be out of their reach. India and I thought we could build a tall tower that the animals could stand on. Do you think you can engineer a tower to help?

India and Jacob

Day Two:

Hi engineers,

You did a great job engineering a tower to protect the animals in the swamp! Now you can help us engineer more technologies. Do you know that the things engineers create to solve problems are called technologies? Most people think technologies have to be electronic, but this isn’t true. A technology is actually anything engineered by a person that solves a problem. Think about an airplane as an example. An airplane is a technology because people engineered it and it solves the problem of traveling long distances quickly. But something as simple as a paper cup is also a technology. A person engineered it, and it helps people hold drinks without spilling them everywhere.

We have a detective challenge for you today. We sent you some objects and we want you to figure out if they are technologies. Lots of times engineers think about ways to improve technologies. Can you use the Engineering Design Process to imagine ways make some of these technologies even better?

Talk to you soon,

India and Jacob

[|Technology Used by Engineers] Engineers ePubBud Earthquake Info.

[|Earthquake Information] [|Earthquake] Earthquake

Structures Shared Document Earthquake Structures

Structures:

The Impact of Earthquakes on Buildings [|How do you build an Earthquake Proof building?] Structures Foundations

*
 * Day Two: Message from Duo **


 * Bonjou, engineers! (That’s how you say “Hi!” in French Creole!) **


 * Have you ever seen pictures of earthquakes on the news? When the ground starts shaking, a lot of buildings can be destroyed. **


 * We want to learn how to engineer earthquake resistant buildings—buildings that won’t be destroyed by an earthquake. We searched the web to find an earthquake engineering expert and became pen-pals with our new friend Bernard. Bernard works in Haiti where many buildings were damaged by a huge earthquake in 2010. A lot of the buildings in Haiti fell down because they were not engineered to be earthquake resistant. **


 * Haiti didn’t have any rules about how to build earthquake resistant buildings. These rules are called “building codes.” **


 * Bernard wants to help us engineer earthquake resistant buildings and write our own building codes based on what we find out. Will you join our engineering team? **


 * First, we need a way to model an earthquake. Bernard uses something called a shake table. We sent you instructions so you can build your own shake table and try it out. Let us know what you discover! **


 * India and Jacob, the Duo **




 * Adventure 2 Message: **


 * Hi engineers! **


 * Fantastic job constructing your shake tables! We can use the shake tables to test the model buildings we engineer. **


 * Bernard says we should start by making a building skeleton for our model buildings. He says lots of buildings have metal or wooden skeletons inside the walls where we can’t see them. The building skeletons do the same job our own skeletons do. They hold everything up. **


 * A building skeleton is made of lots of little pieces. We’re calling them building units. Jacob and I sent you directions on how to make one. If everyone makes a unit, we can stack them up and then use the shake table to figure out what shape and size skeleton is the strongest during an earthquake. **


 * Let’s use the Ask step of the Engineering Design Process to ask questions about what shape and size skeleton is the strongest. When we’re done, we will write a building code about it so people know what shapes and sizes are good choices. **


 * Let me know how it goes! **


 * India **


 * 10 Technology to Build Earthquake Resistant Buildings **

Adventure 3 Message: Hey engineers,

Did you notice that the building units slide right off the shake tables when you shake them? We have to figure out a way to attach them so they don’t slide around during an earthquake. Bernard tells us that earthquake engineers have to think about this problem all of the time.

You can use the Ask and Imagine steps of the Engineering Design Process to help you. Ask about how buildings you’ve seen in real life are attached to the ground and Imagine ways to attach your building unit to the shake table using some materials we sent along. Create and test some different ideas. For an extra challenge, try to use as few materials as possible and see if you can still stop the slide.

Once you figure out an idea that works well, write a building code about it and send it to us, so we can see what you’re working on!

Jacob