Dive In: Oceanographic Engineering

Although some is known about the oceans, many believe that there is still a majority of the oceans that remains unexplored. The oceans are home to wide variety of organisms and are constantly changing. Humans rely on the ocean for a multitude of reasons including food, products, recreation, and energy. Engineering is involved in all aspects of harnessing these resources. During Dive In: Oceanographic Engineering, students will be engaged in identifying problems, designing, testing, and evaluating potential solutions

Synthetic Scorecard

Synthetic biology is a young field with promises of finding solutions to issues such as water and environmental pollution, making more nutritional food, treating cancer and other medical conditions, cleaner energy, and improving computer power. Biologists, electrical engineers, and computer scientists merged forces to develop this venture. Taking the approach of design, test, build enables participants to work together to develop methods of standardization, abstraction, and synthesis that are used while engineering biological systems. The genetic code of G, A, T, C can be written and programmed at the cellular level inexpensively with a predictable outcome. In order for this coding to occur, DNA must be able to be sequenced and synthesized. These processes and others require specialized equipment and protocols that have been shared with biotechnology. All of this has helped to develop a registry of standardized parts available for use in assemblies. This database has been developed through an international effort. http://biobricks.org/ about-foundation/. As the field of synthetic biology expands, so will the parts registry and applications of this technology

Engineering: Design & Build

Engineering: Design & Build focuses on investigating engineering. Student led teams conceptualize, build, test and acquire knowledge while becoming familiar with the engineering design process. Using an open-ended inquiry approach students are able to foster their creativity. Students learn to apply multiple skills and develop the habits of innovators. Students are encouraged to think about needs, requirements, and alternatives as they progress throughout the curriculum. Additionally, students consider materials, energy, inputs and outputs. Unit lessons combine generative, analytical, synthesis, and evaluative thinking to allow students to finalize their design choice and initiate construction

Out of the Silo: Agronomic STEM

Out of the Silo: Agronomic STEM is a grade 6 – 8 curriculum which highlights the interplay between science, technology, engineering and mathematics inherent in the field of Agronomy. The growing of plants for commercial use, particularly food, is the essence of agronomy and the heart of this curriculum. Agronomy in the Illinois region began long before Europeans arrived. Native Americans found the soil and climate well suited to growing corn and so it remains today. Fields for growing corn and soybeans dominate the state, as can be seen easily from the air. Students living in urban centers, who were unaware of Illinois’ rural nature, will use satellite imagery to see how dominant agriculture is in Illinois and come to understand just how much we all depend on the state’s number one business. Students who frequently pass through the countryside in an automobile will learn much about what they have been seeing out the window. No longer will it be possible to drive past a silo, combine, or field of corn without remembering what they learned in IMSA Fusion. These students will enjoy explaining to their parents what is happening in these fertile fields and how all the parts of this complex business fit together to keep us fed

Living in a Material World

Materials science is an interdisciplinary field concerned with the understanding and application of the properties of matter. Materials scientists study the connections between the underlying structure of material, its properties, its processing methods, and its performance in applications. Scholars have long classified eras of ancient civilizations by their progress in materials science, coining such terms the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. What is known about ancient cultures, especially those without written records, often comes from a scientific examination of the artifacts they left behind. Advances in materials science often went hand-in-hand with other cultural developments. In many cases it was the development of new materials that enabled advances in other realms of human accomplishment. When neighboring nations and cultures came into conflict, whether economic or military, dominance was often achieved by employing more advanced materials. Although its importance goes back to antiquity, the concept of material science, as a discipline of study, is rather new. Educational programs at the college level now abound and career opportunities in this field are very rewarding for those with the passion and ability to pursue them

You be the Judge

You Be the Judge introduces students to some basic principles involved in chemistry, the application of chemistry as well as process skills required to create and carry out meaningful investigations. After students have experienced the concepts in a lab setting, they will have a chance to apply their knowledge and lab skills in a variety of simulations throughout the unit. Students will take the role of experts and identify problems, develop methods of testing, and conduct the tests. After gathering, analyzing, and interpreting results, students will make and share evidence based decisions in a variety of settings

Secret Communications: Sharing Concealed Messages

Secret Communications: Sharing Concealed Messages presents learners with examples of various encryption methods. Opportunities abound to use inquiry as an approach to get into the mind of the code writer in order to decipher messages encrypted in various fashions. Exposure to such examples empowers learners with the capacity to transfer and extend their knowledge of logical schemes and rules to different and novel situations. This ability is an earmark of genuine understanding

Mars: Manifest Destiny

From the earliest days of space exploration, no other object has excited the imagination of writers, scientists, engineers, and the public more than Mars. A neighbor in space, and visible to the naked eye on many clear evenings, the Red Planet beckons. The development of modern rocketry was advanced by visionaries such as Robert Goddard and Werner von Braun, who always considered Mars to be their true destination. Today, we have the technology to make that dream a reality. What’s more, there is a compelling reason to go, beyond the human instinct for exploration. Life on Earth has suffered a series of extinction events over its long history and there is no reason to expect the future to be uneventful. Becoming a multi-planetary species is the surest means of securing a long and prosperous future for humanity. If Mars proves to be without native life, as seems likely given our current understanding, then human colonists will one day become “the Martians”. There is, however, another possibility. Although no evidence for life of Mars has yet been discovered, much research in this area continues. If native life, even microscopic, is discovered on Mars, then the moral equation changes completely. Past campaigns of colonization in the name of Manifest Destiny have had catastrophic results for native populations in the Americas and elsewhere. What would it mean for life on Mars? Could humans colonize Mars without driving the native ecology to extinction? Such questions cannot be answered without a more complete understanding of the Red Planet. Humans may go to Mars in the 2030’s, as currently planned. Most likely, they will find no Martian organisms to worry about. Even if they should, and governments decide against colonization, the discovery and in-situ study of Martian organisms would be the most astounding achievement of the century. There is no reason not to begin planning the first manned mission to Mars immediately. Your students begin today