Mission Possible (Engineering an Alarm) #4826

This was my favorite lesson by far! I especially loved the engineering design process and how clear the steps were in this and the nightlight engineering. This would work well in our engineering unit.
This had a lot of setup issues for students. Getting the pins right and hearing the sound in our classroom proved to give them some issues. We were able to work around this by turning it into a game and having everyone take turns. The group work helped significantly.
As the teacher in the room, I would need to ensure students understood where all the cables and parts needed to go. The images were extremely helpful and students were better at putting them in then me because of their tiny hands. Some students had trouble thinking they didnā€™t get the pins in all the way and and pushed too hard while others worried they would break them if they pushed too hard. Practice helps for sure! 20200709_20262720200709_203517

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@ArdusatExplorer-9148 I love the idea of having students create their own challenge. Maybe even have them think of who this would benefit and get them focused on the empathy part of the design process!

Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?
This lesson was a lot of fun and more challenging than the previous ones. Iā€™m not sure how I could incorporate it into my regular curriculum (I teach middle grades science). But, it would be a wonderful one for my afterchool STEM club. I think it would be challenging for them. But, once they figured it out, I would love to see what else they can do with it. There are lots of possible applications.

Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support to be successful?
I think the wiring on this one would prove to be challenging. There are lots of connections and itā€™s easy to be off by a row on the breadboard.

What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
I would expect that I would have to help guide them through the troubleshooting of their completed circuits. This is such an important skill for them to learn and this could potentially provide an opporunity to practice.

What does ā€œstudent successā€ look like?
Student succes would, at a minimum, be getting the circuit as described to work. But, I would hope that most students would be able to then go further and come up with some applications for it and/or some modifications that would make it better (for example, could it play a noise and light an LED so a hearing impaired student would be alerted as well?).

I thought this lesson was challenging but fun. I could see me trying this out with my middle school robotics students. I would love to see how they use the laser and mirrors to set up their alarms. I also think they would find the wiring a little challenging. Hopefully, their eyesight is better than mine! It was easy to get a little off when connecting the wires. If I used this activity, I would have to help them with the wiring. Minimally, I would like the students to be able to get their alarm to work.

I like this experiment, but ran out of free time before I was able to finish it (successfully). But I think this would go well with the design curriculum where there is an emphasis on designing, trying, then revising until you find success. I think group work would definitely be a benefit here.

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This was a challenging one to set-up initially but once I had the circuit built it worked very well. Feedback for the activity with this one for students is I would love to see instructions on the how/why they are building the circuit. Copying from the diagram or picture is ok but I found myself asking things along the way - What does this resistor do? Why am I adding this jumper wire?

Our gr. 8ā€™s do a light and optics unit and they build mazes using the law of reflection and laser pointers. This activity would be a great extension for them to include circuitry and some coding. My favorite part was manipulating the code to download onto the arduino to find a value that worked for my set-upā€¦I think there is great power in giving kids more chances to do this in all of the activities because it shows the coding connections as well. Maybe there are lessons out there through this platform that help students develop their coding skills too???

Success would be what I saw with my daughter doing this today - lotā€™s of trial and error to find the sweet spot for the laser and mirrors to work correctly and then making the cat walk through to set off the alarm. I think students would have fun with this part as well as it really was tricky to get everything alignedPXL_20220328_163500551

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Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?
This doesnā€™t really fit in my science curriculum but would be fantastic for my STEM class.
Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support to be successful?
I think the following directions on the breadboard. Also, students having the grit to get it to work. This was a little more complex and took a little more time.
What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
I would be monitoring studentā€™s progress and making sure the wiring is correct.
What does ā€œstudent successā€ look like?
Student succes would be success with the wiring and getting their set up to work. I can see this providing a lot of collaboration with each other.

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I think you could really have fun with these lessons - this isnā€™t necessarily part of my curriculum but with some tweaking and wordsmithing, I think I could tie it in most anywhere.
This was a bit challenging - I am not creative :frowning: - so, asking my students to be creative is something I enjoy doing. Then, I have to be willing to step out of the box, too. I would probably not use this with my fundamental students unless I really walked through it with them - this would be for a bit more advanced kiddos to play with or if you were able to mix up groups in a way that you had some strong students helping out.
This lesson would also require some time and supplies - lack of either might hinder us getting it done. I feel the students would want to keep engineering - redesigning - always wanting to do ā€˜moreā€™

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you are right! Lots and lots and lots of trial and error.
How neat that you got to do this with your daughter!! Itā€™s fun to see our kiddos excited to learn and take on new challenges

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Mission Engineering Alarm

  1. Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum (if the lesson is not a fit for the class you teach, how could the lesson be modified so that it is applicable to your curriculum)?
    For my Technology class, I can do this activity with my kids. I will probably start with activating the sound with the laser and then evolved to the burglar alarm challenge. I will probably start with just one mirror and then increase the number of mirrors.
  2. Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful?
    I would say the students will need support placing the mirrors. This lesson is a try and error. Also, they will probably need support taping the laser and the boards in a way that they donā€™t damage anything.
  3. If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
    Monitoring all the time to avoid my students getting 7 years of bad luck LOL. I broke a mirror in the process accidentally. Facilitating the way and holding the equipment to avoid disconnection.
  4. If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your studentā€™s role during the class. What does ā€œstudent successā€ look like?
    The students should be active learners. This is an activity that should be completed in one period (45 minutes). The students should be able to plug the sensors, run the code, and conduct the experiment in a set of try and error. Knowing my kids, I am estimating at least 8 iterations before they point the laser on the photoresistor using the reflection on the mirror. For not-so-patient students, I would say it could be a 1-hour lesson.

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Hi, knowing my students I would say at least 8 sets of trial and error. I agree with you supplies are a constraint. My school does not likes mirrors, so is going to be on the students and the teacher if we want to do this. Is going to be fun.

Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?
I think it definitely ties into the energy standards for fourth gradeā€“converting forms of energy and evidence that energy transfers as well as the big idea of waves and the 3-5 engineering standards. It also fits with the cross-cutting concept of systems and could be used to carry out the science and engineer standards.

Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support to be successful?
I would need to provide support via little videos, anchor charts, or mini lessons to go over the breadboard and basic circuits.

What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
I would use the gradual release model to slowly have my 4th graders working on their own in pairs. I would monitor and try to question them when they get stuck instead of giving them answers.

What does ā€œstudent successā€ look like?
Success looks like students getting their alarms to work and think of applicable situations for such alarm.

Iā€™d love to see the card you make and how you use them to explain the flow of electrical energy.

Good idea to gradually increase the number of mirrors and to give intentional lessons on how to hold the equipment especially the mirrors!