Blue Sky Engineering Design Process

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Program Name: Advanced Manufacturing Technology

  Course Title: Advanced Manufacturing Technology 1

  Course Number: 9200210

  Career Cluster: Manufacturing

  CIP Number: 0615040605

  Course Type: High School Career Preparatory

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, “The Hole is Greater than the Parts.” See CPALMS resource ID# 219083.

• Career Connection

  
  

  Students will learn industry vocabulary, such as shop, industrial engineer, mechanical engineer.

  Students will use critical thinking to move through the engineering design process to determine a way to eliminate the slowdown in the shop. Using communication and collaboration skills, students will determine a solution and report to the class their conclusions.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Identify specific steps in the Design for Manufacturing an engineer used to solve a problem
  • Use parts of the Engineering Design Process to solve a problem
  • Use Collaboration skills to find a solution to a problem
  • Present a solution and the process for determining this solution.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with/able to:

  • The Engineering Design Process
  • The Design for Manufacturing principles
  • Collaborate

• Guiding Questions

  
  

  How can the product design and manufacturing process be made more efficient?

  What are the benefits and challenges of using the Engineer Design Process?

• Procedure

  
  

  1. Introduce the lesson by leading a discussion about their drilling experiences. Select from the following questions:

  • Have you ever used a drill? What kind of project were you doing?
  • What good advice have you received about using a drill?
  • Have you ever seen someone use a drill? What kind of project were they doing

  2. The teacher can lead another discussion by asking, “What challenges might there be for drilling holes in an airplane part?” (Possible answers: lining up component holes with other parts of plane, probably need multiple sizes, material is tough on drill bits, hard to drill the hole because of durability of plane material) End the discussion noting that “drilling holes in components” is a very important manufacturing skill. Lots of time and money have been spent figuring out the “best” way to drill holes.

  3. Explain to the students that they will be reading about a scenario which occurred in an airplane production plant.

  • Give each student a copy of the case study, "The Hole Is Greater than the Parts." Please see CPALMS Resource ID #219083. The students will read one of the three parts and then answer questions before moving to the next part. Select a reading strategy which is most appropriate for the students.

  Possible Reading Options:

  1. 1. A different student can read each section to the class.
     2. The teacher reads a section.
     3. The students read the section silently.
     4. Pairs of students take turns reading the section aloud to each other.

  4. Read the Background Section in the preferred strategy. Then the teacher can lead a discussion on this section by asking students to discuss:

  • What challenge is Blue Sky having?
  • What is the “shop” of an industrial plant?

  5. Read the Situation section in the preferred reading strategy. Then the teacher can choose to lead a discussion on this section using the following questions:

  • What principle in the Design for Manufacturing did the engineers use? (Show these principles to the students either on a website or a poster. While there are different versions of these principles, there is great similarity between the versions. John used the principle redesign the manufacturing process by reducing the handling of a material.) Be sure to underscore the importance of these principles.
  • What is the difference between what John is doing and the mechanical engineering design team? What can you infer about the work of an Industrial Engineer and a Mechanical Engineer? Review the work of each.

  Mechanical Engineers use a variety of sciences to design, analyze, build and maintain physical mechanical systems such as machines and components.

  Industrial Engineers design, develop, and test workflows or systems to manage industrial production processes.

  • What happened that allowed John and the team to create and install the machine and the resource center? (The plant manager approved funding and redesign of the shop.)

  6. Use your preferred reading strategy to have the students read A New Challenge. Lead a discussion on this section by asking the students to underline (on their handout) the problems with using the Resource Center. Discuss the current challenge to be sure students understand the current concern.

  7. Review the steps of the Engineering Design Process. The teacher can show the steps on a website or a poster.

  8. Hand out the attached, Blue Sky Engineering Design handout which will guide students through the Engineering Design Process. This form is blank, and students will be expected to discuss and fill out their responses for each step.

  • The teacher can also decide to use the attached partially completed form, Blue Sky ED Partially Completed. This could be used if students need scaffolding to reduce the amount of work (or time) needed to complete the engineering design process.

  9. Split the class into teams of 4. Each team moves through steps of the Engineering Design Process to determine a solution for the problems the resource center has created. (Please note that implementing the solution and testing the impact are steps which are omitted since students cannot do them in the classroom.) Teams will record their thinking for each step on the handout.

  10. Once students have completed the form and found a solution, they can determine a way to clearly communicate their thinking in a presentation to the class. The following are some ways to share.

  • Students could create a few PowerPoint slides to explain their solution and why they think it will work. Then present the slides to the class.
  • Students could create a handout with bullet points and then present it.
  • Students could prepare a five-minute presentation to present to the class to share their solution and why they think it will work.

  11. Once all teams have shared, to close the lesson, the teacher can ask the following questions:

  • What are the benefits and challenges of using the Engineer Design Process to create a solution in a workplace?
  • Which steps are you most comfortable using? Which steps are you least comfortable using?

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • This lesson could be completed over multiple class periods in order to ensure all content is covered.
  • Within the lesson, there are two different approaches and two different handouts (a blank form and a partially filled out form) for implementing the Engineering Design Process. Select the approach most appropriate for your students and for available time.

• Optional

  
  

  Teacher can share with students what happened in the scenario.

  • The design team created a separate cart for each drill operator. On one side of the cart were molds matching the shape of each tool to be used and a bin for each drill bit size. The other side of the cart had two separate bins for each used drill bit size. One bin was for drill bits that needed to be sharpened and another bin for ones to be discarded. Each drill operator was charged with the maintenance of their cart.