Biofuel From Algae Hands-on exercise featuring the Engineering Design Process for learning Life Science Biofuel from Algae activity requires that you build a prototype of an algae machine and then improve upon its design. After you determine the best design, use the Engineering Design Process to build a prototype of and evaluate its effectiveness by analyzing algae growth rate.

Biofuel from Algae Sharing Identify the science involved. What factors made the prototype machine work better or worse? What different final designs did you see and which ones seemed like they would be the most effective? Why? What was the easiest way to measure the effectiveness of the machine? What was the most accurate? How much light per day should it receive? What was the most difficult part of this activity? What could be done to improve this activity?

Small Group Discussion Identify the science involved. Identify the characteristics of the Engineering Design Process. How does the Engineering Design Process differ from Science Inquiry? What are benefits to using the Engineering Design Process? What other activities have you done in class that you can modify to use the Engineering Design Process? What problems do you anticipate with your students and how can you resolve these issues? What is your biggest roadblock to using the Engineering Design Process?