1. Engineering in a Mathematics Classroom
Khrystal Martinez
February 7th, 2015

2. Todays Objective
Today we will discover ways to implement engineering activities into a mathematics classroom, through first hand experience of an engineering activity.
Connect activity to Common Core Mathematics Standards from varies grade levels.

3. Activity: Fling Machines Challenge
Students will design and build a device to launch a cotton ball and send it as far as possible, using only the provided materials.

4. Equipment and Materials
 Scissors 
Materials
 2 cotton balls 
1 balloon 
2 rubber bands
 2 paper clips 
2 straws 
 2 craft sticks or chopsticks 
2 pipe cleaners
12 inches of masking tape 
1 piece aluminum foil 

5. Procedures
Your team will have 15 minutes to devise a solution and document the solution both in writing and in graphical form with a drawing.
Your team will have 5 minutes to build your solution.
Your team will have 5 minutes to test your solution. Record the distance traveled by the cotton ball (to the nearest quarter inch) for at least ten attempts.
Finally, your team will have one attempt to demonstrate your solution.
Use the design process learned in Unit 1. Document each step in your engineering notebook as you complete this design challenge.

6. Design Process
Note: Helps to build creativity, innovation, and critical thinking skills.

7. Standards of Mathematic Practice (SMP)
Which SMP’s did this activity support?
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
Model with mathematics.
Use appropriate tools strategically.
Attend to precision.
Look for and make use of structure.
Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning

8. Standards: Primary Level
1.MD Measure lengths indirectly and by iterating length units.
2.MD Measure and estimate lengths in standard units.
4.MD Represent and interpret data.
At the first grade level you can have student compare and contrast the different distances between the cotton ball and recognize that one has traveled farther then the other. At At the second grade level student can receive practice measuring distances.
Another suggested activity for this level would be the straw rocket activity.
At the fourth grade level student can plot the measurements of the different distances on a line plot.

9. Standards: Middle School
6.SP.1-5
Develop understanding of statistical variability
Summarize and describe diminutions.
7.SP. 3-6
Draw informal comparative inferences about two populations.
Investigate chance processes and develop, use and evaluate probability models.
6th Grade:
Have student come up with or identify statistical questions.
Collect and record data.
Create a dot plot or histogram
Make observations about the data.
7th Grade:
In addition to what you would do at the seventh grade level student can compare the data between the different groups and make inferences about the quality of the product (fling Machine)
Students can also investigate the likely hood of future trails traveling a within a given distance.

10. Standards: High School Level
Algebra 1:
F-BF.1: Write a function that describes a relationship between two quantities.
S-ID.1-3: Summarize, represent, and interpret data on a single count or measurement variable.
Algebra 2:
A-CED: Create questions that describe numbers or relationships.
S-ID.4: Summarize, represent, and interpret data on a single count or measurement variable.
Algebra 1:
Student can practice working with quadratics functions by recording the path of the cotton ball, recognizing it as a quadratic, graphing it, building a functions, and identifying it a relationship between time a distance.
In addition to what students do a the middle school level student can practice looking at the shape and spread of the data and identify aspects such as median, mean, interquartile range, and standard deviation.
Algebra 2:
At this level this activity is use in the same way as the algebra one level but with lesson guided instruction and higher level questioning. Look at normal distribution and the area under the normal curve.

11. Questions?

12. Resources
Link to Fling Machine Challenge:
Other suggested activities:
Websites: