Before beginning the lab, students can be briefed on the role of engineers through the Discover Engineering website introduction and What's Engineering page. For this experiment, students begin by collecting household materials including cardboard, wire hangers, and disposable plates and cups. Then students work in teams to plan out the design for a machine that will sort coins or buttons by size.
Construction in my classes took an hour or more. After students have built their machines, it's time for testing.
Once the machines have all been tested, students can reflect and write reports of their success rates and possible ways to improve the machines.
Since the materials for this experiment are all reused junk, this lab would tie in well with a unit on environmental science and conservation.
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