Evaluating Engineering Trade-offs

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Program Name: Applied Robotics

  Course Title: Robotic Design Essentials

  Course Number: 9410120

  Career Cluster: Engineering & Technology Education

  CIP Number: 0615030330

  Course Type: CTE Course

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, “Winning the Contract.” See CPALMS resource ID# 219013.

• Career Connection

  
  

  This lesson simulates real-world engineering decision-making by having students consider multiple perspectives, evaluate trade-offs, and defend their choices. Engineers often need to justify their designs to clients, managers, and teammates, making this a valuable skill for future careers in robotics, engineering, and other technology fields. The ability to analyze data (Critical Thinking), present arguments persuasively (Communication), and adapt to other points of view (Collaboration) are all durable skills that will benefit students in any career.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Engage in collaborative decision-making and persuasion.
  • Identify design considerations and justify choices based on trade offs and the intended environment.
  • Communicate and defend their ideas in a structured debate.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with/able to:

  • Constructive debate and persuasive speaking techniques.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • What challenges do engineers face when making design decisions?
  • Why might different engineering teams prioritize different factors?

• Procedure

  
  

  1. Begin the lesson with a class poll. Ask students, “Of the four categories, “Power,” “Weight,” “Durability,” or “Versatility,” what, in your opinion, is the most important factor in designing a competitive robot?"

  • Next, hand out the case study “Winning the Contract” (see CPALMS Resource ID# 219013) and the Engineering Trade-offs Table (see attached).
  • Have students read the case study silently and use the table to help organize their thoughts. Distribute the attached KWL chart.
  • Have students fill out the K (What I know) and W (What I want to know) in a KWL chart about the case study.
  • Save the L (what I learned) for the presentation and debate of the 4 corners activity. Finally, review key terms such as torque, tensile strength, pneumatics, voltage, mechanical advantage and any other terms that students ask about.

  2. Next, discuss the following questions about the case study with students:

  • • What were the main constraints in the robot design challenge?
    • What trade-offs did the team have to consider?
    • Which design factor (power, weight, durability, or versatility) do you think was the most important? Why?
    • If you were part of the engineering team, what design modifications would you make?
  • Make sure to emphasize the durable skills that students are practicing for this activity. They should be aware that employers are stating that they need employees who can use these skills and are finding that many do not have them. This activity is being used to promote student engagement by:
    • Encouraging critical thinking and collaboration.
    • Simulating real-world engineering discussions and decision-making.
    • Enhancing persuasive speaking and reasoning skills.
  • Have students spend a few minutes re-reading the case study and filling in any of the KWL sheet that they can add.
  • Prompt students to think about the four categories and start deciding which of the 4 they think is best for designing the robot. They should be making notes of the reasons why they have made their choice (based on the case study information and table) on their Engineering Trade-offs table.

  3. Introduce the 4 Corners Activity. Each corner of the room represents one of the four major design priorities:

  1. 1. Power (High Torque Motors & Strength)
     2. Weight (Light Materials & Efficiency)
     3. Durability (Stronger but Heavier Materials)
     4. Versatility (Balance of Design Trade-Offs)
  • The teacher should have the 4 corners of the room marked with each of these categories so that students know which corner to occupy.

  Activity Steps:

  • • Students choose a corner based on what they believe is the most important factor in the robot’s success. They should take their KWL sheet with them to add things that they now know.
    • To ensure that every student in the group has a chance to debate, each of the 4 corners can have at most 3 students on a "debate team." If a corner has more than 3 students in it, that corner should be divided up into subgroups of 2-3 members. Each subgroup spends 5-10 minutes discussing their reasons for selecting their corner amongst themselves, again, referring to the case study and table, and then prepare a persuasive argument to convince students from other corners that their category is the priority..
    • The teacher can use a fun technique, such as having each subgroup select a number from a container, different lengths of paper corresponding to the total number of subgroups, etc. to decide the order in which the subgroups present their arguments. Subgroups then debate, presenting their reasoning to the other corners.
    • After all of the subgroups have debated, students can change corners if persuaded by another argument. They should add to their KWL paper as they learn new things.
    • With students in their newly selected corner, have the entire corner briefly discuss why their selection if the best. Allow one final go around for rebuttals and final persuasions. If any students are again persuaded by this, they may move to their final corner.
    • Take note of the number of students in each corner and then have students return to their seats.

  4. In order to allow students to build connections to their future careers and reflect on their learning (their future of work), use these questions to facilitate a discussion to close the activity:

  • • How does this case study relate to real-world engineering careers?
    • What skills do engineers need in order to make these kinds of design decisions?
    • How do businesses and engineering firms weigh efficiency against cost?
    • What role does teamwork play in solving design challenges?
    • If you were an engineering project manager, how would you balance constraints and goals?
  • Finally, have students do a 3-2-1 exit ticket.
    • 3 key takeaways from today’s lesson
    • 2 ways engineering trade-offs affect real-world design
    • 1 lingering question they still have
  • The teacher may want to display these on the board or give each student a slip of paper with the listed bullets. They could also write these on the back of their KWL paper.

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • Ahead of class, mark the 4 corners so that students can select the proper location
  • Make sure there is enough room for students to congregate, and that there is space for students to write on their papers
  • Teacher may choose to give students a blank Engineering Trade-offs Table with only headings and have students fill it in themselves before evaluating their choices.