|Course Schedule|Course Topics|

Our curriculum is developed by volunteering engineers who share their research or lab experiences through exciting, hands-on experiments. Many times these experiments are taken from the internet or from other master teachers. The uniqueness lies in the overarching story that strings the activities together. For instance we have topics such as the Biomechanics of Breakdancing in which participants learn about center of gravity, muscles, levers etc. We recently developed a course on Medical Imaging in which participants learn about X-rays, ultrasound and MRI used as diagnostic tools. The concepts they learn are reflection, refraction, waves, magnetism, resonance etc. The unique aspect is the story.

Course Schedule

We will be conducting 40 Family Science Courses over the coming year with our partner schools. Funding for these courses has been generously provided by the Office of Naval Research.

Course Topics 

Here are some of the topics our engineers have developed with some videos of the actual sessions.

Animal Locomotion

Biomechanics of Breakdancing

Bird-flight Aerodynamics

CardioVascular Mechanics

Heat Transfer and Energy Efficient Houses

Optics

Physics of MRI

Physics of Sailing

Renewable Energy

Science of Sporting Equipment

Structural Color

Animal Locomotion: Participants learn about the diversity in animal locomotion from a bacteria to a whale and how that diversity changes from low to high Reynolds number; a number that characterizes how "sticky" a fluid seems to an animal of a particular size, moving at a particular speed. Sessions cover topics on lift, thrust, center of gravity, drag, viscosity and buoyancy. Our Animal Locomotion poster and T-shirts support this course.

Biomechanics of Breakdancing: Participants learn about the complex interactions of forces in the human body when break dancing. They explore center of gravity by building working models of the human body and investigating loading effects on the model’s balance. They build muscles models and learn about simple levers. They also learn about angular momentum, velocity and gravity by building catapults.

Bird Flight Aerodynamics:Participants explore concepts of lift, drag, thrust and weight through designing, building and test‐flying model airplanes. The courses on bird and insect flight study fluid dynamics and viscosity in addition to the forces acting on the bird or insect. The animal flight courses explore center of gravity, pressure in addition to viscosity and balance of forces (Lift/Drag) by designing and building animal gliders. The gliders include flying ants, sugar gliders, flying frogs, geckos, snakes, squirrels and colugos.

Cardiovascular Mechanics:Participants learn about blood pressure and how the heart pumps blood against gravity by building simple working models using pipes of various diameters, valves and hand pumps. They also model scenarios in which the arteries narrow and harden and the effect on blood pressure. This is followed by an exploration of stents through simple experiments.

Heat Transfer and Energy Efficient Houses: Participants learn about conduction, convection and radiation by building model houses. For instance they learn about convection by having stack ventilation in the house and testing the circulation using incense sticks. They explore conduction by measuring the effect of insulation on the temperature inside the house when it is heated with a hair dryer. Lastly they learn about radiation by studying infrared images and by measuring the effect of color and reflectivity on the temperature inside the model house.

Optics:Participants develop an understanding of reflection, refraction and diffraction through photography based experiments (with pinhole cameras) and simple holography experiments. Participants also experiment with optical obstacle courses that test their understanding of reflection, rectilinear propagation of light and shadow formations.

Physics of MRI: Participants learn about the physics behind X-Rays, CT, Ultrasound and MRI. They learn how MRI machines image the hydrogen atoms in the body and how it sends, receives and processes the signals to make the final image. Our medical imaging T-shirt supports this course.

Physics of Sailing: Participants discover what makes a sailboat sail by experimenting with different types of boat and sail shapes. They develop an understanding for the forces acting on the sail, their direction and the balance of all the forces acting on the boat. They also explore density and buoyancy by building boats of various materials and shapes. This course can be followed by a sailing trip on which participants get to experience firsthand how to adjust the sails with wind direction to optimize for speed.

Renewable Energy: Participants design and build a city that works on wind, water, solar (and human) power. The class is divided into 4 departments ‐ housing, lighting, transportation and power generation. The departments develop energy efficient houses, lighting systems, public transportation systems and power generation (and distribution) systems. Course activities are modified depending on the grade. For instance, for 3rd and 4th grade students the activities would involve kits and ready‐to‐use wind and water turbines.

Set of slides describing the project (PDF).

Video of Paul Yarin (the originator of the Energy City Project idea) presenting at the NSTA conference.

Video of Tara Chklovski and Paul Yarin discussing the assignments, challenges and impact of the project at the NSTA conference.

Science of Sporting Equipment: Participants learn about the use of polymers in different types of sporting equipment. They learn why basketballs are bouncy, but baseballs are not. They explore strengths of different materials and determine which would be most appropriate for bats. Participants investigate different types of gloves, uniform materials and helmets. They also learn about the various parts of athletic shoes and make their own.

Structural Color: Participants explore simple optics principles such as reflection, refraction and light as a wave to develop an understanding of structural color. Activities are correlated to demonstrations of structural color in nature. This includes the examination (through electron microscopy), of the morphology of the scales of beetles, butterflies and squids, and particular species of fish. The course seeks to expose participants to a fascinating aspect of the natural world and demonstrate to them that an understanding of physical principles can add to the beauty of natural phenomena, which can, in turn, lead to technological innovation.