Written
by teachers for teachers, these ready-to-use, hands-on projects for technology
education and applied science classes are great curriculum enhancement tools.
They really get students motivated!
Simply
duplicate and use for as many students—and for as many times—as
desired. Our high-quality activities save you time and help your students
really understand the principles of technology and applied science. Projects
include teaching tools such as procedures, vocabulary words, quizzes, photos,
illustrations and much more.
Order
online and use them today!
Only
$6.95
each.
Links
to download your projects are included in your e-mail receipt.
Make
sure to include your e-mail address when ordering.
Projects are intended for unlimited copying and use by purchaser only. For
multi-teacher use, site licenses are available. Hard copies available at an
adjusted price. Please contact Vanessa Barlow at 734-975-2800 x 217 or vanessa@techdirections.com
for information.
Projects
will open using Adobe Reader. For a free copy, visit http://get.adobe.com/reader/l.
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©2010
by Tech Directions/Prakken Publications, Inc.
Mini
Projects, only $2.95
3-D
Visualization Practice with Cube Puzzles
Solving Piet Hein’s
cube puzzles gives students great experience with the 3-D visualization skills
essential to success with drafting, CAD and engineering graphics.
Mini project, only
$2.95.

Biotechnology:
Waste Management
Students learn how toxic
waste makes its way into water systems, what radioactive elements such as plutonium,
cesium and uranium are made up of, and how these radioactive materials can be
measured at a waste site. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Career
Posters
This activity combines researching
the details of various technical careers with creation of a poster that organizes
and displays gathered information. Students can introduce their posters through
two-minute oral presentations. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Creating
a Coin Sorter
With simple materials (cloth,
paper plates, plastic cups, tape, thread, etc.), students design and construct
a device to sort pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Cryptology
Scytale transposition ciphers,
substitution ciphers, picture alphabets, grill ciphers and one-time systems
are all covered. Includes two encryption activities, one of which requires middle
schoolers to build and use an encryption wheel. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Descriptive
Geometry Project
Descriptive geometry shows
that engineering answers may be found two ways: by using math and by drafting
an answer. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Designing
Machine Elements in CAD
Introduce postsecondary CAD
students to elements of three-dimensional industrial design. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Electric
Power: Decisions for the Future
Extensive background on the
use of electricity in the U.S., plus an experiment for individual students related
to personal electricity use and strategies for conservation. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Engineering
Design: Testing Paper Clip Strength
This project discusses the
roles of failure, conflict and serendipity, as well as production concerns involved
in engineering design, and includes an engaging, low-cost fatigue-testing activity.
Mini project, only
$2.95.

Factory
Layout and Planning
Discusses the different advantages
of process plants and product plants, and eight essential qualities of safe
and maximally efficient factories. Middle schoolers then design their own toy
factory layout. Project includes machine template, room patterns and accessories.
Mini project, only
$2.95.

Fire as
Technology
A one-week
activity gives students ample research and design practice and shows the life-or-death
importance of technological creativity and persistence. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Gears
What a gear is, how are they
used, how they work and how to figure out gear ratios are all covered in this
project. Students then build their own machines and measure the gear ratio of
their gear train. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Ground
Effect Vehicles
Students study hydrofoils,
aerofoils and hovercrafts—vehicles designed to skim across bodies of water
while transporting people and things. Project culminates in students building
a tabletop hovercraft. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Lasers
Four separate activities
make up this laser project. Students design and arrange the course of a laser,
then learn how to draw and measure angles using protractors. Next they draw
shapes and check their accuracy using a laser, and finally try their hand at
laser surveying. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Manufacturing:
PHD Blocks
The "pretty hard drawing"
(PHD) block activities give students practice with computer-aided drafting (CAD),
which is used in the manufacturing process to create working drawings of products
and their subcomponents. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Mass
Producing a Paper-Cup Dispenser
Mass-producing this paper-cup
dispenser teaches both mass-production procedures and woodworking skills.
Mini project, only
$2.95.

Planned
Community
You don’t have to look
very far to find a planned community nowadays, they’re all around us.
In this activity, students individually construct one piece of property, following
strict covenants, that together will make up one large planned community.
Mini project, only
$2.95.

Platonic
Solids
Students learn to identify
the five platonic solids (tetrahedron, hexahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron,
icosahedron) and construct paper models. They then play a baseball board game
that uses the dodecahedron-like dice. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Pneumatics
Background
on the use of pneumatics in industry, along with an introduction to the components
of a pneumatic system (regulator, pressure gauge, valve and cylinder). Plus
procedure for constructing a durable pneumatics mockup board and a pneumatic-circuit-design
activity for students. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Power:
Magnetic Levitation
Introduce your middle schoolers
to the principles of magnetic levitation and build a Maglev train! Includes
test questions, directions for assembling a Maglev train and Maglev train evaluation
questions. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Space
Dock & Worm Hole
In manufacturing, if an error
is made and not corrected at the beginning of an assembly, the error may grow
and grow. This concept is explored by having students plot the travel path of
a space ship to its home base. The "Worm Hole" activity helps students
locate points on a grid while using a protractor and ruler. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Structures
and Bridges
After learning about the
forces of tension, compression and shear, students build a simple beam-and-truss
bridge to test for its resistance against these forces. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Submarines:
Building a Water Elevator
With a syringe, plastic hose
and container for water, students build a small-scale elevator system in which
they can submerge and raise a small capsule. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Supertankers
Background on the physics
involved in keeping heavy ships afloat, plus activities for building four types
of small-scale boats. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Technical
Reading and Writing
Introduce your students to
the simple techniques of technical reading and writing. Includes a project in
which students create a CD-ROM Book Report. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Time-Motion
Study
Students set up, perform
and analyze time-motion studies like those performed in industry.
Mini project, only
$2.95.

Transportation
Signals
Background on the many types
of signals used in transportation, along with plans and schematics for four
model signaling devices that students can make: traffic stoplight, train crossing
guard, ambulance light and semaphore message light. Plus instructions for a
semaphore maze game. Mini
project, only $2.95.
Turbines
Build a simple turbine engine
and teach your students about the uses for and principles behind water, steam,
gas and wind turbines. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Twenty-Second
Timer
Using simple materials (paper
cups, rubber bands, paper clips, plastic straws, etc.) students construct a
timing device and learn the process of problem solving. From Technology Projects
for the Classroom, in ready-to-use format. Mini
project, only $2.95.
Understanding
Automotive Relays
Many students
have trouble understanding and working with relays. A trainer board and accompanying
activity can provide just the help they need to be informed about relay design,
function and testing. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Wanted!
Famous Technologists Posters
Students practice research,
word processing, design and information technology skills, and learn a bit of
technology history, in the course of making a poster of a notable technologist
or inventor. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Wing
on a String
This inexpensive activity
teaches students Bernoulli’s principle and how air speed affects lift--clearly
demonstrating how heavier-than-air flight occurs. Mini
project, only $2.95.

Wooden
Game Project
This lab
activity makes an excellent mass-production project. Mini
project, only $2.95.

The
Wright Brothers' Bat
Wilbur and Orville Wright
first showed interest in flight during childhood play with a toy helicopter
they called "the Bat." Students can build their own bats using simple
materials, then experiment and compete with flying them. Mini
project, only $2.95.

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