Resources for mechanical engineers

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has a website that includes very interesting and useful material for mechanical engineering students - and students in other engineering disciplines as well.

ASME home page: https://www.asme.org/

A sub-section of the ASME website is Newsletters and Magazine, which has a variety of articles from each issue of the magazine as well as 7 Newsletters.

https://www.asme.org/about-asme/news/newsletters?cm_re=News-_-Left%20Navigation-_-Newsletters%20Magazine

The articles in the Newsletters are accessible only to ASME members, but the articles in the Engineering Topics section are available online.

There a lot of engineering topics listed - from 46 engineering areas. These range from Aerospace & Defense to Workforce Development. Some of the topics are:

• Aerospace & Defense
• Applied Mechanics
• Automotive Design
• Bioengineearing
• Business Communication
• Computer-Aided Design
• Energy Efficiency
• Engineering Ethics
• Environmental Engineering
• Manufacturing & Processing
• Mechatronics
• Nanotechnology
• Product Planning
• Renewable energy
• Robotics
• Technology & Society
• Transportation
• Turbines
• Uncertainty
• Workforce Development

The topic areas: https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics?cm_re=Newsletters%20Magazine-_-GlobalHeader-_-Engineering

An article I've used with my students focused on the History of Air Conditioning, which included short technical descriptions of the innovations in air conditioning over the years. I'll write about the work we did with this in my next post.

S.T.E.M. magazine

The September 2014 issue

"Every teacher is a STEM teacher" is the idea behind STEM magazine, a non-profit electronic publication, and the underlying basis of the articles written by its contributors world-wide.

From the magazine website:

"Teaching is an incredibly challenging responsibility, therefore equipping and supporting our teachers in a variety of aspects is critical to teacher retention, motivation and attitude that directly effect student learning, inspiration and preparation for the careers ahead."

Website link: http://www.stemmagazine.com/

There are two issues as examples available on the website - January 2013 and May 2014 (as of October 2014), so teachers and students can read these particular articles:

January 2013:

• Northrup Grumman: Working to Enhance STEM at every level
• A STEM-Literate Citizenry
• National STEM Academy
• Success on Standardized Tests: Without Sacrificing Authentic Learning
• CSR: Shared Value and the STEM Education Opportunity
• GradFly Helps STEM Students Differentiate Themselves: Showcasing and Discovering Technical Projects
• CEISMIC: Integrating the ARTS into STEM Education

May 2014:

•  The Neuroscience of Joyful Education
• STEM in Our Daily Lives
• Weightlessness Does Not Exist
• Teaching Kids to Shift
• Alvis Meets STEM

The electronic magazine is available by subscription (US$20.00 per month) that is provided to an entire school, the teachers, students and families. It seems like a worthwhile investment.

Construction toy for girls to promote interest in STEM

The GoldieBlox construction toy

I've written two posts about programs and ideas to get children interested in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) - Inspiring tomorrow's engineers (May 18,2014) and Girls Who Code (August 24, 2014) - the latter a program specifically for girls.

Another interesting development for promoting girls' interest in engineering is a new construction toy designed specifically for girls by focusing on aspects of their learning styles. The company - GoldieBlox - now has a variety of toys that allow girls to enjoy developing engineering skills.

GoldieBlox website: http://www.goldieblox.com/

A description of the products from the website: "At GoldieBlox, our goal is to get girls building. We're here to help level the playing field in every sens of the phrase. By tapping into girls' strong verbal skills, our story + construction set bolsters confidence in spatial skills while giving young inventors the tools they need to build and create amazing things."

The GoldieBlox website now has other toys as well: GoldieBlox and the Builder's Survival Kit, GoldieBlox and The Movie Machine, GoldieBlox and The Spinning Machine, etc.

On the Business Week website there is a video (2:43) in which there is an interview with the developer of GoldieBlox, Debbie Sterling. She explains how she came up with the idea and then marketed it. This would, of course be interesting for students as an example of how an innovator brings an idea to the market.

Business Week video: http://www.businessweek.com/videos/2013-07-26/goldieblox-engineer-love-of-building-in-young-girls

On the Ideas Lab website there is an article about this product that also explains how Ms. Sterling started-up her innovation. The information can serve as a basis for discussion about how to get girls interested in engineering, and how learning styles of boys and girls differ.

In the article, Ms. Sterling says:


“I found that simply creating a pink building toy wasn’t enough. Young girls are far more avid readers than boys, and they internalize and learn more effectively through storytelling. … Through observation, research and a love for drawing, design and storytelling, I finally broke through with GoldieBlox — the first construction toy that comes with a storybook, aiming to introduce engineering concepts to girls. Girls follow Goldie through a series of adventures, where she is tasked to build simple machines to overcome obstacles. Building alongside Goldie, they learn engineering concepts and develop spatial skills along the way.”

Ideas Lab article: http://www.ideaslaboratory.com/post/95179520910/promoting-stem-in-the-pink-toy-aisle 

The article also has a link to a video (1:56) in which Ms. Sterling discusses the development of her innovation.

Students can follow the development of this innovation from an engineer seeing a need for a product, creating the product, raising funding for the product, and marketing the product. Finally, students can watch a very creative and interesting television commercial for GoldieBlox on youtube (2:07) in which a group of young girls who are bored with the usual "princess-type" toys decide to build an interesting contraption from those toys:

GoldieBlox commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIGyVa5Xftw 

Ideas Lab website

Ideas Lab is a website of GE that has articles contributed by “more than 170 thought leaders from across industry, government, academia and non-profit communities” in a wide variety of topics.

http://www.ideaslaboratory.com 

The Ideas Lab is described on the website as: “where influencers convene. It provides the platform to explore how new ideas, innovations and public policies will transform business, industry and the global economy – today, tomorrow and beyond.”

The Ideas Lab has the following topic sections:

• Make: production, manufacturing, products, etc.

• Move: transportation, logistics, trade, etc.

• Power: energy, environment, sustainability, etc.

• Compete: innovation, startups, the brain, etc.

• Cure: healthcare, health innovation, etc.

• The Lab: an archive of articles from the other sections

Many topics, of course overlap two or more of the topic areas, and are then found in both areas.

There is a lot of material to interest students in any area of engineering. The articles would have to be reviewed to see if not only the topic, but also the length, complexity and level of language would be suitable for particular learners.