Great resource website for engineers

Here is a website - eFunda - that is a great information resource for engineers and engineering students in all disciplines. The website explains itself as:

"eFunda stands for engineering Fundamentals. Its mission is to create an online destination for the engineering community, where working professionals can quickly find concise and reliable information to meet the majority of their daily reference needs.

eFunda is all about the basics, for most part, that means college level material covered in engineering schools. If you practice engineering, more often than not you would find yourself searching for something you knew but could not quite remember. eFunda wants to be your reminder of these formulas. Not only that, eFunda wants to tell you exactly under what conditions those formulas apply, so you don't have to read an entire chapter of the good old textbook."

Link to the website: http://www.efunda.com/home.cfm

The following sections of the website include these sub-sections:

Materials

• periodic table
• steels
• aluminum
• polymers
• etc.

Design Center

• plastic design
• gages
• springs
• o-rings
• etc.

Processes

• casting
• stamping
• molding
• annealing
• etc.

Unit Conversion

• length
• mass
• pressure
• time
• etc.

Formulas

• beam
• plate
• composite
• vibration
• etc.

Mathematics

• areas
• trigonometry
• Taylor Series
• least squares
• etc.

Explanations are simple, concise and focused. This is not only useful for students' knowledge (or refreshing of knowledge), but also a good example of straightforward explanation.

Other sections of the website include a Forum, where various technical questions are discussed; Magazines for free in a wide variety of engineering and technical areas; and Calculators, which has conversions of all kinds.

All in all, a great resource for engineers, engineering students and teachers of engineering disciplines.

How Products Are Made - website

From the website's home page

This website has a lot of material for both teachers (classroom material, background, etc.) and students (research, reading, personal interests, etc.). The website's description is:

"How Products Are Made explains and details the manufacturing process of a wide variety of products, from daily household items to complicated electronic equipment and heavy machinery. The site provides step-by-step descriptions of the assembly and the manufacturing process (complemented with illustrations and diagrams). Each product also has related information such as the background, how the item works, who invented the product, raw materials that were used, product applications, by-products that are generated, possible future developments, quality control procedures, etc."

Link to the website: http://www.madehow.com/

I chose Compact Disc as an example of a description of how something is made:

"Making a compact disc involves first preparing a glass "disc master." This master is then encoded with the desired information and put through a series of electroforming steps. In electroforming, metal layers are deposited on the glass master using electric currents. When the final master version is ready, its information is transfered onto a plastic disc. A reflective aluminum layer is applied, followed by a clear acrylic protective layer, and finally the label."

Read more: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Compact-Disc.html#ixzz36NjGBief

The explanation is clear, and provides a good model for students' own process descriptions. The diagrams are particularly useful both for students to understand and as models for them to emulate.

There are many "non-technical" products described as well, such as chocolate and chewing gum. Students will certainly find products that interest them and learn something new. Background information and history are given, then a description of the product, and finally a process description of how it is made - including visuals.

This is very useful for all types of descriptions, presentations, as well as basic information about products.

An extra section is inventor biographies - interesting for students to find out who developed these products, and how it was done.

The Engineer's Pulse blog

Visual from The Engineer's Pulse

In my post of 29 April 2014, I wrote about the Space Elevator, getting information from the website of National Geographic magazine. But on the blog The Engineer's Pulse there is a separate section for this topic. The blog itself is worth mentioning because it has a lot of interesting topics and information for students in many different areas of engineering.

http://theengineerspulse.blogspot.co.at/

On the website, it is described as "Explorations of how science, particularly the areas of Physics and Engineering, affects our lives. Topics include engineering industries, science education, philosophical anecdotes, evolving technologies, and exciting projects like the Space Elevator - written with a personal touch."

The blog is written by Stephen Cohen, a Physics Professor at Vanier College (Montreal, Canada). His master's thesis (Mechanical Engineering) describes the dynamics of a space elevator, and he has published several scientific papers on the topic. So his input is extremely focused and complete.

Another separate section of the blog is For physics students, containing physics articles organized by course subjects.

On the blog he lists his heroes:

• Carl Sagan
• Arthur C. Clarke
• Isaac Asimov
• Annie Leonard
• Stephen Hawking
• David Suzuki
• Neil deGrasse Tyson
• Peter Hadfield

It would be interesting to have students find out more about these people, and determine why they can be considered "heroes." What heroes do students have? Who would they add to this list?

Students will certainly find something on this blog that they're interested in reading about, and perhaps report what they've learned to the class - either as a presentation, discussion or a written assignment.

NASA's Curiosity Rover celebrates first Martian year

Photo from NASA/JPL

In my post on 24 March 2014 (Mars Rover landing explained), I wrote about the difficulties involved in a successful landing on Mars of NASA's Curiosity Rover. On 24 June the Curiosity Rover successfully completed its first year on Mars (687 Earth days), and seems to have celebrated by taking a 'selfie' (see accompanying photo).

So far, its mission is successful since it has already made one of the findings it was programmed for: to determine whether Mars has ever had conditions conducive to the development of life. After landing in August 2012, Curiosity Rover drilled into the Mars Gale Crater and found evidence of "essential elemental ingredients for life." According to the NASA press release:

"Analysis of these samples revealed the site was once a lakebed with mild water, the essential elemental ingredients for life, and a type of chemical energy source used by some microbes on Earth. If Mars had living organisms, this would have been a good home for them."

The link to the press release on NASA's website:
http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/june/nasa-s-mars-curiosity-rover-marks-first-martian-year-with-mission-successes/#.U6mpw5R_uxq 

The press release lists other major findings that have been made in the past Martian year, which would be interesting for students to discuss and then to consider what the scientific and engineering impacts of each finding could be.

The link also has a video (2:34) with an update report. The narrator speaks very clearly and at a slow tempo. So it's useful not only for information, but also for listening comprehension.

For more information from NASA about the Curiosity Rover:
http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/

Here is the link to an article from Time magazine about the "anniversary":
http://time.com/2913065/mars-curiosity-rover-selfie/

The future of mobile phones

In my last post, I looked at the jetpack innovation from the Smithsonian magazine's annual festival, The Future is Here. At the same festival, one of the invited speakers, Joshua Bell - an anthropologist and curator of globalization at the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum - spoke about new uses for mobile phone technology, and what the future could hold in store. The Smithsonian website has an article about his presentation.

The link to the article:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/the-future-is-here-whats-next-for-mobile-phones-180951479/#FU30Gu5FRoTOyx3V.99

The main ways he sees this device changing our lives are:

1. Mobile phones will become part of us...literally.
2. Intelligent operating systems will make us question what it truly means to be human.
3. Mobile phone owners will learn how to rewire, turn off and repair their devices.
4. Open source technology will promote democracy, connect us globally, and allow us to improve our phones.

The article explains each of these aspects.

Students could be asked to brainstorm ways in which they envision mobile phones changing our lives in the future, or they could be presented with this list of 4 ways and brainstorm what each would involve. Since all of my students have fairly advanced mobile phones (in fact, "smart phones"), they know a lot more about the technology than I do. Many of them are interested in working in areas that will lead to future mobile phone development. So I think their ideas would be very interesting.

They could then read the article and compare their ideas with those mentioned by Joshua Bell in the article.

To work with the article itself, you could exploit the wide range of tenses used in the article: past, present simple, present perfect, present progressive and future. The use of the future tense, in particular, is with 'will' to indicate predictions.

Further focus on the article could incorporate these questions:

• Describe the first mobile phone.
• What aspects of this device from science fiction films are mentioned?
• What predictions for this device are made?
• What advantages and disadvantages of these predictions are mentioned?
• What further predictions can you make - and what are the advantages and disadvantages of those?

It is mentioned in the article that Joshua Bell is developing a new exhibition for the Smithsonian with the working title A Natural History of the Mobile Phone. As more information about this exhibition becomes available, I will be looking for futher interesting articles about this device for my engineering students.

The Future is Here - with Jetpacks

Photo from cnet.com

The annual Future is Here Festival took place in Washington, DC on 17-18 May 2014. The event is produced by Smithsonian Magazine (see my post of 11 May 2014), and is described as "an annual celebration and exploration of science, technology, culture, and the arts, all gathered around the exciting and elastic theme of 'the future.'"

The link on the Smithsonian webpage lists the speakers each day, with information about who they are:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/future-here-2014-180949696/

After the event, I checked the website to find news that would be of interest to my students, and it seems the main event was the demonstration of a jetpack inside the main building. The successful ride took 20 seconds, and indicates that the future of jetpacks is here - although expensive and with drawbacks.

The jetpack tested at the festival costs between $100,000 and $150,000, but is not yet available in stores. Only the parts are available on sale. This model has a total range of 1,320 feet (402 meters), a maximum height of 196 feet (60 meters) and a top speed of 80 miles (129 kilometers) per hour. Pilots need 100 hours of training in order to successfully fly the jetpack.

A video of the flight is on many websites; here's the one from the Smithsonian website (00:45):

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/watch-man-fly-jetpack-around-dcs-ronald-reagan-building-smithsonians-future-festival-180951496/


An article on HNGN (Headline & Global News) has an article with links to other news sources:

http://www.hngn.com/articles/31759/20140520/future-is-here-festival-features-successful-testing-of-real-life-jetpack.htm

All the sources have rather short articles and the same video. It is reported that an upcoming Smithsonian channel program will focus on the history of jetpacks, including current and future developments. When that becomes available, I will be checking it out for my students.

Coverage of the festival can be found at:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/peek-futures-present-live-coverage-smithsonian-future-here-festival-180951445/

The topic, and certainly the video, will be of interest to my students. They are already familiar with this device from many films - from James Bond to science fiction. Now it's real. What engineering student could resist it?

Smaller car for the city

Lit Motors car

Last week (23-24 May 2014) the 7th Austrian UAS Language Instructors' Conference took place in Vienna, Austria at the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien. I not only organized the conference, but also presented a workshop on a topic that I focus on often in my lessons and in this blog: Integrating Reading and Writing for ESP Students.

I showed participants how I use a model text in the students' field of study to enhance students' reading skills, and then use the work we've done to relate it to the kind of writing they have to do in their studies.

The text I used was Lit Motors: Super-shrinking the city car from the BBC news website:

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130630-super-shrinking-the-city-car

This is a text I've used with my robotics engineering and mechanical engineering students to guide them to eventually write a process description. But the work we've done has also helped to sharpen their reading skills.

After students have read the text, I have them find the parts of the article that explain:

• what the innovation is
• how it is innovative
• what it looks like
• how it works

These are features they would have to include in their own process descriptions.

As part of the description, I have them notice how explanations are made to make the information understandable to a non-technical audience. This is an ability that is useful for them to develop.

Examples of these explanations include:

• Imagine if you could cut the size of a car in half, ...
• ...looks like a hi-tech, streamlined egg on two wheels.
• A spinning disc has a tendency to stay upright, just like a child's spinning top. If you were ever made to hold a spinning bicycle wheel horizontally at school then you will have experienced the physics at work.
• ...it will legally qualify as a motorcycle, meaning it can split lanes and park in motorcycle specific spaces.

Further work includes noticing features of vocabulary that can be useful in their own technical writing. I give them the following instructions:

• Highlight words and phrases in the text that indicate change; that is, what the innovation has done.
• Highlight words and phrases that indicate comparisons; e.g., advantages and disadvantages.
• This innovation focuses on the idea that the car is snaller than other models. Highlight vocabulary that indicates size.

After we've worked on a number of texts like this (and others that have been posted on this blog), I have a clearer model for students to focus on when they write their own process descriptions. And having students notice content and vocabulary features of a text helps them to develop their reading skills in English.

These advantages make such texts very useful for ESP studies - in addition to providing interesting input for class dicussions about the innovation.

Inspiring tomorrow's engineers

Image from Smithsonianmag.com website

In my last post I shared an interesting website that has a lot of useful material for engineers - and for teaching English to engineers.The website of the Smithsonian magazine (of the Smithsonian Institution) has a number of topic areas, including Innovation - which is where I usually look for interesting articles for my students.

Link to website:
www.smithsonianmag.com

But one of the sub-sections of Innovation is "Education," and I looked at the articles there for my own interest. So I was pleased to find an article called "To Develop Tomorrow's Engineers, Start Before They Can Tie Their Shoes." It seemed to be not only interesting to me, but also relevant for my students. I wondered how old they were when they first became interested in engineering - or their particular field of engineering - and how they became interested.

The article focuses on an educational program in the United States for preschool and elementary school children called Ramps and Pathways. It encourages young children - through games, building, projects and fun - to develop skills and interests that can be related to engineering.

Link to the article:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/to-develop-tomorrows-engineers-start-before-they-can-tie-their-shoes-16560619/

I decided to share it with different engineering groups, to see what they thought of the ideas and how they would add to them.

I had students brainstorm ideas beforehand: What does it mean to "think like an engineer"?

Then we recorded the ideas and discussed students' reactions to them. Then, to generate ideas for how to get children interesting in engineering, I asked:

• How had they been inspired to study engineering?
• What did they do as children, if anything, which made engineering "fun"?
• What is their advice for parents, teachers, school systems, and children to inspire more children to become interested in engineering?
• Do they have any particular advice for girls?

Subsequent to the discussion (generally for homework), I had the students read the article and highlight the ideas and suggestions. We compared them to the students' ideas, and then had them "rate" the advantages and disadvantages of each one.

Ultimately, we decided: What is the benefit (or possible impacts) of encouraging young children in the ways described in the article?

In addition to a very lively discussion with each group, there were a number of useful language points:

• language used for cause and effect
• e.g., "By building and adjusting inclines propped by blocks, children experiment with marbles moving along various paths."
• "To help the program expand ..., (educators) are intent on showing..."
• "One child, for example, was so intent on making his ramp work that he spent more than seven minutes..."
  
  By building and adjusting inclines propped by blocks, children experiment with marbles moving along various paths.
  
  
  Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/to-develop-tomorrows-engineers-start-before-they-can-tie-their-shoes-16560619/#8FIqvr7MTG6JjC6H.99
  Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
  Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on TwitterBy b
  By building and adjusting inclines propped by blocks, children experiment with marbles moving along various paths.
  
  
  Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/to-develop-tomorrows-engineers-start-before-they-can-tie-their-shoes-16560619/#8FIqvr7MTG6JjC6H.99
  Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
  Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter
• language to present examples
•  "Once, for example, Van Meeteren saw a first-grade student build a structure..."
• variety of tenses; explain the uses 
• children explore the properties
• she watched a little girl
• the method is mostly taking root
• she has been encouraging teachers

This article provided interesting material for more than two lessons. Many of my students wanted to learn more about this program, so I had them follow up on it and report back to the class. I think it gave them plenty of food for thought!

Smithsonian magazine for source material

I want to recommend a website that is a great source of material for all types of engineering courses. The website of the Smithsonian magazine has a marvelous variety of topic areas, articles, videos, games and visuals. This magazine is the official journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. This institution is a group of 19 museums and 9 research centers that comprise the largest and most diverse "museum" in the United States. It was founded in 1846 for "the increase and diffusion of knowledge." The institution's magazine certainly reflects that vision.

www.smithsonianmag.com

Main topic areas are:

• Smartnews
• History
• Science
• Innovation
• Arts & Culture
• Travel
• At the Smithsonian
• Photos
• Videos
• Games

Within the Innovation section (where I like to look), there are further topic areas:

• Education
• Energy
• Health & Medicine
• Innovators
• Technology
• Video
• Future is Here Festival (an annual event)

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/technology/

I like to browse through the "Technology" section of Innovation to find interesting articles for my students. Some recent headlines (April to May 2014) are:

• Here’s a Water Bottle You Can Actually Eat
• Checking the Claim: A House That Produces More Energy than it Consumes
• Inside the Science of an Amazing New Surgery Called Deep Brain Stimulation 
• Inside the Technology That Can Turn Your Smartphone Into a Personal Doctor
• Massive Flying Wind Turbine Could Offer a New Path to Clean Energy
• This Battery Could Charge Your Smartphone in 30 Seconds

In future posts I will be sharing the work I will do with some of these articles, but next week I'll focus on an article from the "Education" section of Innovation, since a topic I found there provided material for a very lively discussion in three different engineering classes of mine (robotics engineering, biomedical engineering and information technology). The area of engineering doesn't matter, since the topic focuses on engineering in general (What does it mean to "think like an engineer"?), and all my students had a lot to say about it. And, as usual, I'll include some ideas about features of language focused on.

Robotic ants for language practice

Photo from BBC website

The BBC news website has an interesting article about robotic ants developed in the United States that behave like a real ant colony. Their collective behavior helps robotic engineers design systems that work in a similar fashion to an ant swarm. This news item can also be found on many other websites - many of which present the article from BBC - but I particularly liked this article for its useful language features.

Link to article: http://www.bbc.com/news/21956795

The article has the features of process description that I assign my students to write in their own process descriptions:

• what is the innovation?
• what is it for?
• what does it look like / what is it made of?
• how does it work?

as well as including various features that make the information more accessible to a non-technical audience. I feel that the ability to describe an aspect of technology to a lay audience is very useful for my students' future professional careers.

Several examples from the article that illustrate this:

• ...robotic ants that they say behave just like a real ant colony
• ...their collective behaviour is remarkably ant-like
• ...just like an insect swarm
• This is because, like ants, the robots leave a trail that others follow
• ...along their route, leaving a "breadcrumb trail" of lights...
• (The robots each) have two antennae on top, which are light sensors.
• The classic example ... is the way in which we design information networks to move packets of data around. Ants don't have someone in charge telling them where to go, so you can (mimic this). For instance ...

Since the innovation is compared to real ants, there are many examples of comparisons in the text. Examples include:

• just like
• the robots leave a trail ...; while ants leave a trail ...
• got brighter every time
• exactly the same mechanism as ...
• Because ants taking the shorter path travel faster, ...
• ...which has already been used in...

There are several verbs used to report what people said, and I like students to notice these so that in their own writing they don't keep using the verb "say" (he said, they said). While the article uses this verb a number of times, it also uses report, explained, see, describe.

Finally, there are very useful collocations that I want students to notice and record in their vocabulary records, so that they can use these word partnerships correctly in their own writing and in presentations. A few that I've highlighted for them:

• equip with
• enable to move
• move forward toward
• avoid obstacles
• (move) through a network
• take cues from
• leave a trail
• set up
• connect to
• etc.

In addition to the article, there is a useful video (1:58 minutes) that describes both the robot ants and the process of their behavior. The narrator speaks at a very good tempo for students to understand, but is not a native speaker. The same video is also available on youtube:

Video on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snrro6P6Z-E

The work my students did with this article was not only useful for their language skills, but was also very interesting for them. They particularly liked watching the video, first with the narrator's description, then with the sound turned off so that they could describe what they were watching in their own words. The students agreed with a biologist who is quoted in the article:

• "And these things look pretty cool, too."