What if you didn’t have a cell phone……..
You would have a much more cumbersome life right now. Why do I point this out?
It is National Engineers Week,
a time when we should be celebrating the engineers in our lives. Because we all have them whether you are friends or related OR NOT.
There is not ONE THING that you touch in a day that did not involve an engineer making it possible for you to have.
Research Scientists come up with technical discoveries in the physical sciences, but they are just that, science. Engineers take these discoveries and turn them into the products that we use every day. From clothing to electronics to construction to mechanical devices, engineers use the discoveries to create the things we use everyday to make our lives better, easier.
Getting our children to understand that (and well, a great deal of adults as well), involves getting them to ask more questions about the things they touch every day.
Looking around their bedroom, classroom, kitchen, family room; anything they see can be an example of engineering to explore.
If they play sports, they can explore how their helmet is made, the balls, the shoes, the pads.
If they play music, how their instrument works, how it is put together, how it is made.
In our world of Composite and Plastic products, there are relatable real-life examples everywhere.
ALL of them spend their time holding and using a cell phone and or a game controller. It is made of plastic and encloses electronics.
For the teens that participate in athletics, we need them to consider their equipment, clothing and playing environment. In football alone, helmet, mouth guard, pads, even shoes/cleats are all made of composite plastic. They all perform specific functions that enhance the game or make it safer!
Parents and coaches can pose questions to them about how that equipment is manufactured. More importantly how an engineer designed it to perform its function.
Even the field beneath their feet, if it is artificial turf, it is plastic and those are little rubber balls spread into the turf to reduce the impact of their bodies hitting the ground!
This broadens out to even swimmers (high tech suits, goggles), skiers (skis, boots, poles), and track participants (synthetic clothing, shoes, baton, starting blocks for example).
Composite softball bats, tennis racquets, golf clubs, and even racing car bodies all made better by composite plastics.
Whether for safety or performance or both, plastic, and an engineer’s ability to make it into a product that teens use every day is the perfect in to talk about how STEM enables a person to make peoples live better!
Let’s talk science, in a context they can relate to!!