Bite of Science Presentation 26 September 2012 Barrett S Caldwell PhD Professor School of Industrial Engineering Aeronautics amp Astronautics Director Indiana Space Grant Consortium Im a Systems Engineer ID: 216361
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Engineering: Flavors, Models and Systems
Bite of Science Presentation, 26 September 2012
Barrett S. Caldwell, PhD
Professor, School of Industrial Engineering / Aeronautics & Astronautics
Director, Indiana Space Grant ConsortiumSlide2
I’m a Systems Engineer!
Studying How People Get, Share,
and Use Information Well, in Teams
I was on the faculty of Industrial Engineering at Univ. Wisconsin, 1990-2000
I’ve been at Purdue since 2000
My undergraduate degrees are in Aeronautics / Astronautics, and Humanities (Psychology), from MIT
My graduate degrees are in Psychology, from Univ. California—DavisSlide3
Why I’m an Engineer
I stayed up on Christmas Eve to listen to (Indiana native) Astronaut Frank
Borman
on Apollo 8
Building Rockets, Reading Science & Fiction, Psychology, Writing (Things I Loved)
Supportive Teachers and High School Introduction to Engineering (MITE) ProgramSlide4
Models
A model is a simplified description of the world. Models help us ask and answer the right questions, and test how to solve problems.
There is no one “right” or “best” model. Different models answer different questions. Slide5
Models Are Interactive Engineering Tools
Courtesy Carol
Stwalley
, Minority Engineering ProgramSlide6
Systems
Systems are groups of items and their connections that are organized and function together.
Studying engineering systems is one of “grain size”. The definition of system that works best is the one that helps focus on the questions most important to you.Slide7
Models Help Us Study How Real Systems Work
Courtesy Carol
Stwalley
, Minority Engineering ProgramSlide8
Passion and Productivity
Being an engineer (for me) is about passion: internal motivations, not just external expectations
Doing things I loved, and doing well
Positive outcomes, external and internalSlide9
Don’t You Have to Love Math and Science?
Ask a medical
d
octor if she or he liked Organic Chemistry (probably not)
Being good at it is important; loving it for recreation is not.
There are lots of areas of math, and many different kinds of science
I don’t like biology or bugs
F
luid dynamics has equations I find really hard
I don’t do Engineering instead of people; I do Engineering to study people better
Math and Science are good ways to talk about a subject—you can be consistent and specificSlide10
Flavors of Systems Engineering
Not Everyone Agrees on What Systems Engineering (or Systems, or Engineering) Means
Some Ideas and Examples to Think about, and Use with Students
I’m not good at K-12 lesson plans or exercises
I will talk about some examples I’ve seen or tried to useSlide11
Systems Engineering 1, 2
How Things Connect
Factors that relate to each other: relationships, time, flows
Ecology webs, How many students in a school, Ordering toys for Christmas sales
Note that we don’t have to talk about math yet
Mathematical Descriptions
Some of the people I work with love to spend their time here
Fox-rabbit populations, Dangers of unvaccinated kids, Forces on rockets as they burn fuelSlide12
Systems Engineering 3, 4
Parts, Wholes, and How to Put Things Together
Instructions and rules for creating and using things
How to build models and things that work, over and over
Rules for Managing Projects
Timelines, milestones, who does what in which order
Some people call this management
This isn’t really complex math eitherSlide13
Who Can Do Engineering? (More than you think)
Courtesy Carol
Stwalley
, Minority Engineering ProgramSlide14
Teach Your Kids to Be Engineers!
Lego™ are fantastic ways to teach and learn about building a complex thing out of simple pieces
The instructions are engineering process rules
Exercises at:
http://
ceeo.tufts.edu
Airplane and Rocket Models
These are tools for asking and answering questions, too
HS and College students can keep doing thisSlide15
Issues in Doing “Real” Engineering
Real Engineering isn’t about memorizing lots of math equations; it’s about solving problems
Read
Chris Rogers’ thoughts on STEM education
My frustration about single-purpose Lego
™
and over-constrained tasks
Learning to explore, find out what might (not) work… being okay with failing and learningSlide16
Great Examples of Engaging Young Engineers (with Project Activities)
Purdue Space Day
~150 undergrads and grads, Purdue alum astronaut, >500 kids (grades 3-8)
Each fall, Purdue football not home (logistics)
Examples of Activities
Grades 3-4
Grades 5-6
Grades 7-8
Past Activity Books? Interesting for you?
NASA Rockets to Race Cars
Celebrate Science, Oct 6Slide17
Questions and Thank You
Barrett Caldwell
bscaldwell@purdue.edu
Indiana Space Grant Consortium
http://www.insgc.org
insgc@purdue.edu
765.494.5873