Delivering the Goods: A Study of Hurricanes and Hydraulics STEM Integrated Project
Every year natural disasters occur all over the world. The damage caused by natural disasters can be devastating and cause problems with food and water supplies. The 2017 hurricane in Puerto Rico is an example of what happens when supplies are available, but distribution becomes problematic. In this unit students will learn about hurricanes and design a hydraulic arm to aid in the distribution of needed supplies to areas affected by a natural disaster.
This integrated unit will involve engineering, math, science, and language arts.
Engineering: students will design and build a hydraulic arm to solve the problem of distributing supplies in a natural disaster area.
Math: students will use data and ratio tables to determine how the amount and volume of supplies will be distributed by trucks to the areas affected by the hurricane.
Science: students will learn about how hurricanes form and the factors that contribute to the intensity of recent hurricanes and design a solution to mitigate the effects of a hurricane in a community.
Language arts: students will research uses of hydraulics and how they are used in everyday objects. They will write a persuasive essay to FEMA explaining how hydraulics can be used to distribute needed supplies after a natural disaster.
This project is brought to you by Cheryl Frye (CTE), Theresa Ladd (ELA), Anne Wills(Science), and Sarah Morton (Math), with support from the CTE Online curriculum leadership team and detailed coordination provided by the Course Team Lead Josh Bradley
