Summer SAVY Session 6, Day 1, Intro to Chemical Engineering (Whiting)
We had an awesome first day in Introduction to Chemical Engineering!
In the morning, we started the day with a morning meeting and creating some agreements about class. We agree that: 1. We are kind. 2. We are listeners. 3. We take turns. 4. We do our best.
We deeply analyzed technology and engineering: two of our recurring themes or knowledge-bases in this course. As we look to developing understanding of chemical engineers and practice thinking and experimenting like them, we generated the definitions that technology is anything people use to solve a problem and engineers are people who create technology. We analyzed technology examples like flashlights and cars; these were easy to identify as technology! We also looked at some less intuitive examples like sponges and toothbrushes. We discussed that technology has existed for many years, even before electricity! Even though it seems silly to call a sponge technology, our definition needs to be expanded because of the work of chemical engineers; they work with non-electric or non-powered items every day when they work with chemicals to create technologies like the wipes and solutions that clean our homes or the gasoline that makes our cars run.
In the afternoon, we read a text “Michelle’s MVP Award” to apply and acquire new vocabulary, meet a chemical engineer, and get a sense of the Engineering Design Process.
Tonight, you can ask your engineers:
- What is an example of electric technology in our home? What about non-electric technology? What problems do these solve?
- How did Michelle act like an engineer in the story you read?
- What are some habits of engineers?
Tomorrow, we’ll discuss our big concept of processes and apply the Engineering Design Process in our first chemical engineering experiment!