Summer SAVY Session 6, Day 3, Intro to Chemical Engineering (Rylander)
Today was full of engineering success for your youngsters. We began the day with a discussion of properties of matter and how it changes, including chemical and physical changes, and then moved into some fun sculpting as we learned the difference between high-quality and low-quality play dough products. Their creations were out of this world!
We finally delved into the product creation aspect of chemical engineering as we examined a play dough creation process and the impact of each ingredient on the product-in-progress. The students really enjoyed mixing and developing their own unique descriptions for the products created as the ratios of flour, water and salt changed. This tied directly into our course objectives of using the engineering design process to improve a product. Students have been learning all about improvements and making good things even better by using their creativity and “engineer minds.”
Some ideas for extension conversation with your students:
- Which part of the engineering design process do you like the best?
- What did you sculpt with play dough today? How could you have improved it?
- What could you have done differently in your play dough creation process to produce a different outcome?
- If you could have added in any ingredient to your playdough, what would you have added and why?