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Lesson 3: Solid Object Modeling

3.8. Solid-Object Modeling: Week 2 Assignment Description

Your assignment for the second week of Lesson 3 is to use your new skills with solid-object modeling to create and share a computer model of a new technology—something of your own design.

The assignment does not require you to actually fabricate your new technology, but, because you will be engineering, you are required to design within specific constraints:

  • Your technology must solve a real problem in your actual life (professional or personal).
  • It must be something that can be realistically defined with a solid-object model (which should rule out "technologies" like a pan of brownies).
  • The technology must be something that could realistically be fabricated on a teacher's salary (not necessarily by you, though—if your technology includes a turned machine part, you need not factor in the cost of purchasing a CNC lathe, or the time required to learn to operate it).
  • It should be no larger than a refrigerator.
  • It should be ethical to fabricate and use. No clever student-restraint devices or smartphone jammers.

Sample Professional- and Personal-Life Solutions

Here are examples of professional versus personal solutions, if you need some ideas.

Professional-Life Solutions
  • a lid for a school-sized trash can, which repurposes it for recycling soda cans
  • a tool to help a student with a disability accomplish a routine school task
  • a standing desk, suitable for your classroom, for a student who doesn't like to sit
  • a base for a three-hole punch that doesn't have to be emptied frequently
  • a bird feeder that can be observed from your classroom and safely refilled through a window
  • a custom holder for some classroom objects (loaner pencils, hall passes, calculators, safety goggles, homework, broken glass, a "lost and found," etc.)
Personal-Life Solutions
  • a cubby to organize cell phones, tablets, and other devices while they are charging
  • a new bike rack for your home/garage/yard
  • a bookshelf sized to fit into some unusual space in your home
  • a washcloth-wringer for a person with arthritic hands*
  • turn-signal controls for a water skier's tow bar*

*These are technologies that, years ago, we observed high school students actually design, fabricate, and field test!

Submit your solution on page 3.9. Like last week, we'll use a discussion board to collect your work and allow for comments by members of our class community. Here's what you'll need to provide: 

  • a concise one-paragraph description of the problem and your solution: Indicate what modeling software you used.
  • a single image of your technology: Use an appropriate representation generated from your modeling software (2-D projection, 3-D screenshot, wireframe, etc.), and embed that in your reply. (Use the "Embed Image" tool in Canvas, which looks like a little mountain with a giant comet bearing down on it. Or maybe that's the sun?)
  • one or more file attachments: These should provide the actual model.

You'll see an example on page 3.9. Have fun!


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