|
Hot
Air Balloon Project 1:
Hot Air Ballon Redux
Developed by Dr. Veronica Burrows and Dr. Barry McNeill,
Instructions to
Students
|
1. |
Balloon-a-thon
Rules/Design Constraints
The following rules include a number of
constraints and define the single “measure of goodness”
that will be used to determine the balloon’s
performance:
-
You
must construct your balloon using only those items
found in the
Cost Model. If you wish to
use some other material, you must document the unit
cost and obtain written permission to use the
new material. The material will be added to the Cost
Model, and other teams will be permitted to use the
material as well (i.e., no secret materials).
-
You
will be able to “charge” your balloon for up to five
minutes with very hot air. You will have a chance to
examine the hot air source in a future class. You may
not use any source of thermal, potential, chemical, or
mechanical energy other than the (ground-based) hot
air supply that I provide. You may use
auxiliary air-moving gear (such as a hair dryer with
no heat) to inflate your balloon before using the hot
air supply, but the thermal energy must all
come from the common hot air source.
-
Your
balloon must stay aloft at least 12 seconds after
launch. (See item 8 for a definition of time aloft.)
-
Your
balloon must carry at least 5 payload units. (See item
8 for a definition of payload units.)
-
As
demonstrated (while in free flight), your balloon
(including all attached items) must fit completely
inside a cube 2 meters on a side.
-
The
cost of your balloon must be less than $20,
considering all materials purchased new. Even if you
actually construct your balloon from found or donated
materials, you must cost them as if they were new.
The cost includes all items used as a structural part
of the device, all item used to hold the device
together (e.g., screws, paper clips, glue, staples,
etc.), any parts or material used to make the device
function (e.g., launching platform, payload basket,
hot-air charging tube, etc.) Non-functional
decorations such as pencil, paint, marker, decals,
stamps, etc., do not need to be included in the cost,
so feel free to be creative here!
-
The
design and operation of your balloon must be
reasonably safe.
-
The
Balloon-a-thon winner will be the team that, after
first meeting all of constraints 1 through 7,
maximizes the performance metric (measure of
goodness):
Performance Metric = time aloft * payload
* model accuracy
Where:
time aloft
= the number of seconds after launch that the balloon
remains in the air not touching anything attached to or
touching the ground
payload
= the number of peppermint Life Savers® carried
(provided by the Instructor)
model accuracy
= min
9.
The consequences of
the team’s balloon performance are as follows:
-
The
winning team will earn an automatic “Wow” for item 9
on the project checklists (p2.1
and
p2.2).
-
Teams that do not meet the minimum
competition requirements (items 1 through 7 listed
above) will receive a “Weak” for item 9 on the
project checklists.
|
|
2. |
Project Tasks
The following
tasks are not necessarily in chronological order. (Some
of these will be started in class.)
·
Design, build, and demonstrate a hot air
balloon that satisfies the constraints defined in the
competition rules.
·
Document your design process and present
the documentation in a team Design Notebook (See
Design Notebook Description and
Design Notebook Format Checklist). The Notebook
will be the primary source of evidence used to assess
the team’s design mastery level.
·
Complete the
Modeling Assignment, which requires the team to
develop a set of models that predict the performance
(i.e., time aloft) of their balloon.
·
Modify the course
Cost Model to include only those materials used in
your team’s design.
·
Participate (all team members) in the
Balloon-a-thon competition.
·
Prepare a brief progress report. The
purpose of the report is to convince the instructor that
the team worked effectively as it moved forward and
completed the project, and that the team is aware of
what it has learned about the design process and the
skills, tools and techniques needed to carry out the
process. This report will allow your team to summarize
its efforts, i.e., give an overview of what has been
accomplished and to discuss the overall learning that
has taken place as you worked in the project. This
report serves as the post-assignment reflection for
Project 2. The report will consist of descriptive text
written in complete sentences and paragraphs, with
figure, tables, graphs, and completed templates used to
support the text. While technically you should not be
able to refer to tables, figures, and work within the
Notebook,
such references in the progress report will be
permitted. Refer to Progress Review Checklist 1 (P2.1)
and Progress Review Checklist (P2.2).
·
Complete two
Team Self Assessments. (The second one must contain
explicit reference to progress since the first
Team Self Assessment.)
·
Complete the Team Code of Conduct (Team
Norms and Communication)—this will be started in
class.
·
Complete a Competency Analysis of your
work. You will review your work in the Design Notebook
and select three examples of work that demonstrate the
highest level of learning achieved by the team. For
each example you are to:
1.
State the competencies for which the work
demonstrates mastery. (See the
Competency Matrix for a list of possible
competencies—this will be discussed in class.);
2.
Complete the
Work Assessment Table to justify the claimed level
of learning mastery (this will also be discussed in
class). |
|
3. |
Project
Deliverables
-
Final balloon design and demonstration
-
Design Notebook (which includes other project-related
assignments such as the revised Cost Model, the Team
Self-Assessments, and the Team Code of Conduct).
-
Progress Reports
|
Instruction
to Students |
Handouts
|
