Driving Question
How can we plan, design, and model a biomass conversion plant in our community?
Focus on the Teacher
Context
Grade Level - 8th through 12th grades
Course - Technology Education, could be any number of courses such as Civil Engineering and Architecture or
Gateway to Technology
Number of students - 10-30 depending upon whether a rural or suburban school
Gender Mix - male/female, actual percentages will vary school to school
Course - Technology Education, could be any number of courses such as Civil Engineering and Architecture or
Gateway to Technology
Number of students - 10-30 depending upon whether a rural or suburban school
Gender Mix - male/female, actual percentages will vary school to school
Explanation of Question Suitability
The issue of new production plants is always an issue for any local town or county. This question brings the question home to this local area which will make it real for the students. It is ill-structured because it allows the students to explore all facets required to design and build a new production plant without limiting them. It pulls in all aspects from political to the sciences to technology.
How the Question Relates to the Curriculum
The driving question asks the students to plan, design and model a biomass convertion plant. While doing this the students will be working in small groups as they research and delevop plans to design the plant. They will need to evaluate inputs, impacts, as well as feedback to make informed decisions about plant materials, site location and more to complete the project. In addition, this is a unit that would fit within several different PLTW classes - it could fit into the lessons on commercial buildings in the Civil Engineering & Architecture course (high school) in the PLTW curriculum and it would fit within the Gateway to Technology course (middle school) in either the transportation or sustainable energy units. In addition, it would also fit well in the Engineering by Design course that is set up as a capstone project in the PLTW curriculum.
How will students stay focused on the question
As the students progress thorugh the PBL unit, they will have weekly schedules with objectives and activities that will help them plan, design and model a biofuel plant in their community. Working in small groups to research the biomass to biofuel content, students will keep an engineering notebook individually to document information, ideas and to stay organized. The teacher will also facilitate the groups as they work, post daily objectives on the board and do periodic checks of engineering notebooks for formative assessments.
Focus on Students
How is the question open-ended?
It is open-ended because there is no clear path to designing a plant for any one area. Biomass conversion is a big topic with a lot of areas that could be explored. In addition, the technology and engineering side of the design process is constantly changing and is broad in nature which allows the students the freedom to choose what they are exploring and implementing into their projects. Different investigative questions that could be pursued include what environmental concerns and opportunities should be considered when deciding where the plant should be built, what governmental regulations must be considered in the design of the plant, what characteristics are needed in a location that you would wnat a plant built on, what would an optimal layout for the plant consist of, what equipment needs to be included when designing the plant, and what concerns might the community residents have about a conversion plan being built.
Focus on Content
Description of how the unit is focused on biofuels
The students must understand the concepts of what will be required in the way of machinery, buildings, etc in order to successfully design a conversion plant for biomass to biofuels. Without this understanding it would be easy to not include everything that will be needed. For example, they will need to know what kind of processing machines will be needed, how many, room for them, power needed, and so on. This information needed is related also to the tech requirements.
Description of how unit is grounded in real life
This unit is grounded in real life in many ways. Some of The financial impacts involved with the building of the plant itself can and do drive where plants are built, the technologies that are used to build them, the materials, tools, and equipment that are used in building the plant, and how long will it take for the plant to show a profit in their return on investment.
There are societal issues that can be very long ranging and even confrontational in nature, and the engineering needs related to the design of plant layout, capacity and other factors. Looking into the regulations that govern all aspects of building a plant brings in the political issues and requirements (state, federal, and community) that will affect the engineering requirements design of the plant and where the plant can be built. Environmental concerns addressed by regulations and by the members of the community must be considered in order to successfully design a plant and account for things such as where a plant could be built, emissions from the plant, power usage of the plant and noise levels.
There are societal issues that can be very long ranging and even confrontational in nature, and the engineering needs related to the design of plant layout, capacity and other factors. Looking into the regulations that govern all aspects of building a plant brings in the political issues and requirements (state, federal, and community) that will affect the engineering requirements design of the plant and where the plant can be built. Environmental concerns addressed by regulations and by the members of the community must be considered in order to successfully design a plant and account for things such as where a plant could be built, emissions from the plant, power usage of the plant and noise levels.