Instructional Guide

Inquiry:The Ultimate School Bag

The World of Technology

Technology is about more than just computers.

A driving force of the economy in today’s world is primarily technology.

As with everything, technology has many risk and rewards.

Tradeoffs are common in technology.

Assessing Technology

Need to establish an individual method. Positive and negative impacts need to be

realized. Your personal perspective will affect the

way that technology is used.

Assessing Technology

There are several steps to simplify technology:

Identifying the origin of the technology Create a list of criteria Develop and answer a list of questions Review and conclude

During this unit you are going to:

Design, examine, and assess school bag usage.

Create a model of an ultimate school bag.

As a Design Engineer you will:

Create an address, logo and motto for the company.

Identify tradeoffs of the design. Follow the engineering design

process. Present your design to other

students in other classrooms.

Your Target AudienceWho will buy your product?

Decide who your target consumers will be.

Design your school bag to reach these people.

Identify a secondary audience.

Market ResearchWhat Do the Customers Like?

Examples of Questions you might ask:

What is their favorite color? What kind of materials will you carry in the bag?

Record the results of your surveys in a chart or graph.

Scientific Inquiry

Setting a goal Modeling Testing Evaluating Revising

There are five basic methods to the scientific inquiry process.They are:

Setting a Goal

Establishing objectives.

Conduct surveys.

Before You Start.

Important Terms: Criteria - The key or specific wants or needs according to personal or

societal preferences in conjunction with the constraints.

Inquiry - A process people use to study the natural world and develop knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas.

Trade-off - An exchange of one thing in return for another; especially relinquishment of one benefit or advantage for another

regarded as more desirable.

*Follow the Engineering Design Process to create your design.

Discussion

EngineeringDesignProcess

Step 1 – Identify a challenge

What style of book bag do you want to create?

Who is your audience? How will you adapt to their

needs? What do they like?

Step 2 – Explore Ideas

Brainstorm ways to make your ultimate school bag.

Choose the top 2 ideas.

√ Identify a challenge

Step 3 – Plan and Develop

Create a plan. Keep a journal of all your ideas

and work you have done.

√ Identify a challenge

√ Explore Ideas

Step 4 – Testing and Evaluating

Test your product with 3 people. What do they think of your

product? Are there things you should

change?

√ Identify a challenge

√ Explore Ideas

√ Plan and Develop

Step 5 – Presenting the Solution

What is the best thing about

your product? How could you improve your

product more? How well did your idea

compare to others? Would you do anything

differently next time? √ Identify a challenge

√Explore Ideas

√Plan and Develop

√Testing and Evaluating