Lesson 7: Sports Engineering

Suggested Time: 60 minutes
Overview
Students will examine how clothes and accessories are designed for the needs of athletes, and consider how they would design items for their favorite sports. Then they will engage in a fun exercise in which they design their own shoes!
Vocabulary
Objectives
Next Generation Science Standards
Required Project Materials
Multimedia Resources
Optional Multimedia Resources
Before the Lesson/ Background Information
The Lesson
Part 1: Considering Sports Design (20 mins)
  1. Read The Kids’ Guide to Sports Design and Engineering with the class, engaging the students with reading sections of the material.
  2. Go around the room and ask the students to declare their favorite sport. Then have the students consider difficulties or obstacles related to that sport. Can they identify a problem that needs to be solved? Discuss ways of solving each problem.
Part 2: Design Your Own Kicks* (40 mins)
  1. Now the students will work on designing their own sports shoes. Tell them to consider both function and form in the design.
  2. As the students develop the design, have them fill out a National Geographic “Engineering Process” worksheet.
  3. The next step is to perform any necessary research on the product in the computer lab.
  4. Finally, the students will complete a sketch and color it. They should label any important details, then present the design to the rest of the class.
  5. Time each task. Just like “Project Runway”, the students will have to show whatever they were able to finish!
  6. *This can also be a group activity
Homework Due Next Class
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