SHPE Jr. Chapter October 2014 STEM Activity
Students work in teams to design and build a model solar panel that folds into a small box without being damaged.
In this lesson, students consider the importance of folding in nature and engineering, and ways in which engineers use folding to create new products such as heart stents, airbags, and self-assembling systems. Students then work in groups to solve the design challenge of creating a model of a solar panel that will fold and fit into the box from a roll of aluminum foil. The model must be 1 foot
(30 cm) by 3 feet (90 cm), and 80% its surface must be dedicated to solar cells
(aluminum foil). Students build and pack their models into a foil box, and then unfold it. They compare their models and share observations and reflections.
Learning objectives

Learn how folding technology applies to engineering

Learn about engineering design

Learn how art and phenomena in the natural world can serve as models for new technologies

Practice teamwork and problem solving
Engineering/STEM areas:
Mechanical engineering, engineering design, properties of materials
Materials

Student Resource Sheets (attached)

Student Worksheets (attached)

Aluminum foil (enough so each team has 1 ft x 3 ft)

Boxes from aluminum foil with the metal tear bar removed (one box for each team. Other small boxes can be substituted.)

Materials to use for panels, such as cardboard, tape, rubber bands, popsicle sticks, plastic rods, straws, pipe cleaners, paper clips, glue, fabric, Velcro, paper, wood, and other easy-to-get items.

Ruler (one for each group)
Time required
60 mins
Suggested group size:
3-4
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Preparation
1. Read through the Student Resource to familiarize yourself with the background information and the questions students will answer.
2. Prepare the aluminum foil boxes (or other small boxes) for students.
3. Collect materials for students to build their models with.
4. Add a list of available materials to the Student Resource
5. Print student resources, one copy per student.
Procedure
1. Introduce the lesson by asking a few students to describe what they do to fit as much into a suitcase as they can when packing for a trip.
2. Point out that when clothes are folded or rolled, you can fit a lot more into a suitcase.
3. Distribute the student resource and go over the information in it with students. Make sure they have a sense of the following two concepts: a. Engineers frequently use folding as a way to store or transport an object, and to give it functionality and greater surface area later. b. Many of the inspirations for folding come from examples in nature.
4. Explain that students will design and build a folding solar panel that could be transported on a spacecraft. If you have internet access, you could show the video clip of the James Webb Space Telescope unfolding in space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpVz3UrSsE4
5. Group students in teams of 3-4. Give them about 20 minutes to come up with a design for their solar panels, including a list of materials. Circulate among them and be available for questions.
6. After 20 minutes, tell students to gather the materials they’ll need and begin assembling and testing their models. Remind students that professional engineers often go through many iterations of a design before they’ve gotten one they’re satisfied with, so the design students have now doesn’t need to be perfect.
7. After 15 minutes, give students a warning that they have 5 minutes left to complete their models
8. Have each team demonstrate their models. If there is extra time, invite students to explore and compare all the models and suggest improvements they might make to their own based on what they see in other models.
Assessments
After students build their models, have them present the model to the class. They should explain the process they used to arrive at their design, and whether they needed to make changes to thei r design once they’d implemented it. If so, they should describe how they came to understand what changes needed to be made and make them accurately so that the model worked.
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Extensions
- Invite students to make a list identifying three items that they imagine required a folding plan for either shipping or packaging, and describe how they know that.
- Tell students to research the materials and process used by Harvard engineers when developing the robot that can assemble itself and walk away. Some information you can use for background: o Video of the engineers explaining the work and demonstrating the robot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M1zNIVGrjM&feature=youtu.b
e o http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/162 o http://www.science20.com/news_articles/printable_origami_robot_e ven_folds_itself_then_walks_away-142210
- Have students design a page for a paper popup book. Several students could work together to make a short book. This pamphlet from the
Smithsonian gives some background on paper popup book engineering and the elements involved: http://library.si.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/general_pages/FPPT_brochure.p
df
Resources/Bibliography http://spark.ieee.org/2013-issue-1/folding-matters/ http://www.tryengineering.org/lesson-plans/folding-matters http://library.si.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/general_pages/FPPT_brochure.pdf
http://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2014/08/robot-folds-itself-up-and-walks-away http://www.prism-magazine.org/jan13/feature_01.cfm
video of robot self assembling and walking away: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M1zNIVGrjM&feature=youtu.be
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Oct 2014 SHPE Jr. Chapter STEM Activity
Introduction
An origami artist can take a flat sheet of paper and make it into a lion or a bird or a building by knowing how to fold it. Origami is really a type of engineering. With paper as the only material, origami makes use of folding to shape the flat paper into another object.
Folding may seem like a simple procedure, but it can be very powerful. Nature makes use of the power of folding in many ways. Buds hold folded forms of flowers inside them, a ladybug folds its wings under a protective shell when it’s not flying, and the function of the proteins in your body depends on how they’re folded.
One of the most useful aspects of folding is that it increases the amount of surface area that can fit into a given space. A parachute, for instance, needs to have a large surface area to create enough drag to slow the skydiver. Folding the fabric is a way to fit that large surface area into a small backpack. The cells that line your small intestine have many tiny folds which vastly increase the amount of surface area available to soak up valuable nutrients.
Engineers have long been inspired by folding in nature, creating many useful objects that incorporate folds. Heart stents, for example, are folded when a doctor inserts them into an artery. When the stent is in place, it unfolds against the artery walls. Parachutes and airbags are folded in a very precise way, to fit into a small shape and then unfold as they’re needed when the time is right. In
August 2014, robotics engineers at Harvard devised robots that can assemble themselves by folding into shape and then walk away!
Devising ways to fold molecules such as metallic compounds or DNA at the nanoscale is growing field of research. In
2012, the National Science Foundation became so interested in the potential for folding in engineering that it launched a new initiative based on applying principles of origami folding to the engineering of selfassembling systems. Many researchers see folding, especially on the nanoscale and with metals that have memory, as being one of the next engineering frontiers.
MIT researchers have developed a way to fold nano- and microscale polymer sheets into simple 3D structures. Photo / Nader Shaar
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Origami is changing astronomy
The power of folding isn’t important just in the small stuff. Folding will soon have a big impact on astronomy, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope (or
JWST). Other spacecraft, like the Hubble Space telescope, have had folding solar panels. But the JWST is so large, it can’t fit on a rocket without the telescope itself being folded. When the JWST launches in 2018, it will go almost
1 million miles out into space to reach its final orbit. Once the telescope is on its way to that orbit, engineers on earth will issue commands to unfold it. Its distant orbit and large size will allow it to gather data that will help astronomers understand every phase of the universe, from the first light at the Big Bang to the formation of galaxies and solar systems and the origins of life.
The JWST has a sunshield the size of a tennis court and an 18-segment mirror that looks like a honeycomb.
The sunshield will be compactly folded, much like a parachute, around the front and back of the telescope.
The mirror segments are mounted on the "spine" or backplane of the telescope and the segments on the left and right sides of the honeycomb shape are folded in the rocket.
The James Webb Space Telescope is so large that the entire telescope must be folded in order to fit in a rocket. (Image: NASA)
The JWST will unfold in stages: first its solar panel and communications antenna will unfold. Next, the five layers of sunshield will drop into place from the front and back, spread out into a kite shape. The "secondary mirror support structure," an arm-like feature holding the secondary mirror assembly will then drop down from its folded center perch, and finally, the side mirror segments will be moved forward to form the complete "honeycomb."
You can see an animation of the telescope unfolding at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpVz3UrSsE4
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Oct 2014 SHPE Jr. Chapter STEM Activity
Activity Procedure
Engineering Teamwork and Planning:
You’re part of a team of engineers given the challenge of developing a solar panel that can be folded into a box for shipping to the international space station. Your solar panel must be at 1 foot or about 30 cm, by 3 feet or about 90 cm in size when unfolded.
Research Phase:
Read the materials provided to you by your teacher. If you have access to the internet, watch the video showing the planned folding of the James Webb
Space Telescope at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpVz
3UrSsE4 Image: Try Engineering
Planning and Design Phase:
Consider what materials you will need, and choose them from the list below
(which your instructor has filled in). In the box on the next page, draw your solar panel and include a parts list.
Materials available:
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Materials you will need:
Build it! Test it!
Next build your solar panel and fold it. It must fit into the standard box that foil is sold in (about 12.25 inches or 31 cm long by 2 inches or 5 cm square).
Presentation:
Present your solar panel to the class and deploy it from the box. You should be able to open your panel to the full size you originally built, with no tears in the foil.
Reflection:
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