How to Design a Better Smartphone Case
Cracked screens cause user headaches. What does it take to design a better smartphone case?Copyright 2014 Iwan Gabovitch, Flickr (CC BY-2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/qubodup/15204217150
Engineers create and use new materials, as well as new combinations of existing materials to design innovative new products and technologies—all based upon the chemical and physical properties of given substances. In this activity, students act as materials engineers as they learn about and use chemical and physical properties including tessellated geometric designs and shape to build better smartphone cases. Guided by the steps of the engineering design process, they analyze various materials and substances for their properties, design/test/improve a prototype model, and create a dot plot of their prototype testing results.
Materials engineers creatively design and use new and existing materials to develop innovative products and solve problems. They also use materials in new ways to solve problems. Materials engineering has existed since humans first settled, and arose from the need to create materials that enabled them to farm and build early cities. Today, whether we are wearing jewelry or clothing, consuming food, using electronics or sporting equipment, or using transportation—we all enjoy the fruits of past labor and research in the materials engineering field. Developments in materials engineering are predicated upon matching the chemical and physical properties of materials with product use and customer needs and desires.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Analyze various materials and substances for chemical and physical properties of matter.
- Integrate knowledge of chemical and physical properties—including how tessellations affect strength—during the design process.
- Design a prototype model by following the steps of the engineering design process.
- Create a dot plot based on prototype testing.