The Three Color Mystery
How would you sort different types of apples—a mix of red, green and yellow—if you were color blind? How might engineering help?Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA. All rights reserved.
Students are introduced to an engineering challenge in which they are given a job assignment to separate three types of apples. However, they are unable to see the color differences between the apples, and as a result, they must think as engineers to design devices that can be used to help them distinguish the apples from one another. Solving the challenge depends on an understanding of wave properties and the biology of sight. After being introduced to the challenge, students form ideas and brainstorm about what background knowledge is required to solve the challenge. A class discussion produces student ideas that can be grouped into broad subject categories: waves and wave properties, light and the electromagnetic spectrum, and the structure of the eye.
Engineers use the properties of waves and light in the design of tools that we use every day, including eyeglasses, security systems, and communication systems. An ultra-fast device that uses light for communication between chips (like those found in computers and other electronic instruments) has enabled the design of even speedier computers.
Through this legacy cycle lesson, students are introduced to an engineering challenge and then asked to brainstorm solutions to it (challenges and generates ideas phases). Like engineers, students first identify the need and then determine the issues that must be considered in the design. Before moving to the research and revise phase of the legacy cycle, students must identify the information they need to acquire to solve this challenge. Engineers in all fields routinely follow the engineering design process, and this first step often proves to be the most critical in finding workable solutions.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Identify information necessary to solve a challenging problem.
- Group together similar areas of knowledge needed to solve a challenging problem.