The Glow Show Slime Engineering Challenge
Students learn about the engineering design process and how products may be reinvented to serve new purposes. Working in groups, students design a type of slime. After creating their slime, the teacher turns out the lights and the students see that the slime they made actually glows in the dark! The groups investigate how to take their new discoveries and apply them to industrial applications. Once they have determined a use for their glowing slime, each group must build/design and test their product outside of class. The groups then create advertisements (videos, brochures, performances, etc.) for their new product(s) or application(s), and present to the judges for review similar to a “Shark Tank” environment.
Glow-in-the-dark particles. How could this product be reinvented to serve another purpose?Copyright 2017 willemsince1977, Pixabay License, https://pixabay.com/photos/glow-glow-in-the-dark-granules-2304346/
For the glow-in-the-dark-slime (per group):
- 240 ml (1 cup) hot water
- 1 medium-sized bowl
- 110 g (4 oz.) clear non-toxic liquid glue (students may use white glue, but the slime will be opaque)
- 1 teaspoon glow powder, available online or in craft stores
- 2 teaspoons borax (sodium tetraborate or sodium borate, NOT boric acid)
- 240 ml (1 cup) measuring cup
- 1 teaspoon measuring spoon
For the entire class:
- microwave or electric tea kettle (to make hot water)
Contributors
Leander Taylor III; Dr. Naomi Halas; Dr. Oara Neumann
Supporting Program
Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Systems (NEWT) RET, Rice University
Acknowledgements
This curriculum was based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Rice University Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Systems (NEWT) RET grant no.1449500. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Copyright
2019 by Regents of the University of Colorado; original © 2018 Rice University
