Cool Puppy! A Doghouse Design Project
Students are given the engineering challenge to design and build doghouses that shelter a (toy) puppy from the heat—and to create them within material, size and cost constraints. This requires them to apply what they know (or research) about light energy and how it does (or does not) travel through various materials, as well as how a material’s color affects its light absorption and reflection properties. They work through the engineering design process as they build their doghouse designs and test them by taking thermometer readings under hot lamps, and then think of ways to improve their designs. This is a great project for learning about light and heat: energy transfer, absorption, insulation and material properties, and easily scales up/down for size and materials.
Can you design a doghouse to protect a puppy from the heat?Copyright 2016 Cynthia Dickman and Linda Gillum, Universities of Central State, Dayton, and Wright State
- 1 toy dog that represents the “found puppy” for the class, such as a 6 x 6-inch stuffed or plastic toy, to which students refer when designing, measuring, “buying” supplies, constructing the doghouse; note that a bigger “puppy” size increases the amount of project supplies needed
- markers, crayons, colored pencils, colored paper
- assortment of building supplies, such as Styrofoam, aluminum foil, paper, saran wrap, plastic bottles, cardboard, construction paper, straws, bubble wrap, felt squares, toilet paper rolls, foam plates and cups, foam squares, foam board, newspaper, craft sticks, mylar, etc.
- assortment of adhesives and tools, such as white glue, hot glue, tape, scissors
- light/heat sources for testing, one for each doghouse, such as a 250-watt full spectrum heat lamp that is UL approved; example bulb: https://www.ruralking.com/heat-lamp-bulb-250w-clear-2pack
- (optional) bigger boxes, into which the doghouses are placed, to help concentrate the heat
- numerous room thermometers; each doghouse test requires 2 thermometers (inside/outside doghouse)
- timer, to time 30 minutes
Contributors
Cynthia Dickman; Brett Doudican; Raseena Jacob; Linda Gillum
Supporting Program
Collaborative RET Program, Universities of Central State, Dayton, and Wright State in Ohio
Acknowledgements
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. EEC 1405869—a collaborative Research Experience for Teachers Program titled, “Inspiring Next Generation High-Skilled Workforce in Advanced Manufacturing and Materials,” at the University of Dayton, Central State University and Wright State University in Ohio. 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
2017 by Regents of the University of Colorado; original © 2016 Universities of Central State, Dayton, and Wright State