Grade 7 Engineering & Physics

32 of 36 lessons are MUST COVER. They are tested on the unit tests and exams, or are skills the SAT/ACT relies on. OPTIONAL lessons are enrichment. Do them if time allows. The course is complete when the MUST COVER lessons are done.

Unit 1: Energy and Engines

• MUST COVER 1.1 Work, Energy and Efficiency: Joule’s Paddle Wheel · unit test
• MUST COVER 1.2 James Watt and the Steam Engine · unit test
• MUST COVER 1.3 The Internal-Combustion Engine: Otto and Diesel · unit test
• MUST COVER 1.4 Conservation of Energy on a Roller Coaster · unit test

Unit 2: Bridges

• MUST COVER 2.1 Free-Body Diagrams and Equilibrium: Simon Stevin’s Wreath of Spheres · unit test
• MUST COVER 2.2 The Method of Joints: Wendel Bollman’s Truss · unit test
• MUST COVER 2.3 Cables, Chains and Catenaries: Hooke’s Hanging Chain · unit test
• MUST COVER 2.4 The Quebec Bridge: Buckling, Safety Factors and the Engineer’s Duty · unit test

Unit 3: Architecture and Structures

• MUST COVER 3.1 Stress, Strain and Strength: Hooke’s Springs and Kirkaldy’s Testing Machine · unit test
• MUST COVER 3.2 Reinforced and Prestressed Concrete: From Monier’s Flowerpots to the Walnut Lane Bridge · unit test
• MUST COVER 3.3 Foundations and Soils: Saving the Leaning Tower of Pisa · unit test
• MUST COVER 3.4 Wind Engineering: The Citicorp Center and Taipei 101’s Damper · unit test

Unit 4: Electronics

• MUST COVER 4.1 Resistors, Capacitors, Diodes and LEDs: From the Leyden Jar to the LED · unit test
• MUST COVER 4.2 The Transistor as a Switch: Bell Labs, 1947 · unit test
• MUST COVER 4.3 Microcontroller Inputs and Outputs: Sense, Decide, Act · unit test
• MUST COVER 4.4 Soldering Basics with an Adult · unit test

Unit 5: Public Utilities

• MUST COVER 5.1 AC versus DC: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Transformer · unit test
• MUST COVER 5.2 Dams and Hydroelectric Power: Building Hoover Dam · unit test
• MUST COVER 5.3 Wastewater Treatment: Activated Sludge and the Microbes That Clean Water · unit test
• MUST COVER 5.4 Radio Waves and Cell Towers: From Marconi to the Mobile Phone · unit test

Unit 6: Ships

• MUST COVER 6.1 Naval Architecture: The Metacenter and the Inclining Experiment · unit test
• MUST COVER 6.2 Iron Ships and Brunel’s Great Eastern · unit test
• MUST COVER 6.3 The Panama Canal: Lifting Ships over a Mountain Range · unit test
• MUST COVER 6.4 Container Ships and Ports: Malcom McLean’s Steel Box · unit test

Unit 7: Flight

• MUST COVER 7.1 Airfoils and Wind-Tunnel Testing: From Langley to the NACA Airfoils · unit test
• MUST COVER 7.2 Stability and Control: Cayley, Pénaud and the Tail · unit test
• MUST COVER 7.3 The Jet Engine: Frank Whittle and Hans von Ohain · unit test
• MUST COVER 7.4 Breaking the Sound Barrier: Chuck Yeager and the Bell X-1 · unit test

Unit 8: Robotics

• MUST COVER 8.1 Degrees of Freedom and End Effectors: The Canadarm · unit test
• MUST COVER 8.2 Feedback Control: Sperry’s Autopilot and a Coded Cruise Control · unit test
• MUST COVER 8.3 Sensors and Autonomous Vehicles: From Sojourner to the DARPA Challenge · unit test
• MUST COVER 8.4 How a Quadcopter Flies, and the Family Engineering Fair · unit test

Unit 9: Toy Lab: The Engineering of Play OPTIONAL unit

• OPTIONAL 9.1 The Pinball Machine: Solenoids, Switches and Scoring
• OPTIONAL 9.2 Slot Cars: Motors, Friction and the Banked Curve
• OPTIONAL 9.3 Game Controllers: Accelerometers and Gyroscopes
• OPTIONAL 9.4 Designing a Toy for Manufacture: Injection Molding and Toy Safety

From the course’s own 36-week pacing guide, with catch-up and review weeks added to fill a 36-week (180-day) year.

Grading: Builds (fair testing, measurement and the improve round) 35%, Engineer’s notebook (predictions, data tables, graphs, calculations, conclusions) 20%, Unit reviews 20%, Portfolio builds and reports 25%. Scale: A 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69. Below 60: redo the build or review with help.