The basic idea of this course is to teach students basic mechanical design. They will start by drawing upon simple physical concepts, then learn about different mechanisms, then go on to design a machine or structure of their own.

Maths is to be minimized, design emphasized. Something should be designed and built *every lesson*, even if very simple, so that students get used to the design process and working with their hands. For example, for the 'torque' lesson, students could build very simple lifting levers or catapults with just pencils and cardboard.

Practical, rule-of-thumb concepts will be introduced from the beginning. Of particular emphasis are the Saint-Venant principle (3-5 critical dimensions), inefficiencies, sine errors (okay, so a tiny bit of geometry for that), shear stresses & moments. This is the other reason that students should be building every lesson - the only way to make these rules-of-thumb second nature is to continually be encountering the problems they are designed to overcome.

Students will be asked to identify mechanisms and properties in everyday life that correspond to the ones they are learning about. (e.g. bring something low/high friction to the next class, find something that uses leverage)

The only on-paper process that will be emphasized is force diagrams. Students should be asked to draw force diagrams every single lesson. Visualizing a system in terms of forces is the most important thing they can get out of this course!

The formal design process will be introduced from the beginning. The curriculum starts out with a CCB workshop, which will be referred to in the building exercises in the rest of the lessons.

At the point where students make their final designs, the design process will be broken down into more detailed steps. Students will practice visualization by making sketch models, and will use their new-found knowledge of mechanisms, structures and design rules to identify critical problem areas that they need to run tests on before building a final design.

I have included a list of “optional modules”. These would be included in the curriculum as reference for the teacher, but don't have to be taught unless they are relevant to the projects that students choose. For instance, if students were designing a piece of machinery that's handled a lot by people, ergonomics might be useful.

Lessons

Section: Conservation of Energy

Section: Force Diagrams

Section: Mechanisms

Section: Begin Projects!