Learn about Gears

This is a unit plan that combines reading informational texts with engineering principals and 3D printing. The students will be reading and note-taking about gears through articles, books, and videos. Next they will be working in teams to design a gear utilizing 3 dimensional shapes (as found in Tinkercad) and drawing Specification Documents prior to creating in Tinkercad. Finally, students will create their own gear using their Specification Document in Tinkercad for printing on a Makerbot printer.

Please note that the gears being designed are not supposed to be perfect. Part of the engineering and design process is to improve upon an original design. There is a planned reflection portion of the unit with the potential for revising the design and reprinting depending upon time and materials.