Cool Roof
This activity was selected for the Teaching Computation in the Sciences Using MATLAB Exemplary Teaching Collection
Resources in this collection a) must have scored Exemplary or Very Good in all five review categories, and must also rate as “Exemplary” in at least three of the five categories. The five categories included in the peer review process are
- Computational, Quantitative, and Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teaching_computation/materials/activity_review.html.
This page first made public: Aug 16, 2018
Summary
Learning Goals
Context for Use
The project described is typically completed in two weeks, with substantial class time being used for the design and construction of the structures and the data collection. Students complete their individual papers outside of class. Students will primarily use scissors and tape to fabricate their structures. Vernier hardware and software interfaces are our primary tool for the collection of numerical data. This activity is utilized as an assessment (in lieu of a midterm exam). The primary challenge in facilitating this project in another setting would be acquiring materials for the structures (2x4s, wood screws, etc.) and data collection prior to the beginning of the term.
At this point in the course, students are familiar with the MATLAB interface, mathematical operations, functions, 2D and 3D plotting, control structures, matrix algebra, symbolic mathematics, interpolation and curve fitting.
Description and Teaching Materials
Student Handout for Cool Roof Project. (Acrobat (PDF) 322kB Aug16 18)
Facilitation Notes for the Instructor (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 921kB Dec21 18)
grading_rubric.pdf (Acrobat (PDF) 153kB Dec21 18)
Grading Rubric (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 16kB Aug16 18)
Project 2 Overview.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 16kB Dec21 18)
ieee_standard_document_template.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 474kB Dec21 18)
Exemplar NOAA weather station data (Comma Separated Values 1013kB Dec21 18)
Teaching Notes and Tips
Assessment
References and Resources
https://www.noaa.gov/
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website. Provides access to local weather data.