Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day 2021

Cassandra K. Moody, P.E.STEM

I am an engineer now, but as a grade school student, I had no idea what an engineer even was. Back then, nowhere on my radar was the thought to commit to solving problems for the rest of my life, nor the years of study and practice required to do so effectively. After all, I was repeatedly told, as a female I was expected to NOT excel at math and science.

 

Girls doing the build a pipeline activity

Fast forward to the present, where it is a personal passion of mine to empower and encourage future generations to pursue technical careers in solving the ever-changing and complex challenges of the world we live in. Only 21% of engineering majors are completed by women. Time For Change Engineering Consulting is a passionate advocate of women, especially grade-school girls, in engineering and technology through next-generation outreach, mentorship, and support of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) initiatives. We have partnered with the Society of Women Engineers- Houston Area to facilitate a Build A Pipeline Activity at this year’s Introduce a Girl To Engineering (IAGTE) Day. Try this activity at home with your future engineer-girls or boys!

Build A Pipeline Activity

The continuous improvement process Plan, Do, Check, Act or PDCA will be applied to this activity.

1. Plan: Background

  • Then: Rome used aqueducts to bring water sources from higher grounds to the city of Rome.

  • Now: The United States has 229,523 miles of oil and 319,374 miles of gas transmission pipelines to move energy fuels from production areas to end-users.

 

  • Aqueducts are a channel built to move water to the city
    • Gravity flow from a higher elevation flowing downhill to a lower elevation was used in the design.
    • Water was carried through underground channels, concrete pipes, or lead pipes where the city governments funded the projects.
    • When there were dips in elevation, a siphon was created to generate enough momentum of the water to continue the flow further downhill.

  • Women Working on Pipelines
    • Women comprised as much as 10% of the 28,000 employees on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Project between 1974 – 1977
    • Diane Schenker, a welder for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, is pictured on the right in the photo.

2. Do: Build A Pipeline Activity


Objective: move water from one cup to another.

Materials

  • Three (3) foam cups
  • Straws (non-bending, bending straws, various diameters)
  • Craft sticks
  • Masking tape
  • Not included:
    • Scissors
    • Water
    • Paper towels
    • Optional:
      • Food coloring
      • Honey, vegetable oil, other viscous liquids
      • Timer
      • Measuring cup

 

Procedure

  1. Use the scissors to carefully poke a small hole in the bottom of one Styrofoam cup.
  2. Insert a small diameter straw in the hole of the first cup (“straw cup”).
  3. Consider, design, and build a stand for the “straw cup” so the “straw cup” is a higher elevation than the “receiving cup” using the provided cups, straws, wooden craft sticks, and tape.
  4. Configure the “straw cup” and stand to empty through the straw pipeline into the “receiving cup.”
  5. Pour water into the straw cup.
  6. Troubleshoot, as needed:
    1. If there are leaks, use tape to repair them.
    2. If the structure elevating the first cup is not structurally sound, reinforce it.
    3. If the water does not flow into the second cup, re-design the pipeline system.

3. Check: Testing & Modification

See the download guides for accompanying videos to assist with troubleshooting.

4. Act: Data Gathering Activity

Constants: Use 50 mL or ¼ cup of fluid

Variables:

  • Use two fluids with different viscosities such as water and honey or water and oil.
  • Change the narrow diameter straw out with the thicker diameter smoothie straw and see how the average time to move the water changes.

Using a timer, record three-time trials for each fluid type and straw diameter. After recording the times, take the average of each test and compare the results to the hypothesis.

See the download guides for accompanying tables to record observations.

Downloads:

TFC IAGTE Build a Pipeline STEM Activity Leader Sheet

TFC Build a Pipeline Training Kit 2021

TFC IAGTE 2021 Pipeline STEM Activity Student Sheet

 

Science principles demonstrated in this activity: