Pre-College Education

Hands-On Fluid Power Workshops

Fluid power is most easily understood by students of all ages when instruction is accompanied by hands-on experiments. CCEFP-led workshops develop hands-on apparatus to demonstrate principles of fluid power, create student and instructor guides appropriate for the targeted education level, and disseminate the results to the target population of instructors—middle and high school teachers. (Note, however, that these workshops can be used successfully with students of all ages.)

Hands-On Pneumatics Workshop

 The goal of this project is to create curricular material and portable lab kits for use in hands-on workshops about pneumatics. Modules will include: (1) a basic hands-on tutorial, (2) an advanced workshop tailored to experienced FIRST Robotics teams, and (3) web-based self-learning material, and 4) a module for PLTW teacher training courses and PLTW courses. CCEFP member companies are contributing by donating or offering discounts for kit parts. Materials have been field tested with FIRST Robotics teams in Atlanta and Minneapolis, with PLTW teachers, with RET teachers, and with additional groups of high school students. Workshops and kits will be disseminated nationwide through engineers from CCEFP member companies and CCEFP faculty.
[Project Leader: Will Durfee, UMN]

Portable Fluid Power Demonstrator and Curriculum

Faculty and university students working on this project have developed a demonstration kit and accompanying activity-based curriculum that teaches the basics of fluid power in a way that is complex enough to provide challenging learning experiences for teachers and students, yet simple enough to be economical, reliable and portable. The design and construction of the kit is finished and an accompany curriculum is posted at the CCEFP website. The kit includes materials needed to assemble a complete working mini-excavator, using water hydraulics or pneumatics, which can be built and implemented in classrooms or hands-on displays. Fabrication instructions for the apparatus have been developed for dissemination throughout CCEFP and its member companies.
[Project Leader: John Lumkes, Purdue]

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