STEM for Nanotechnology Platform
Lesson 2 - Utilizing a pressure sensor
This lesson aims to teach students about a NEM’s sensor utilization. Furthermore, students learn how to use the 3D artefact for simulation purposes with an Arduino controller.
This lesson is dedicated to University students.
This lesson aims to teach students about a NEM’s sensor utilization. Furthermore, students learn how to use the 3D artefact for simulation purposes with an Arduino controller.
Learning Activities
Act.1 - Design a NEM pressure sensor
The conceptual structure of our device is shown in the next figure. Different from diaphragm, a piezo-resistive cantilever has a gap through which air exchanges between the upper and the inner sides of the cantilever. An air cavity was placed under the diaphragm as a reference pressure source. The idea here is to use liquid to prevent air leak through the gap. Yet the original point of our proposed structure is that, the liquid is kept to hang within the gap and not to leak through the gap. By miniaturizing the cantilever’s gap, we suppose that this structure is much more sensitive than conventional diaphragm, since the 300 nm thick cantilever is ultra-sensitive and easily deformed compared with rigid diaphragms.
Students design the next pressure sensor using the Tinkercad platform. Subsequently, they download the .stl file.
Act. 4.1 - Applying Computational Thinking techniques
Computational Thinking (CT) is undoubtedly considered a fundamental skill as reading, writing, and arithmetic in the 21st century. Janette Wing expressed that CT refers to the mental processes involved in formulating a problem and expressing its solution(s) in such a way that a computer—human or machine—can carry out the task effectively. Currently, CT has become commonly accepted as a problem-solving method which includes a set of concepts such as abstraction, decomposition, generalization, algorithmic thinking and evaluation.
Below, we demonstrate the way of applying CT techniques for the process of sensor design.
Step 1 - Decomposition
Step 2 - Evaluation
Students are encouraged to analyze the initial challenge and keep only the essential elements as key elements to design the sensor. Students leave apart of all unnecessary information. Thus, according to gas sensor specifications, they keep only the next picture semantics………
The next step since the student has printed the pressure sensor, is to evaluate it. This is a kind of simulation resulting a series of values which demonstrate the sensor utilization.
Practice
Assessment
- ineffectively tries to notionally separate the initial problem
- formulates a partly acceptable decomposed problem solution
- formulates a series of individual subproblems which are part of the initial problem
- designs solvable individual subproblems which results in the initial problem solution
CT Concepts: DE, AL, AB
- can not identify similarities and/or differences in a problem solution
- identifies some of the similarities and/or differences in a problem solution
- can tranform the similarities to patterns
- successfully applies the recognized patterns to the final problem solution
CT Concepts: GE, AL
- inadequately designs artefacts
- designs adequate artefacts but faces difficulties in the implementation phase
- creates “weak” digital artefacts (lack of stability, trustworthless, not tested, etc)
- creates solid digital artefacts, effective and well-designed
CT Concepts: AL, AB
- has no clear image of a procedure usage
- Knows that a procedure can be used to hide the detail with subsolution
- inadequately uses the procedures in a program solution (still needs improvement)
- perfectly designs, writes and debugs programs using procedures
CT Concepts: AL, DE, AB, GE
- can not recognize the role of accurate data in a problem’s solution
- partly effectively uses the notions of data and information
- can collect, organize, store data, and evaluate the resulting information
- evaluates the received feedback and improves the offered solution
CT Concept: EV