Teacher guide
This activity introduces the field of mechanical engineering. Students explore the scientific concepts of hydrostatic pressure, torque, Pascal’s law. By constructing a model of a hydraulic arm, students realize how engineers use their knowledge of the previously mentioned scientific concepts and laws in order to design and build machines used in large scale constructions. Hydraulics has a wide range of applications. The challenge can be implemented from schools to science museum and science fair workshops. The primary aim of this activity is to motivate students and young people to become interested in science and engineering. In general, hydraulic arms can trigger and develop young people’s curiosity while making the process of learning about science much more attractive. This activity was designed in the framework of the STEMforYouth project.
Materials developed by students
Students from two Spanish Secondary schools (Tomás Navarro Tomás school and San José school) constructed a hydraulic arm in the academic year 2017/2018. The former school carried out in Technology regular lessons and outside the regular lessons, while the latter constructed it outside the regular lessons, during STEM workshops. Below, you can watch a video developed by San José school students, and images of the different hydraulic arms.
