Water turbines have long been used to make work easier for humans while minimizing energy consumption. They are not only used in small- and large-scale operations, but also provide a great context for Integrative STEM education. Students can begin to understand the technological processes available by designing, building, and testing different…

In earlier days, craftspersons sustained by the experiences of countless generations embodied in a tradition were able to create extraordinarily appropriate artifacts. Today, these traditions have largely disappeared to make way for knowledge infrastructures whose "components" are the bodies of knowledge created, advanced, and applied by…

Jamestown is at the heart of any teaching and learning of colonial American history. Stories of John Smith and Pocahontas are learned by elementary and secondary students across the United States. In Virginia, Jamestown is first taught in third grade and revisited five more times from historical, political, economic, and geographic perspectives.…

Wind turbines produce sound that is capable of disturbing local residents and is reported to cause annoyance, sleep disturbance, and other health-related impacts. An acoustical study was conducted to investigate the presence of infrasonic and low-frequency noise emissions from wind turbines located in Falmouth, Massachusetts, USA. During the…

This paper describes a student-centered approach to a power engineering technology course using the flipped or inverted classroom as well as active learning in the form of group discussions and team problem solving. The study compares student performance and perceptions of a traditional, teaching-centered classroom to two different flipped…

Traffic lights are an important part of the transportation infrastructure, regulating traffic flow and maintaining safety when crossing busy streets. When they go awry or become nonfunctional, a great deal of havoc and danger can be present. During power outages, the street lights go out all over the affected area. It would be good to be able to…

Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) are electronic speed controllers used mainly to modulate and reduce the overall speed and power consumption of an electrical motor. They can be used as soft starters for equipment that has a large rotational mass, thus reducing belt ware and large electrical peaks when starting large pieces of equipment. VFDs have…

Industrial wind turbines are frequently thought of as benign. However, the literature is reporting adverse health effects associated with the implementation of industrial-scale wind developments. This article explores the historical evidence about what was known regarding infra and low-frequency sound from wind turbines and other noise sources…

The purpose of this study was to determine if selected factors influenced the ability of students in school-based agricultural education programs to generate a correct hypothesis when troubleshooting small gasoline engines. Variables of interest included students' cognitive style, age, GPA, and content knowledge in small gasoline engines. Kirton's…

Improperly inflated car tires can reduce gas mileage and car performance, speed up tire wear, and even cause a tire to blow out. The AAA auto club recommends that someone check the air pressure of one's car's tires at least once a month. Wouldn't it be nice, though, if someone came up with a tire pressure-monitoring system that automatically kept…

A simple, affordable hydrogen proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell laboratory was developed through a collaborative effort between faculty and undergraduate students at Brown University. It has been incorporated into the introductory chemistry curriculum and successfully implemented in a class of over 500 students per academic year for over 3…

In the study of innovation institutions, it is important to consider how different institutional models can affect a research organization in conducting or funding successful work. As an industry collaborative, Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) provides an example of a privately funded institution that leverages the inputs of several member…

Energy issues are becoming increasingly common subjects of instruction in undergraduate- and graduate-level classrooms across a variety of disciplines. The interdisciplinary character of energy studies provides geographers with a great opportunity to present different applied and theoretical approaches to help students conceptualize energy issues…

The scalability of CMOS technology has driven computation into a diverse range of applications across the power consumption, performance and size spectra. Communication is a necessary adjunct to computation, and whether this is to push data from node-to-node in a high-performance computing cluster or from the receiver of wireless link to a neural…

The measurement of the force acting between two parallel, current-carrying wires is known as Ampère's experiment. A mechanical balance was historically employed to measure that force. We report a simple experiment based on an electronic precision balance that is useful in clearly showing students the existence of this interaction and how to…