Hands-on Activity: Focus on Fabrics: Putting Materials to Good
Use Educational Standards : Learning Objectives (Return to
Contents) After this activity, students should be able to:
Materials List (Return to Contents) Each group needs:
Introduction/Motivation (Return to Contents) Your Engineering
Challenge: The Department of Agriculture is trying to prevent
the over- or under-seeding of crops. They are looking for
engineering designs to ensure proper seed spacing. One option
uses fabrics that have seeds embedded in them. Each fabric has
different characteristics. To make sure that the best fabric is
used for an application, the characteristics of the fabrics must
be studied. Today, you will perform tests on samples of
synthetic and natural fabrics, analyze the test results, and use
the information you gather to decide which fabric would be
appropriate for specific applications. Vocabulary/Definitions
(Return to Contents) Procedure (Return to Contents) The fibers
used in textiles for apparel and home furnishing