Smart Buildings and the Internet of Things

822 Download(s)

Downloads:

Full Lesson Plan as PDF (126.13 KB)

Lesson synopsis

IOT‘Smart buildings’ meld environmentally responsible design with cutting-edge computing technology. This lesson explores the practical, scientific, ethical, and environmental issues that emerge in building ‘smart buildings’ that rely on ‘the internet of things’. Students work in teams using resourced technology to design and perhaps later implement, smart building solutions to make their school a better place in which to live.

Age Levels

11 - 17 years

Objectives

Introduce students to
the concepts ‘smart building’ and ‘the internet of things’
design principles and technologies that are used to create smart buildings
how computing solutions can support solutions for the common good
how sensors, message passing, and event handling implement ‘smart building’ technology

Anticipated learner outcomes

Students will be able to
explain what makes a building ‘smart’
explain how sensors, event handling, and message passing are used to support ‘the Internet of things’
design experiments to collect data on the environmental and social needs of a physical environment
develop a proposal for a solution to an identified need in a physical environment

Internet Connections

Designing Smart Building Environments: Exploring Careers in Engineering and Technology
http://ieeetv.ieee.org/careers/designing-smart-building-environments-exploring-careers-in-engineering-and-technology
Video on Smart Buildings
https://www.youtube.com/watch
Video on Internet of Things
https://www.youtube.com/watch
Electronic sensor kits such as SparckFun
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12862
First Robotics League sensors
http://www.robotshop.com/en/sensors.html
The Finch Robot from BirdBrain Technologies
http://www.finchrobot.com/
Arduino sensors
http://www.instructables.com/id/ARDUINO-TEMPERATURE-SENSOR-LM35/

Recommended Reading

http://www.buildingefficiencyinitiative.org/articles/what-smart-building
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_things
https://www.intorobotics.com/pick-best-temperature-sensor-arduino-project/comment-page-1/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Message_passing

Optional Writing Activity

As a team you identified an environmental or social need in your school that could benefit from ‘smart building’ technology that works through concepts from ‘the internet of things’. Summarize your identified problem and proposed solution and discuss how you would ‘sell’ the project to your school administration.

See all lesson plans

MATLAB graph
Cleve Moler

Cleve Moler improved the quality and accessibility of mathematical software and created a highly respected software system called MATLAB. He was a professor of mathematics and computer science for almost 20 years at the University of Michigan, Stanford University, and the University of New Mexico. In the late 1970’s to early 1980’s he developed several mathematical software packages to support computational science and engineering. These packages eventually formed the basis of MATLAB, a programming environment for algorithm development, data analysis, visualization, and numerical computation. MATLAB can be used to solve technical computing problems faster than with traditional programming languages, such as C, C++, and Fortran. Today, Professor Moler spends his time writing books, articles, and MATLAB programs.

Listen to what Professor Moler has to say about his life’s work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT5umwNSAxE

(x) Close
Bletchley Park
Dr. Sue Black
Dr. Sue Black

Dr. Sue Black has demonstrated the power of social networking. She used Web 2.0 technologies to help raise awareness of, and critical funding for, Bletchley Park, the UK World War II center for decrypting enemy messages. She has also been an active campaigner for equality and support for women in technology fields, founding a number of online networking platforms for women technology professionals. A keen researcher, Dr. Black completed a PhD in software measurement in 2001. Her research interests focus on software quality improvements. She has recently won the PepsiCo Women's Inspiration Network award, been named Tech Hero by ITPRO magazine and was awarded the first John Ivinson Award from the British Computer Society. In 2011 Dr. Black set up The goto Foundation, a nonprofit organization which aims to make computer science more meaningful to the public, generate public excitement in the creation of software, and build a tech savvy workforce. Read Sue's blog about The goto Foundation: http://gotofdn.org

(x) Close
Cursor
James Dammann

If you have used a word processor today, moved your mouse on your laptop, dragged an object around on your smartphone, or highlighted a section of text on your tablet, you can thank Jim Dammann. In 1961 during his second year at IBM and just one year after completing his PhD, Jim created the concept of what today we all take for granted -- the cursor. This idea he documented in utilizing the cursor within word processing operations.

After retiring from IBM, Jim went on to inspire future generations of software engineers at Florida Atlantic University. His work there too demonstrated his creativity for he spent considerable effort enhancing their software engineering program by integrating ideas and feedback from local industries into the University curricular. Today, Jim lives in the Westlake Hills west of Austin Texas and spends most of his time in his art studio. He wrote and published The Opaque Decanter, a collection of poems about art, which provided a new view at part of art history.

(x) Close
Punch card from a COBOL program
Jean Sammet

Jean E. Sammet was one of the first developers and researchers in programming languages. During the 1950’s - 1960’s she supervised the first scientific programming group for Sperry Gyroscope Co. and served as a key member of the original COBOL (COmmon Business-Oriented Language) committee at Sylvania Electric Products. She also taught one of the first graduate programming courses in the country at Adelphi College. After joining IBM in 1961, she developed and directed the first FORMAC (FORmula MAnipulation Compiler). This was the first widely used general language and system for manipulating nonnumeric algebraic expressions. In 1979 she began handling Ada activities for IBM’s Federal Systems Division. Ada is a structured, object-oriented high-level computer programming language, designed for large, long-lived applications, where reliability and efficiency are paramount. Jean has a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and an M.A. from the University of Illinois, both in Mathematics. She received an honorary D.Sc. from Mount Holyoke (1978).

(x) Close
CGA palette
Mark Dean

If you have ever used a PC with a color display you have been acquainted with the work of Mark Dean. After achieving a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee, Dean began his career at IBM. Dean served as the chief engineer on the team that developed the first IBM PC, for which he currently holds one third of the patents. With colleague Dennis Moeller, he developed the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) systems bus, which enabled peripheral devices such as printers, keyboards, and modems to be directly connected to computers, making them both affordable and practical. He also developed the Color Graphics Adapter which allowed for color display on the PC. Most recently, Dean spearheaded the team that developed the one-gigahertz processor chip. Dean went on to obtain a MSEE from Florida Atlantic University and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and is the first African-American IBM Fellow.

(x) Close
Image credits