February 27, 2019 : Our Cities’ Systems

The Mini Page is a syndicated, four-page tabloid written for young children found each Wednesday in The Denver Post. This issue of The Mini Page is available through the eEdition Archive to registered eEdition subscribers

Click here to download the PDF for this lesson

Activities:

1. Make “systems” trading cards. Write one of the bold words in today’s MiniPage on one side of your card. On the back, write the system where you would find that word. Shuffle the cards. Show a friend the bold word and ask if he/she can name the correct system.

2. Look in the newspaper for three examples of each of these systems: power/electricity, water/sewage and communications.

3. In the newspaper, circle evidence of power generators: coal, gas, nuclear, wind and solar. Which power source had the most examples?

4. How are these related to systems we use everyday: (a) infrastructure, (b) turbines, (c) reservoirs and (d) cell towers?

5. Select one kind of engineering and research it on the internet. Next, write a paragraph about an engineer in that field. Answer the following questions: What kind of courses would the engineer have to take in college? What kind of field work might the engineer have to do? How does that type of engineering affect your life?

Mini Page activities meet many state and national educational standards. Each week we identify standards that relate to The Mini Page content and offer activities that will help your students reach them.

This week's standard:
Engineers improve existing technologies or develop new ones. (Engineering Design)

(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)