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This website features work from the completion of Phase 1 of the SCALES Project.

We are currently seeking partnerships for Phase 2.

Inquiry-Based Learning

Inquiry-based learning involves the student engaging in authentic, self-directed learning. Often inquiry-based learning is collaborative. Ideally the instructor is the facilitator of the learning experience(s. In more guided inquiry experiences the instructor sets initial parameters and students follow a line of inquiry tied to the parameters.

  • Problem Set 2: Personal Energy Consumption Challenge

    Problem set for the course D-Lab: Energy.

    Read more: Problem Set 2: Personal Energy Consumption Challenge

  • Problem Set 1

    Problem set for the course D-Lab: Energy.

    Read more: Problem Set 1

  • Discussion Questions 1

    Write short answers to the following questions and submit them.

    Read more: Discussion Questions 1

  • Design@MIT

    Consider the objects and products you encounter every day while at MIT—all of these were designed. When looking at a design, it’s important to be critical, but in a constructive manner. It’s also important to recognize that there are very few instances where a design is totally great or totally terrible; there are typically good parts of a poor design, and vice versa.

    Take a picture of two very different objects or products, one that you believe is a relatively bad design, and one that is a relatively good design. Discuss the pros and cons of each design, and why you have come to your overall “good” or “bad” conclusion. Also discuss what trade-offs and constraints the designers likely faced in developing these products, and how these challenges were managed.

    Read more: Design@MIT

  • Project 4: General Circulation

    In this final project, we draw together some of the ideas explored in Projects 1, 2, and 3 and apply them to study, using atmospheric data and a rotating annulus, aspects of the general circulation of the atmosphere.

    Read more: Project 4: General Circulation

  • Project 3: Convection

    In this project we enquire into the nature of the convective process. We will simulate convection in the laboratory using a tank of water with a heating pad at its base and study convection in the atmosphere using thermodynamic diagrams.

    Read more: Project 3: Convection

  • Project 2: Fronts

    In this project, we inspect fronts crossing the country associated with day-to-day variations in the weather using real-time atmospheric observations. In the laboratory we create fronts by allowing salty (and hence dense) columns of water to collapse under rotation and gravity. We discover that the observed changes in winds and temperature across our laboratory and atmospheric fronts is consistent with Margule’s formula (a discrete form of the thermal wind equation) and see that the dynamical balance at work in the atmosphere is the same as in the density fronts created in the rotating tank.

    Read more: Project 2: Fronts

  • Project 1: Mass and Wind

    The purpose of this project is to study, using meteorological observations and laboratory experiments, the relation between the wind field and the mass field in a rotating system. In part I we explore the relationship in laboratory experiments; in part II atmospheric observations of intense cyclones and hurricanes are used.

    Read more: Project 1: Mass and Wind

  • Final Assignment

    Directions:

    1. Identify a narrow policy issue of your choice (take a look at the materials provided for various case studies on the course website if you are having trouble picking a topic);
    2. Present an analysis of the policy issue;
    3. Identify alternative policies;
    4. Evaluate and analyze the policy you are studying using cost-benefit analysis, stakeholder analysis, data analysis, and / or analysis of inputs, outputs, and outcomes;
    5. Apply the correct type(s) of policy analysis to the alternatives;
    6. Present the results of your analysis and the give the best option based on your criteria; and
    7. Make suggestions for implementing, monitoring, and evaluating the policy.
    Read more: Final Assignment

  • Technical Reports

    Both of these reports should be well-structured, with introductions, body and conclusions. 

    1. Technical report 1 (PDF): This TR will detail the data obtained from testing the motors. Highlight the pros/cons of the motor/prop combination and present your data for thrust, etc.
    2. Technical report 2: This TR will detail your data collected in the Charles River Basin and Boston Harbor areas.
    Read more: Technical Reports

Notice something that doesn’t seem right? Want to make a suggestion or provide feedback about how something is classified? 
Please reach out to esi [at] mit.edu and include SCALES Website in the subject of your email.
Feedback and any actions taken with regards to the feedback, will be shared as they are addressed.