Complete Unit

Engineering Air Purifiers

Students apply the engineering design process to design, build, test, and optimize Corsi-Rosenthal box air purifiers—real devices that effectively clean indoor air.

9
Lessons
10-12
Class Periods
$60-100
Per CR Box
4
NGSS Standards

Essential Question

How can we use engineering design to create effective, affordable solutions for improving indoor air quality?

Lessons

Materials

Per CR Box (groups of 3-4 students)

Item Quantity Est. Cost Notes
20" box fan 1 $20-25 Multiple speeds preferred
20"×20"×2" MERV-13 filters 4-5 $10-15 each MERV-11 as budget option
Cardboard (20"×20") 1 piece $0-2 For top of cube
Duct tape 1 roll $5 Per class, shared

For Testing (shared classroom set)

Item Quantity Notes
PM2.5 sensor 1-3 PurpleAir, Temtop, or similar
Timer/stopwatch 3-4 Phone timers work
Incense or candles 1 pack For particle generation (teacher use)
Budget Alternative: Single-filter design (~$30 total) using one filter taped to fan face. Less effective but functional for demonstrations.

Standards Alignment

NGSS Performance Expectations

Standard Description
MS-ETS1-1 Define criteria and constraints of a design problem
MS-ETS1-2 Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process
MS-ETS1-3 Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among solutions
MS-ETS1-4 Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing

CCSS-M Mathematical Standards

Standard Application
7.G.B.6 Box dimensions, filter surface area
8.EE.B.5 CADR vs. fan speed relationships
7.RP.A.1 CFM and ACH calculations
6.SP.B.4 Graphing test results

Assessments

Performance Task

Design Challenge: Optimize a CR box for a specific scenario (school nurse's office, art classroom, wildfire shelter, or home bedroom).

View Task

Unit Quiz

30-point assessment covering filtration science, CADR calculations, and engineering design process.

View Quiz

Formative Assessments

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