Engineering

Welcome to the online training portal for the global Safety Smart program. As an approved Safety Smart Ambassador, you have the opportunity to share reassuring, clear, and confidence-building messages that will help children to live a better life. Once logged in, this is the homepage for the Disney Safety Smart Training Portal.

Solve through Science. Xplorlabs is an online learning platform incorporating modules focused on specific topics relevant to issues in science and engineering and what is relevant to students’ everyday lives. Designed to bridge the gap between the classroom and real-world science and engineering challenges.

Portable Electrical Power is a virtual module with supporting classroom investigations about the phenomenon of thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries using the example of hoverboards. This module is a collection of videos, virtual interactions, experiments and demonstrations, and challenges and supports NGSS in physical science for middle school. The PEP module can be done as a class from start to finish or in pieces between home and school. This module can be used to support content understanding in energy and/or to demonstrate the NGSS science and engineering practices applied to a real-world issue.

FIre Forensics is a virtual module with supporting classroom investigations about the science of fire and the process of fire investigation. This module is a collection of videos, virtual interactions, experiments and demonstrations, and challenges and supports NGSS in physical science for middle school. The XplorlabsFire Forensics: Claims and Evidence module supplement lessons on physical science addressing and reinforcing understanding in the structure and properties of matter, chemical reactions, conservation of energy and energy transfer. Students engage in analyzing and interrupting data, the argument from evidence using Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning (CER) as a strategy to explain the results of an investigation.

In this investigation, students make observations of the timing, behavior, and smoke of different fuels as they burn. Students build a calorimeter to measure the heat of combustion of common household items or food items. If your classroom has the proper ventilation and equipment, directions are provided for building a calorimeter for classroom investigation. For classrooms without materials or without proper ventilation, students can watch the interactive video of our UL Fire Experts in the fire research lab to make observations and measure heat of combustion.

Using the data from two burns in the fire science lab, students will make conclusions about the impact of ventilation on a fire. Students will present their claims based on the evidence presented in the graphs and learn why this skill is critical for both firefighters and the women and men investigating the fire’s origin and cause. This dataset offers an opportunity to practice interpreting real-world data from graphs and communicating a claim based on evidence and reasoning.

In this investigation, students make observations about how thermal energy is transferred and how transferred heat starts fires. Students compare the surface to mass ratio of a block of wood and a toothpick, then compare how easily they ignite. Students then make observations about how different materials ignite and burn. The classroom investigation can be done with materials list provided, or by using the video to make the observations for classrooms that are not allowed to use an open flame.

In this investigation, students use a candle to conduct four experiments to limit one of each side of the fire triangle – oxygen, fuel, and heat - building an understanding of the needs of fire. Then, using a metal screen, students look at a candle flame to observe combustion. The classroom investigation can be done with materials list provided, or by using the video to make the observations for classrooms that are not allowed to use an open flame.

A challenge for students to create a public service announcement about lithium-ion battery safety. Students are asked to post their PSA on the site to share with students around the world. The challenge can be used as a summative assessment of the PEP module and/or as an opportunity for students to communicate battery safety to students their age.