Design Teacher Resources

Engineering design-based activities make learning science fun. Young engineers design dams, lifeguard chairs, musical instruments, candy bags, and much more. They also use measurement skills to solve the mystery of the missing pin. Each...

Inquiry in Action: Fifth Grade Chapter 5 - Engineering Design is comprised of a single project-based assessment. The assessment helps highlight the importance of prior knowledge as individuals design a floatation device for a cell phone....

Wouldn’t it be lovely if there was a way to capture the energy given off by a vehicle and transform it into kinetic energy to power the vehicle? That is the challenge young engineers face in an eight resource TeachEngineering: Hybrid...

Challenge young engineers to design a sustainable guest village in Arizona’s Saguaro National Park. A collection of four lessons and five activities provide designers with all the information they need to complete the challenge of living...

Pairs research building design in earthquake-prone areas and use computer simulations to see the effects of earthquakes on buildings. They sketch and explain a building design that would withstand a strong earthquake.

Looking for a complete unit on set design? Check out the lessons in a collection that takes theatre arts students through the entire process, from the initial reading and analysis of a script to the presentation of a production model.

NASA and the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association, or ITEEA, present young scientists with a challenge: design and build lunar plant growth chambers so that astronauts can grow edible plants on the moon. Class...

Young engineers are challenged to design an electromagnet that can separate steel from aluminum. Taking on the role of recycling plant managers, groups research the properties of metals, magnets, magnet fields, and electric circuits. The...

Everything you need to plan an event for young engineers can be found here, including activities, an event checklist, tips for working with youth and volunteers, signage, certificates, and an evaluation form. Kids make a rubber...

A collection of five lessons and activities introduce young engineers to simple and compound machines. Groups use the engineering design process to design a Rube Goldberg machine to move a circus elephant into a rail car, a pulley system...

Oh, if only Sir Isaac and Bernoulli could see us now. Even Orville and Wilbur would be amazed by what engineers have designed using their ideas. Next generation engineers put these principles to use as they use what they learn about...

Weather engineers have come a long way in designing technology that provides advanced warnings of severe weather. Six lessons and six activities make up a collection of resources that teach middle schoolers about weather and weather...

Designed for high schoolers, the 11 lessons and activities in the “TeachEngineering: Next-Generation Surgical Tools in the Body” unit module prepare STEM teams to design prototypes of laparoscopic surgical robots. After an introduction...

Oh, no! An asteroid is on a collision course with Earth!. The challenge, should your students choose to accept it, is to design underground survival caverns to shelter people for one year. Over the course of eight lessons, engineering...

Introduce young engineers to the software development design process used in app building. After watching a video tutorial, groups are challenged to build an accelerometer app for an Android device and design an app utilizing the GPS...

As part of a STEM renewable energy series, middle schoolers design a standard solar heater. First, they create a simple solar heater to measure the temperature change in a vial of water, then calculate the heat energy transferred to the...

The Inquiry in Action: Fifth Grade Curriculum set contains five chapters, comprised of 16 lessons, activity sheets, videos, and other resources to help explain science concepts to young learners. In Chapter 1 - Matter is Made of Tiny...

Young engineers design laparoscopic surgical tools in an 11-lesson unit aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. The first lesson introduces the class to the abdominopelvic cavity. Teams learn what it is like to perform...

The 17 resources in NASA’s Rockets Educator Guide allow young scientists and engineers to engage in experiments as they examine images of more than 2,00 years of rockets. Scholars then read articles that provide an overview of the next...

The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are awash in plastic. The four lessons in the “Adrift in a Sea of Plastic” module challenge young environmentalists to design a solution to eliminating these plastic trash islands. After researching causes...

Challenge young flight engineers to design a flying device for Ant-Man, balloon crafts with neutral buoyancy, paper airplanes from different paper types, hoop gliders, and a launcher for ping pong balls. Although designed for the 2016...

Imagine using a hot glue gun or a glue stick to demonstrate tension, compression, and torsion! A six-part series of lessons and hands-on activities teach young engineers about the fundamental facets of engineering design: forces, loads,...

In this collection, Pascal’s law, Archimedes’ Principle, and Bernoulli’s Principle aid young engineers in understanding the physics of fluid mechanics. Armed with the knowledge of how forces are applied to fluids, scholars design...

The Understanding Science and Engineering Through Solar Power unit module teaches scholars how to conduct investigations and the steps for scientific inquiry and experimentation. To begin, young scientists conduct two probes to...