Instructional Design Teacher Resources

Engage young scientists in a project where high fashion meets engineering! Using foam core and hot glue, partnered pupils design and create a functional, fashionable pair of shoes. Groups then put the footwear through its paces using a...

Can you build a better mousetrap? Broken into two sessions, this plan introduces learners to the design process. The first session has pupils look at the world through a design perspective by redesigning everyday objects. In the second...

Introduces your class to the types of loads experienced by a bridge. Groups calculate the ultimate load combinations to determine the maximum load requirement. Using this information, builders then determine the amount of material...

Step by step is always best. In groups, future engineers create the tallest possible tower with marshmallows and spaghetti sticks. Along the way, they learn about the engineering design process. 

"By the hair on your chinny-chin-chin, I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in," says the big, bad wolf! Engineering hopefuls are challenged to design and construct a hurricane-proof building from simple office and craft...

What is the main difference between an engineer and a technician?  This is one of the driving questions in a plan that proves that analysis at every step of development is crucial to the engineering design process. The lesson...

How can Adobe Creative Cloud enhance digital art and media design? Readers explore just that with the Digital Foundations eBook. They learn how to source images and how to create symmetry and asymmetry in their digital designs. They also...

The set for a play combines design elements (style, line, shape, mass, measure, position, color, and texture) and principles of composition (unity, harmony, contrast, variation, balance, proportion, and emphasis) to create a particular...

Young scholars work to create a design that will protect an egg from being dropped from a one story floor. They test their prototype after it is completed. They write clear instructions and link aspects of the design process to the...

Sure, you may be able to build a better mousetrap, but what about a gum dispenser? In a fun engineering challenge, teams must design and build a working interactive gumball machine with specific constraints and criteria.

Students evaluate a hypothetical experimental design and attempt to improve upon it. In this scientific method lesson, students are presented with an experiment and are instructed to determine its flaws. They conduct their own...

Solar energy is an amazing alternative ... but, not always particularly portable! Challenge young scientists to a folding solar panel build-off with an easy-to-execute activity. Scholars brainstorm around specific design needs, construct...

Teach your artists how to incorporate balance into their work through discussion and action. After viewing and discussing several works of art, learners design a balanced image for a T-shirt and follow the step-by-step instructions to...

Those corn husks can be put to good use. Future engineers design and build a new, biodegradable bag for potato chips out of corn husks. They test out their bags by shaking, dropping, and tossing them, as well as placing them in water.