Prototypes Teacher Resources

Could you reinvent the light bulb? Scholars tap into their inner Thomas Edisons to build a light bulb prototype out of a jar and some wires. They see how long the filament wire glows in the jar (batteries not included) to measure their...

Challenge your class with this fun and engaging engineering design project. The goal, to create a brand new cereal complete with a list of ingredients, a name and logo, and a box to hold it in. Starting with a survey to determine the...

Light the way to a better understanding of UV radiation. After exploring how UV beads work, future engineers design investigations to answer questions about UV radiation. They then create and test prototypes of a device that detects UV...

Great things come in small packages! What better way to illustrate this point than a week-long look at nanotechnology? Earth science scholars explore water quality issues through lab activities, then research new innovations in nanotech...

How well can you launch a ping-pong ball? Small groups design launchers that can launch a ping-pong ball 20 feet into a target. The teams follow the engineering design process as they develop a solution that meets the design...

What makes human interaction different from interaction with computers? Learners consider the question as they build Turing tests to determine whether a computer thinks like a human. They begin by looking at current versions of Turing...

Students read an article about alternative energy and complete the associated worksheets. For this ESL/ELL alternative energy lesson, students read or listen an article about research at MIT in which scientists designed a energy-making...

Can you design the perfect chair? Scholars apply the engineering design process to design and build a prototype of a new type of chair from wires. They test their designs with a wooden artist model or stuffed animal.

Challenge small groups to build a structure that catches a raw egg without breaking—working collaboratively and applying mathematical and engineering principles. Pretending the frame was made by a business, scholars create a marketing...

Dressing for success is not always about looking sharp. Sometimes it is about staying warm and dry. Present your class with an activity that challenges groups of pupils to design a layered material for blizzard conditions. The teams test...

Clay itself sinks, but clay boats float. Why? Young engineers build clay boats to learn about buoyancy. They test the weight the boats can hold using washers and then tweak their designs to make improvements, following the engineering...

You'll bounce off the walls with glee after finding a fun resource. Young engineers design trampolines for golf balls. They build and test out their design and make improvements based on the results.

Discover how innovations can help your school and community. In the three-part STEM lesson, scholars learn the meaning of innovation and brainstorm innovations in their schools. They identify issues in their communities and think of...

Interested in becoming an engineer? An informational and educational video teaches viewers about the various ways to become an engineer. It uses an example of building an airplane wing to describe the branches of engineering that...

Turn your pupils into engineers who are able to use scientific principals to design a ship. This long-term project expects pupils to understand concepts of density, buoyancy, displacement, and metacenter, and apply them to constructing a...

Applying engineering concepts to the field of medicine, pupils design a device to help test peripheral sight. The class learns and follows a specific design process for engineers before separating into groups; each group builds...

Make breaking a leg a less troublesome experience. Groups brainstorm designs for crutches that have devices that help carry items. They build prototypes of their devices to test out their designs.

How do engineers turn something that is readily available, like wind, into energy? Scholars create a prototype of a wind turbine and attach it to a motor. They test out their prototypes and decide on their effectiveness. They also...

Challenge your class to use their understanding of the engineering design process to design and build a small-scale, off-road prototype for an assistive technology device. Teams select materials to build their scale models, and, using...

It's important to make sure houses can withstand winds. A hands-on activity has learners create a structure out of household materials. They use a fan to simulate hurricane-force winds to see if their structures can withstand the...

Help your class get out of a sticky situation! Future engineers explore existing tape dispensers and then design a new system for dispensing tape. To put these systems to the test, they build and evaluate prototypes of their designs.