Curated OER
Fastest Way to a Full Belly
Students create a scale model of a cafeteria. In this scale lesson, groups improve their actual school cafeteria layout by taking measurements of the structure and redesigning furniture and food serving lines. They create a scale drawing...
Curated OER
Creating The Blueprints
Students engage in a lesson in order to create blueprints to design an original floorplan. They use graphing paper and drawing tools to demonstrate knowledge of the lesson objectives. Students label and use the right kind of proportions...
Curated OER
Smart Keyword Searching
Students explore various methods for completing effective keyword searches on the Internet. Through guided practice students complete various keyword searches. They independently complete a worksheet designed to aid in their keyword...
Curated OER
Stem Cells and Cloning
Students discuss an article on cloning and stem cells and complete an Internet cloning activity. In this genetic engineering lesson, students analyze stem cell issues by reading an article and participating in a class discussion. They...
Curated OER
Cement and Concrete Engineering
Young scholars explain the components of the engineering design process. In groups, they identify the materials that make concrete and practice curing cement using the various methods available. They develop a graph showing the amount...
Curated OER
The Little Blue Engine
Students listen to a read aloud of Shel Silverstein's, The Little Blue Engine. They design and build a Lego train that climbs a three foot incline, one foot at a time. They draw and write about their design.
Curated OER
Doghouse Design
Elementary engineers design a dog house suitable for a large dog according to specific criteria. Students create a design for a doghouse that allows their dog to grow, protects him from the elements, and keeps food and water dishes...
Curated OER
What Is Industrial Design?
Young scholars explore the processes used by industrial designers to design useful, safe, and appealing mass-produced objects. They select an object from their home or classroom and redesign it to improve its function, feel, and/or...
DiscoverE
Kinetic Sculpture
Let your creativity run wild. Scholars build a sculpture out of basic materials. These sculptures must be able to move in the wind (from an electric fan). However, they must also withstand the wind enough to not fall over—it's quite the...
Tech Museum of Innovation
Human Body Exhibit
Explore human anatomy and physiology using models. Scholars study systems of the human body and design a display for a museum exhibit. To complete the activity, individuals create analogous models of their chosen human body systems.
DiscoverE
Tunnel Meetup
Meet me in the tunnels. Scholars choose a tunnel entrance and mark it on their side of the cardboard. They describe the location to their partners and see if they can guess each other's locations. Punching a hole through the cardboard...
Teach Engineering
Heart to Heart
Begin a unit on the heart, the parts and the function of the heart, and about heart disease with a resource that includes a lecture, a PowerPoint presentation, and research information. The lesson is the first of a four-part series and...
Curated OER
Concept Structures in Architecture
Students develop a creative building design. In this technology lesson, students create a model of their building using a computer software. They present their final product in class.
Curated OER
Construction Technologies: Construct the Strongest Bridge
Middle schoolers investigate how engineers use different types of bridges for different places. In small groups they design and construct bridges for three different scenarios, and answer a series of investigating questions applied to...
Curated OER
"Girls Only" Science Workshop
Learners design sleds. For this engineering lesson, students collaborate to engineer and build a real working sleds from the materials provided. This lesson was originally designed to be taught to a group of female learners.
Curated OER
The Westward Movement
Students study the westward movement through examining stamps. In this westward movement lesson plan, students draw conclusions, determine cause and effect relationships and examine the westward movement of the United States by...
Curated OER
A Child's Journey Through Medicine
Fifth graders identify the symptoms of asthma. In this biology activity, 5th graders draw and label models of heart and lungs. They conduct a survey on asthma and construct graphs based on result.
Curated OER
Blade Design of Windmills
For this engineering worksheet, 9th graders experiment with the design of a windmill blade to generate more electricity by creating a step by step plan, drawing a diagram, recording data from trials, write a conclusion and a comparison...
Curated OER
Crayon Resist
Kids usually love crayon resist projects. It is so fascinating for them to see how the dark paint accentuates and resists the waxy crayon. Here are instructions for executing a crayon resist project of your own. Tip: Make the project fit...
Curated OER
Cooking with the Sun
Students explore using energy from the sun for heating and cooking as they build and compare the performance of four solar cooker designs. This excellent two-day lesson has groups of students build and test a variety of solar cookers....
Teach Engineering
Rube Goldberg and the Meaning of Machines
A Rube Goldberg machine does not really look like it would make work easier. Introduce your class to Rube Goldberg with a resource that shows how his inventions make simple tasks harder to complete.
Curated OER
Stack It Up!
Students analyze and begin to design a pyramid. Working in engineering teams, they perform calculations to determine the area of the pyramid base, stone block volumes, and the number of blocks required for their pyramid base. They make a...
Cornell University
Beam Focusing Using Lenses
Explore optics using an inquiry-based experimental approach! Young scholars use a set of materials to design and build a unit capable of focusing a beam of light. They experiment with different lenses to determine the best approach to...
Teach Engineering
Let's Take a Spin: One-Axis Rotation
Investigate the effect of one-axis rotations on geometric figures. Scholars learn to use snap cubes and the right-hand rule to draw figures after rotations about the x-, y-, or z-axes. They try their hands at examples created by the...