TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Boom Construction
Student teams design their own booms (bridges) and engage in a friendly competition with other teams to test their designs. Each team strives to design a boom that is light, can hold a certain amount of weight, and is affordable to...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Balancing Act
Students are given the opportunity to visualize and interact with concepts they have already learned, specifically algebraic equations and solving for unknown variables. Students construct a balancing seesaw system (LEGO Balance Scale)...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Friction Force
Students use LEGO MINDSTORMS robotics to help conceptualize and understand the force of friction. Specifically, they observe how different surfaces in contact result in different frictional forces. A LEGO robot is constructed to pull a...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Measuring G
Using the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT kit, students construct experiments to measure the time it takes a free falling body to travel a specified distance. Students use the touch sensor, rotational sensor, and the NXT brick to measure the time of...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Fibonacci Sequence & Robots
Using the LEGO NXT robotics kit, students construct and program robots to illustrate and explore the Fibonacci sequence. Within teams, students are assigned roles: group leader, chassis builder, arm builder, chief programmer, and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Robotic Perimeter
Students learn and practice how to find the perimeter of a polygonal shape. Using a ruler, they measure model rooms made of construction paper walls. They learn about other tools, such as a robot, that can help them take measurements....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Sumobot Challenge
Students apply their knowledge of constructing and programming LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots to create sumobots- strong robots capable of pushing other robots out of a ring.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Building Structures: It's a Slippery Slope
All structures require a foundation to keep them from falling down. This is especially important when a structure is built on a hill or on a slope. In this science project, you will build a tower of Lego Duplos on slopes with different...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Building Our Bridge to Fun!
Students identify different bridge designs and construction materials used in modern day engineering. They work in construction teams to create paper bridges and spaghetti bridges based on existing bridge designs. Students progressively...
Frontiers Media
Frontiers: Human Toolmaker
Do you enjoy building airplanes, cars, houses, or robots with Lego blocks? Humans are the only animal species that can create complicated constructions from simple Lego blocks - our Lego building ability is "human-specific," since it is...
Scientific American
Scientific American: Earthquake Proof Engineering for Skyscrapers
Students construct a shake table, then build towers of different heights using Lego blocks, and test their stability on this platform. Next, they test towers with different sized bases, and towers made using different materials.