Teach Engineering
Straw Bridges
Pairs work as engineering teams to design and build model bridges from drinking straws and tape. In this third segment in a series of 10, teams compete in an attempt to build the strongest bridge. To help with the design, the groups...
Teach Engineering
Super Slinger Engineering Challenge
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...
Teach Engineering
Above-Ground Storage Tanks in the Houston Ship Channel
Introduce your class to storage tank failures caused by major storms with an activity that looks at how the concepts of Archimedes' Principle and Pascal's Law affect the storage tanks along the Houston Ship Channel. The background...
Teach Engineering
Building and Testing Model Underground Safety Caverns
Teams take their cavern designs and build a model from clay or paper mache that can be buried in sand. Testing involves dropping a bowling ball on the buried cavern. Teams dig out their cavern, inspect it for damage, and consider...
Teach Engineering
How Big? Necessary Area and Volume for Shelter
Teams must determine the size of cavern needed to house the citizens of Alabraska to protect them from the asteroid impact. Using scaling properties, teams first determining the number of people that could sleep in a classroom and then...
Teach Engineering
Portable Wheelchair Ramp Challenge
Ramp up the engineering design process in your classroom with an activity that challenges teams to design, build, and test a small-scale portable wheelchair ramp. The class develops design requirements, and teams test their designs using...
Teach Engineering
Above-Ground Storage Tank Design Project
The challenge: determine whether a tank will float. A design activity has groups work as engineering teams in order to determine the stability of given tanks and liquid contents. The teams need to determine the equations to calculate the...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Designing 3d Products: Candy Cartons
Wouldn't it be great to work in a candy factory? Learners get their chance as they first design a carton for a candy that meets certain requirements. They then examine and analyze nets and explanations in sample student responses.
Teach Engineering
Designing a Robotic Surgical Device
The engineering design process meets laparoscopic surgical robots with an activity that is the last part in a series of 10 and brings all the lessons of the unit together. Teams design and build a remotely controlled laparoscopic device....
Teach Engineering
Challenges of Laparoscopic Surgery
Get some laparoscopic training without the pain with an activity that challenges class members to find out what it is like to perform laparoscopic surgery. Teams perform three different tasks and quantify their performance. The activity...
Teach Engineering
Android App Development
Building an accelerometer app for your Android device. Groups develop an app that uses the accelerometer on an Android device. The purpose of the activity is to reinforce the programming design. The post activity assessment challenges...
Teach Engineering
Design and Build a Rube Goldberg
Let's see how complicated we can make this simple task. The last activity associated with a 10-part series has groups design and build a Rube Goldberg machine. Teams determine a simple task to accomplish and use the engineering design...
Teach Engineering
Machines and Tools (Part 2)
Which pulley system will give us a whale of a good time? Teams compare the theoretical and actual mechanical advantages of different pulley systems. They then form a recommendation for how to move a whale from an aquarium back to the ocean.
Teach Engineering
Tools and Equipment (Part 1)
Looking for the best inclined plane for the job? Groups calculate the theoretical mechanical advantage for four different inclined planes. They determine the actual mechanical advantage by measuring the amount of force needed for the...
Teach Engineering
A Simple Solution for the Circus
Class members are challenged to design a device that will move a circus elephant into a train car. Groups brainstorm ideas that use simple machines to load the elephant. They then choose one of their ideas, sketch a plan, and present it...
Teach Engineering
Egg-cellent Landing
The classic egg-drop experiment gets a new bounce with an activity that asks pairs to design a lander similar to one used to land a rover on Mars within a fixed budget. The activity provides a great introduction to the idea of terminal...
Teach Engineering
Red Rover Robotics
Help your class understand the importance of exploration using robots. with a resource that provides a short history of robotics as a lead into looking at Martian robotic exploration missions. The activity specifically looks at the...
Teach Engineering
Trash to Treasure!
One person's trash is another man's treasure. Challenge your class to build something useful out of the trash they throw away on a regular basis. Groups design and build a practical item from trash they collect, allowing the class to...
Teach Engineering
Protecting Our City with Levees
Teams use the design process to design, build, and test a model levee to protect the town from a wall of water. A handout provides a price list for the materials learners can use to build their levee within a budget.
Teach Engineering
Weather Alert
Every time a bell rings ... there is lightning in the area. The activity provides directions to build a model of a lightning detection system. Similar to a system designed by Benjamin Franklin, the system uses static electricity to...
Teach Engineering
Dress for Success
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...
Code.org
Practice PT - Design a Digital Scene
The final performance task for the unit requires class members to utilize what they have learned to create a personal digital scene. Groups work together to develop a scene and then, using top-down design, break the scene into manageable...
Code.org
Functions and Top-Down Design
Let me break it down for you! Introduce your class to a way of breaking up a complicated task into its component pieces. Individuals draw a complex figure using JavaScript and then break it down to help determine the functions needed in...
Mathematics Assessment Project
Middle School Mathematics Test 3
Real-life mathematics is not as simple as repeating a set of steps; pupils must mentally go through a process to come to their conclusions. Teach learners to read, analyze, and create a plan for solving a problem situation. The provided...