As an introduction to Steiner Trees, class members are challenged to find the shortest paths to connect multiple points. The teacher introduces the problem by showing how to connect three points. Groups then go outside and construct a...

What is this? What is it for? How does it work? Challenge the class to think about to how to design a new chocolate factory for the Oompa-Loompas to make it easy to use. The activity is the first of a three-part series on...

A digital flip. Introduce your classes to cryptographic protocols using and, or, and not gates. Groups create a complete circuit to convert a binary number into another one. This type of one-way function allows pupils to...

What is biogas and how is it made? After examining background information about the sources of biogas and biogas generators, class members follow the provided information and build a biogas generator that can be used in the...

What are the trade-offs when looking to get the most benefit from an energy source? Small groups compare the cost-to-emission levels of several energy sources by looking at the information graphically. The groups utilize this...

Is the golf course causing issues in the stream? Find out with a resource that has groups perform chemical water tests to analyze the effects of a golf course on a stream. Pupils collect water above and below the course and analyze the...

What kind of organisms are living in the stream? After an explanation on how to use a dichotomous key, groups of three to four use the keys to identify macroinvertebrates from a local freshwater stream. Using the the concept of...

A five-lesson unit challenges teams to design a complex to allow people to colonize the Moon. The teams first work in order to understand the challenge before becoming experts. Expert teams learn about different aspects needed to survive...

An engineering design lesson plan contains connected activities as a capstone engineering project. The activities revolve around the principle of improving an existing object and designing the manufacturing process in order to do so. The...

How do you create a technical drawing? Cover the basics of technical sketching with a few practice sketches of simple shapes. A technical sketching lesson introduces the proper precision measurement techniques. Pupils progress...

Need some activities to go along with your unit? A collection of hands-on activities from PBS offers opportunities to add to your electricity, sound, and force units. The electricity activities revolve around building a...

How do rockets fly? Teams design, build, and launch a rocket made from a two-liter bottle to explore forces on a rocket such as Newton's Laws of Motion.  During the design phase, young engineers draw a diagram of their rocket and...

What's the least number of colors needed to color a U.S. map? The lesson plan begins by having pupils view a video clip on continuous and discrete phenomenon, then launches into an activity reminiscent of Zeno's paradox. A separate...

NASA's LCROSS mission is dropping a probe into a lunar crater. Groups design a system to travel down a zip line and drop a marble onto a target in the classroom. The groups then modify their designs based upon testing. 

Individuals design and build a set of shock absorbers to protect their astronauts when they land. Using a limited amount of supplies, pupils build a system that will keep two large marshmallows from flying out of a cup when it lands...

Would astronauts be able to grow their food on the Moon? Teams research plant growth in order to design and build a growth chamber that will function on the lunar surface. They narrow down plant choices based upon their...