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Lesson Plan
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Product Dissection

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Sometimes, taking things apart is more fun than putting things together. Groups of learners participate in a reverse engineering activity. They dissect a device of their choosing to see how it works—great hands-on learning from the...
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Lesson Plan
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Wind Farm

For Teachers 6th - 8th
A wind turbine is essentially just a giant pinwheel, right? Individuals first create pinwheels from paper, pins, and pencils. In groups, they model a wind farm along a coast and then test out their designs using an electric fan.
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Activity
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Paper Tower

For Students 3rd - 8th
Read all about it! Challenge your class to build taller and stronger. Newspapers provide the means to build towers in a simple activity. Scholars try to build as tall a tower as possible with just two sheets of newspaper.
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Lesson Plan
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Pilot a Balloon

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Balloons will go where you want them to. Young pilots first add paper clips to a balloon to make it neutrally buoyant. They then use cardboard to steer the balloon in different directions, taking air pressure into account.
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Lesson Plan
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Harmless Holder

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Here's a lesson that's not for the birds! Scholars design and build packaging for soda cans that is environmentally friendly. These packages must be durable, easy to carry, and have no environmental impact.
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Lesson Plan
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Siphon Pump

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Defy the laws of gravity. A simple activity has learners create a siphon pump for water. The challenge is to get water to flow upwards through a tube.
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Lesson Plan
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Tunnel Meetup

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
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A Clever Way to Water

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Your plants will survive without you. Scholars create a device that can water plants using a coiled string. Along the way, they learn about adhesion and cohesion of water. The challenge is to keep the plants alive for at least a week.
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Lesson Plan
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Shaky Ground

For Teachers 6th - 8th
You're on solid ground if you decide to use the resource. A simple activity has young engineers investigate the problem of liquefaction. A battery placed on dry sand will stay standing—but not if scholars add water to the cup.
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Lesson Plan
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Sun-Warmed Treats

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Treat your class to a fun activity, complete with treats. Groups create a solar oven from a pizza box. They then use it to heat up some food ... that's what an oven is for, after all!
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Lesson Plan
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Clean It Up

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink—until we clean it, of course! Scholars design a filtration device that removes pollutants from water. The goal is to have the water come out as clean as possible from the device. How...
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Lesson Plan
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Kicking Machine

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Don't kick the resource to the curb; you'll definitely regret it. Future engineers devise a kicking machine that launches a ping-pong ball toward a target. They can use a pendulum, a rubber band, or both, depending on whether they want...
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Lesson Plan
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Kinetic Sculpture

For Teachers 6th - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
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Friction in Action

For Teachers 6th - 8th
There's no need to have friction among instructors regarding the resource. Pupils investigate how marbles and coins slide along different surfaces which gives them information to estimate coefficients of friction.
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Lesson Plan
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Oranges and Batteries

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Orange you glad you can make circuits using fruit? Young electricians learn about electric circuits and electricity. As part of the lesson, they build a circuit with an orange and then with a banana.
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Activity
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Hold Your Water

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Let's hope there are no leaks. Pupils work together in groups to build a device that will keep as much water as possible in a cup. After being dropped from a height of seven feet! Time to haul out the ladder.
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Activity
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An Egg-Citing Ride

For Teachers K - 8th
Wheeeee! Young thrill seekers build a bungee jump—not for themselves, though, but for an egg. The egg must fall from a height of five feet and rebound within two inches of the ground or floor.
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Activity
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Paper Recycling

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Paper is made from paper, right? Future scientists take bits of paper and produce sheets of recycled paper. The only drawback? It has to dry overnight.
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Activity
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Rocket-Powered Ski Lift

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
If a ski lift had rockets, imagine how fast it would be! Scholars let their imaginations take flight as they build models for such a ski lift. Rather than using a rocket, though, they'll use a much safer balloon as the power source.
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Activity
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Dome Home

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Homes come in many different shapes and sizes. Building a model of a geodesic dome is the ultimate goal for the activity. Cutting and folding is the way to go here.
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Activity
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Electromagnetic Fishing Pole

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Let's go fishing ... for paper clips! Individuals create a device that attracts paper clips. This device relies on an electromagnetism, where a flow of electricity in a loop of wire wrapped around a nail causes magnetism.
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Activity
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Human Suspension Bridge

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
When is it okay to be suspended in school? When you're part of a human suspension bridge! Learners first model tension and compression in pairs. Once complete, they get together as a class to model a suspension bridge.
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Activity
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Slinky® Science

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Toys are great for learning about physics. Scholars use Slinky® toys to study Newton's laws of motion and types of energy. After a little play, they then model longitudinal and transverse waves with the Slinky® toys.
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Activity
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First You See It, Then You Hear It

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Light and sound go hand in hand. Pupils set up a system that will emit sound when a laser is directed at a photodiode. Various objects, such as a comb and talcum powder, allow for modulation of the laser beam. Individuals also...