Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Biomimicry in Engineering
Take a look with your class at how nature supplies inspiration to engineers. In cooperative groups, youngsters research biomimicry and then develop a system that would help support people living on the moon. Each team also considers...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Get it Write
In an effort to practice engineering design, STEM classes break out into teams and endeavor to make a working ink pen. To prepare, they read about writing implements through history, patents, and viscosity of liquids. Armed with this...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Arduino Blink Challenge
Emerging engineers read about Arduino software and how it can be used. Then they follow a nine-step tutorial to connect an Arduino board to a computer and put it to work! The objective is to code a program that will cause an LED to...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Pendulum Time
Take your time with this lesson. Junior engineers read about different types of clocks and then work together to build a pendulum time-keeper. There are no hints as to how they might go about accomplishing this complex task, so you may...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Blast Off!
With the use of a model rocket kit, aspiring aerospace engineers work cooperatively to construct and launch a rocket. A preparatory reading assignment is included, covering Newton's laws of motion and information about the first...
DiscoverE
Tape Dispenser Challenge
Help your class get out of a sticky situation! Future engineers explore existing tape dispensers and then design a new system for dispensing tape. To put these systems to the test, they build and evaluate prototypes of their designs.
Curated OER
Biomedical Engineering: Wacky Shoes
Students create 'wacky' shoes as a part of a biomedical engineering activity. In this bioengineering lesson, students investigate old shoes cut in half and discuss the purpose of each shoe layer. Students use a shoe template to design...
Curated OER
Designing a Safe City Like a Civil Engineer
Students study civil engineering, safety apparatuses in their city, and design their own city. In this civil engineering lesson, students discuss their towns safety apparatuses and define civil engineers. Students then design their own...
Teach Engineering
Design Step 5: Construct a Prototype
Enough with the talking, let's build something! In the fifth step in the engineering design process, young engineers build a prototype to test their ideas. The activity walks them through the process of evaluating it step-by-step....
Curated OER
TE Activity: Broken Bones
Students examine the discipline of biomedical engineering or bioengineering. They complete worksheets by participating in reading background information and completing a hands on activity. They design a prototype of a cast to set a...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Telescoping Periscope
Ahoy, matey! Here is an engineering expedition that mini mariners are sure to be swept away by! After reading a brief description and history of periscopes, they work in crews to construct one. Use this activity to enhance a lesson on...
Teach Engineering
Chair Design
Can you design the perfect chair? Scholars apply the engineering design process to design and build a prototype of a new type of chair from wires. They test their designs with a wooden artist model or stuffed animal.
LABScI
Catapult: Flight of the Marshmallows
Watch your marshmallows fly. The engaging STEM activity has groups create a catapult to launch marshmallows. After testing their prototypes, they consider improvements and redesign their catapults.
Discovery Education
Future Fleet
Turn your pupils into engineers who are able to use scientific principals to design a ship. This long-term project expects pupils to understand concepts of density, buoyancy, displacement, and metacenter, and apply them to constructing a...
Curated OER
Learn to Build a Rocket in 5 Days
Students explore physics by participating in an engineering activity. In this rocket instructional activity, students define a list of scientific vocabulary terms such as "re-engineering" and "trade-off." Students identify the rocket...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Design and Build A Better Candy Bag
Young scholars discuss how the final design for a product can affect its success. They work together to design and develop a better candy bad. They predict the volume and strength they need for the bag to be successful.
Curated OER
Glide Away
Learners design and construct a gliding aircraft. They use the Internet as a research tool to gain background information about specific flight principles.
Curated OER
Fastest Way to a Full Belly
High schoolers 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...
Curated OER
Design and Construct a Road Sign Support
Students use simple materials to design, build and test a model of a free standing structure used to support overhead road signs.
Curated OER
Tower O'Power
Students work together to design a tower from a computer program. They manufacture the pieces with a laser cutter and compete in a competition to determine the best design for stress relief on towers. They discover the work engineers...
Curated OER
Rockets on a Shoestring Budgut
Students work together to create rockets on a budget. They discover the limitations that real engineers face when designing and testing their products. They discuss their findings to complete the lesson.
Curated OER
Make an Alarm!
Students read the story, Dear Mr. Henshaw. They build an alarm system for something in the classroom, as the main character Leigh does to protect his lunchbox from thieves. Students explore alarms and use their creativity to create an...
Curated OER
Technology And Our Quality of Life
Eighth graders design a product or machine and determine the impact their invention has on a person's quality of life. They present their design and machine with a description of its possible impacts to an audience of peers and adults.
Curated OER
Building Challenges
Young scholars work together to complete different building challenges. They use prior knowledge to build tunnels and different types of bridges. They share their creations with the group.