Construction leads to habitat loss and local wildlife suffers. Scholars must build a reptile egg incubation device that meets many constraints. Various experiments help them discover the chemical reaction needed to reach...

How do engineers determine the most efficient highway designs? Introduce young scientists to the world of topology, the branch of mathematics that examines how things are connected. Teams use model highways to create the most...

What makes an effective fort, and why might a city feel that they need such a structure? Your young historians will explore the purpose and design for Fort McHenry, and build their own models of a fort based on the information they...

Navigate the ups and downs of learning about energy. Future engineers consider how potential and kinetic energy apply to roller coasters. They design a roller coaster of their own and then use computer design software to showcase their...

Here is a lesson that offers a great hybrid of forming new skills and using current knowledge to come up with a plan. The class brainstorms information they would need to know or already know about hybrid vehicles. They then group...

The sun will continue to rise in the east and set in the west, no matter what. The first lesson in a series of eight introduces the class to solar angles. It makes connections between a person's latitude and the angle of position of the...

What are the factors that limit growth and expansion? As part of their study of Catalina Island, class members view the West of the West's documentary Magic Isle and research William Wrigley and the Santa Catalina Island Company. After...

Groups work together to design a lighthouse, from designing and drawing the wiring diagram, to creating prototypes of the switch and circuit, to envisioning and building a scale model along with a blueprint. By including different...

Students examine a relief structure focusing on style, relief, and design. Students discuss and analyze the sculpture Sketch for a Fireplace Overmantel by Francesco Antonio Franzoni. Students brainstorm about the current styles...

Your class will be blown away when they build their own city tower structure! Engineering scholars partner up to plan, build, and test their own paper towers. As they build, they gain valuable design skills, learn about wind tunnel...

It's time to slow your roll! Can your class create a track that allows a marble to roll as slowly as possible? Teams of science scholars collaborate to design, build, and test their tubes while learning about gravity and friction.

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...

Who said teaching a STEM lesson had to be challenging? Incorporate a career and technology-centered car build into your upcoming force lesson plan, and your class will be moving down the road in no time! Pupils practice...

Scholars view the film Reach for the Skies to learn about the Shangai Tower. Following a discussion and observation of premade shapes, pairs design and construct a tower using uncooked pasta, straws, newspaper, tape, and marshmallows....

How are messages to the right recipient? Introduce the concept of routing Internet traffic by drawing a comparison to sending a letter. Groups use the Internet Simulator program to send messages to others using the same router...

Students apply the mechanical advantages and problem-solving capabilities of six types of simple machines (wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley) as they discuss modern structures in the spirit of the engineers and...

A Rube Goldberg machine does not really look like it would make work easier. Introduce your class to Rube Goldberg with a resource that shows how his inventions make simple tasks harder to complete. 

High schoolers conduct an experiment using the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. After pairs balance the chemical equation for making water, they mix different ratios of hydrogen and oxygen in a chemical reaction. Classmates...

Show your students how to make their work easier. The first lesson in a series of 10 introduces the class to work and the way simple machines can be make work easier. The simple machines scholars can find in everyday items are...

Students listen to a read aloud of Shel Silverstein's, The Little Blue Engine. They design and build a Lego train that climbs a three foot incline, one foot at a time. They draw and write about their design.

Great things come in small packages! What better way to illustrate this point than a week-long look at nanotechnology? Earth science scholars explore water quality issues through lab activities, then research new innovations in nanotech...

Introduce your class to to the remaining three simple machines-- the lever, pulley, and the wheel-and-axle with a plan that includes the three different types of levers in the discussion of levers. The lesson continues with the...

Students study volcanoes using a chemical engineering project. In this volcanoes lesson, students create a model town and discuss the properties of a volcano. Students then make a volcano using a chemical engineering format for their...

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.