DiscoverE
Everyday Engineering: Build an Earthquake Resistant Structure
Shake, rattle, and learn! Future engineers build structures out of toothpicks or spaghetti sticks, using marshmallows as connectors. They then use a homemade shake table to test the sturdiness of their creations.
Curated OER
Destination Outer Space
Students investigate space travel. In this space travel instructional activity students examine space exploration history, engineers and scientists involved in space exploration, and Newton's third law of motion. Students make rockets.
Curated OER
Spaghetti Bridges: Student Worksheet
Here is a wonderful activity that allows young engineers to try their hand at designing a bridge out of spaghetti! The activity explains the activity and also provides a graph for keeping track of the results. Very good!
Teach Engineering
Engineering Brainstorming
Here is a lesson plan 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...
Curated OER
Biomedical Engineering and Diabetes
Students compare and contrast the three types of diabetes. In this technology instructional activity, students identify the causes of this disease. They investigate ways to deliver insulin to the body and present their findings in class.
Curated OER
Skyscrapers: Engineering Up!
Learners build their own newspaper skyscrapers with limited materials and time. They identify several different structural engineering principles relating to skyscrapers. They explain how their towers resisted the wind load.
Curated OER
Start Your Engines: An Internet Research Lesson
Fifth graders engage in a lesson which offers informational how-tos for conducting research on the Internet. Three search engines are introduced and used to gather information to solve a specific problem.
Curated OER
Be a Structural Engineer!
Students investigate how to design and build items with a focus on structural strength as an engineer would. They complete a truss-building project as a final assessment.
Curated OER
Building a Car: Mechanical Engineering
Students use common materials to build a car. In this car building mechanical engineering lesson, students build a car using a milk cartoon and plastic wheels. They discuss what mechanical engineers do and what makes a car run.
Curated OER
Design and Build a Road Sign Support
Emergent engineers plan, construct, and experiment with a spaghetti noodle structure that could be used to hold a load. Set them up for success by first showing them a four-minute video on engineering design and a slide show of different...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Assembly Line
Working under specific constraints and with designated criteria, groups work together to create a product using an assembly line process. In addition, they work through the entire engineering design process with an excellent graphic to...
Curated OER
Engine Classification
In this technology instructional activity, students find the terms for the engines and how they are classified. The answers are found by clicking the button at the bottom of the page.
Teach Engineering
Fairly Fundamental Facts About Forces and Structures
Don't twist and turn looking for a resource. The first installment of a six-part series teaches young engineers about the five fundamental forces of compression, tension, shear, bending, and torsion. These forces help explain different...
Curated OER
Don't Get Lost on the Web
Scholars discuss purpose of search engines, define World Wide Web, become familiar with website addresses, demonstrate understanding of site updating, create a list of topics about which they would like more information, and visit at...
Curated OER
Audio Engineers: Sound Weavers
Students explore audio engineering. In this career education and "sound" science lesson, students define related vocabulary and make connections between the music they listen to and the job an audio engineer does after listening to...
Curated OER
Ask a NASA Engineer
Pupils develop questions to ask a NASA engineer to email them. After emailing the quesitons to the volunteer, the answers are sent to the class via the same method. To end the lesson, they formulate more questions and repeat the process.
Curated OER
Locating And Utilizing Information Using The Internet
Third graders practice typing in a web address to find a specific web page and how to use a search engine to locate specific information. They access a search engine to locate information about geology to answer the questions on a quiz.
Curated OER
Finding Your Way in the World Wide Web
Researchers practice grouping items to explore the concept of a database. They apply these concepts to the WWW search engine format and consider why it is important to enter the most specific information.
PBS
Hands-On Engineering Challenges to Bolster Your Electricity, Sound, and Force Units
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 pinball-type...
Teach Engineering
Engineers Love Pizza, Too!
Help overcome challenges in eating pizza. Scholars work in groups to design a device that assists a physically handicapped person eat pizza. They build a prototype of such a device to test their designs before building. To finish, groups...
Teach Engineering
Introduction to Water Chemistry
What are the issues surrounding water quality? Viewers of this short presentation gain information about the importance of clean water, the lack of fresh water, water contamination, and ways that engineers treat water.
Teach Engineering
Solar Water: Heat it Up!
Young engineers are instructed to design and build their own solar water heaters. Then, they calculate the efficiency and cost and compare them to commercially available models. This is a full unit for pupils to apply their knowledge.
DiscoverE
Design a Shoe
Engage young scientists in a project where high fashion meets engineering! Using foam core and hot glue, partnered pupils design and create a functional, fashionable pair of shoes. Groups then put the footwear through its paces using a...
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...