Teach Engineering
Where Are the Plastics Near Me? (Mapping the Data)
The last activity in a nine-part series has teams create a Google Earth map using the data they collected during a field trip. Using the map, groups analyze the results and make adjustments to the map to reflect their analysis. A short...
Teach Engineering
Alloy the Way to Mars
Future engineers test different alloys to determine the specific strength of each one. Based on the results, they make a recommendation to NASA on which alloy to use on engines for spacecraft.
Teach Engineering
Designing a Winning Guest Village in the Saguaro National Park
Don't desert a resource on the desert! Scholars work in groups to build on their ideas from the previous lesson to design a sustainable guest village in the Saguaro National Park. Each group produces a PowerPoint presentation to share...
Teach Engineering
Glowing Flowers
What a bright idea! Young scientists conduct an experiment on flowers to finish the last of a six-lesson unit on Cells. Putting the stems into dye-injected water and leaving it overnight results in flowers that glow. This is to simulate...
Teach Engineering
Portable Wheelchair Ramp Challenge
Ramp up the engineering design process in your classroom with an activity that challenges teams to design, build, and test a small-scale portable wheelchair ramp. The class develops design requirements, and teams test their designs using...
Teach Engineering
Magnetic Fluids
Teams work as material engineers to create ferrofluids, whose shape is influenced by magnetic fields. The activity, which is the fourth in the six-part series, has the teams create magnetic ink and use it to write, testing it with a...
Colorado State University
What Is a "Convection Cell"?
Round and round in circles it goes! A hands-on activity has learners recreate a model of a convection cell. They watch as the difference in density of their materials creates a current.
Curated OER
On the Move
Students explore different pathways and consequences of pollutant transport via the weather and water cycles. They observe and record weather information and produce their own weather report for the class.
Curated OER
Puttin' It All Together
Students explain the concepts of kinetic and potential energy and how it can change forms. In this energy, motion, and frictional forces lesson students participate in a hands on activity that includes calculating energy.
Carnegie Mellon University
How Power Plants Work 2
In this second of three lessons on power plants, future engineers find out how we generate electricity and how coal-powered plants operate. They work in small groups to make electromagnet generators to light LED bulbs. A set of...
Curated OER
Morning Activity
First graders show appropriate ASL hand signs to answer questions for the morning meeting. They show the day of the week, the weather, and mode of transportation to school using signs. They copy the sign of the day and use name cards to...
Teach Engineering
Show Me the Money
Class members learn how to estimate the total costs involved to design and build a bridge by including design, material, equipment, and labor costs. The activity includes a discussion about the trade-off between cost and aesthetics.
Teach Engineering
Manned Mission to Mars
To go or to not to go — the question for a mission to Mars. This resource provides details for a possible manned mission to Mars. Details include a launch schedule, what life would be like on the surface, and how the astronauts would...
Teach Engineering
May the Force Be With You: Thrust
Force the plane through the air. The lesson introduces the force on an airplane that makes it go forward. Pupils learn how Newton's laws of motion apply to flight in the eighth segment of a 22-part unit on flight.
Teaching Tolerance
Be the Change...
An engaging lesson empowers individuals to make a difference in the community. Pupils work together to identify problems within the community and draft possible solutions. Scholars then take it to the next level by volunteering their...
Curated OER
Leaving on A Jet Plane
Students create an airplane by listening to directions. They also to measure the pieces for the airplane and compare and contrast their test flights.
Curated OER
How Do You Get to School?
Third graders talk about all the various ways they get to school. They make a list of all the bus numbers that the students use. They also list all the other methods of transportation used and solidify a hypothesis.
Science Friday
Make a Model of a Home Made From Shipping Containers
Build a scale model of a home built out of shipping containers. A hands-on activity has scholars watch a video about a home built from shipping containers and then design their own home. They build scale models of their designed homes...
Carnegie Mellon University
How Power Plants Work 3
Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble! Find out what drives a turbine to generate electricity and whether or not it has an impact on the environment. A discussion and lecture is divided by a hands-on activity in...
Curated OER
Modern Day Pyramids
Students investigate the ways in which ancient technologies - six types of simple machines and combinations - are used to construct modern buildings. As they work together to solve a design problem (designing and building a modern...
Teach Engineering
Tools and Equipment (Part 1)
Looking for the best inclined plane for the job? Groups calculate the theoretical mechanical advantage for four different inclined planes. They determine the actual mechanical advantage by measuring the amount of force needed for the...
Teach Engineering
Swinging Pendulum
Get into the swing of things. Pupils use a pendulum to demonstrate the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy and back. After measuring the speed of a pendulum and compare it to the calculated theoretical speed, they determine...
Bowland
Mystery Tours – Plan Your Tour
Everyone loves a vacation and a set of three activities has groups planning a tour of the U.K. using given distance, time, and price data. They solve a variety of problems related to the trip and produce a report on the success of the trip.
WITS Program
Whoever You Are
Deep down, everyone is the same. Discuss the similarities and differences between people across cultures with a series of reading activities based on the beautiful story and illustrations in Whoever You Are by Mem Fox.