Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Popsicle Bridge
Using popsicle sticks and glue, groups must work together to design and build a bridge that can support weight and is aesthetically pleasing. The instructional activity begins by learners reading about different features of bridge...
Curated OER
Building for the Big One
Learners build and test structures that can best withstand earthquakes. They create their structures from playdough, cornstarch, grape-nuts and popsicle sticks and place their structures on a "shake table."
Curated OER
The Design of Fort McHenry: The Star Fort
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 have...
Curated OER
Am I Taller than an Antelope
Students investigate biology by examining body sizes of different animals. In this antelope measurement lesson, students research the physicality of Antelopes and other large animals that inhabit Earth. Students create a model Antelope...
Curated OER
Anything I Can Do You Can Do Better
Students complete a two-week unit involving design and construction concepts. They watch a PowerPoint presentation about geometric shapes, draw the fourteen shapes incorporated in bridge construction, and in small groups design, build,...
Cornell University
Bridge Building
Bridge the gaps in your knowledge of bridges. Individuals learn about bridge types by building models. The activity introduces beam bridges, arch bridges, truss bridges, and suspension bridges.
Illustrative Mathematics
Roll & Build
Develop young mathematicians' understanding of place value with this hands-on math activity. Working in pairs, learners take turns building two-digit numbers by rolling two ten-sided dice. Base ten blocks are then used to model the...
Reading Resource
Build-A-Fence Long Vowel Game
Build your class's knowledge with a vowel game. With a list of code words for each vowel, kids begin to construct fences with the words that share long vowel sounds.
Teach Engineering
Fun Look at Material Science
Introduce materials science with a class demonstration. After showing a PowerPoint presentation on materials and their properties, instructors provide a ceramic tile, a Popsicle stick, a paper clip, and a plastic bag as examples of...
Curated OER
Intro to Building Bridges
Students participate in groups to complete the best bridge. In this bridge building lesson, students are assigned a role in building the bridge. Students will have to keep to their budgets. After the bridges are built, parents will be...
Science Matters
Fault Formations
The San Andreas Fault moves about two inches a year, approximately the same rate fingernails grow—crazy! The third lesson in the series allows for hands-on exploration of various fault formations. Through the use of a Popsicle stick,...
Little Bins for Little Hands
St. Patrick's Day Challenge Cards
Nineteen cards offer an assortment of St. Patrick's Day-themed STEM activities. Scholars choose from a variety of cards to take part in activities such as building coin towers, growing green carnations, tying a celtic knot, and more!
Teach Engineering
Exploring Variables While Testing and Improving Mint-Mobiles (for Middle School)
There are more ways to use mint candies than to just eat them. In groups, learners design and build race cars using mint candies, drinking straws, Popsicle sticks, index cards, and other materials. They decide on an independent variable...
Curated OER
Build Your Own Insect Trap
Students ask testable questions. They explain the relationship between insect behavior and insect trapping techniques. Students design their own insect traps to collect a new unknown insect, in the same way that entomologists collect the...
Curated OER
Build and Test Your Car Continued
Students create and build cars to race in class. In this physics lesson, students calculate the speed using distance and time information. They evaluate their design and make adjustments when needed.
Curated OER
Engineering Application: What Can I Build On?
Students explore how earthquakes cause structures to move and how the substrate beneath them may actually cause them to fail. They create mock buildings and place them in level tubs of various substrates. They then put each through a...
Curated OER
Build, Draw, Build
Learners build an abstract meaningless object. For this technology lesson, students draw the plans of the object. They exchange drafts among their classmates and build them.
Curated OER
Catapults
Students discover the catapult. For this catapult lesson, students research the history of the catapult and how it works. They work in groups to build their own catapult using tootpicks, popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and spoons.
Curated OER
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks
Students examine how rocks are composed of different minerals. They analyze rock samples, then examine cookies, sorting out the simulated mineral ingredients from the cookies and identifying the mineral ingredients.
Cornell University
The Physics of Bridges
Stability is key when building a bridge. Scholars explore the forces acting upon bridges through an analysis of Newton's Laws and Hooke's Law. The activity asks individuals to apply their learning by building a bridge of their own.
Berkeley Engineering and Mentors
Marshmallow Catapaults
After a brief lecture on levers, torque, projectiles, and the five-step engineering design cycle, young physical science learners or engineers build catapults out of craft sticks. This is an open-ended exploration of what works and what...
Curated OER
Dragon Genetics-Independent Assortment and Genetic Linkage
Students build chromosome models using popsicle sticks. In this biology lesson, students simulate the Law of Independent Assortment. They use Punnett squares to predict the resulting genotype and phenotype.
Curated OER
Best Nest Builders
Students construct a nest out of mud, string, sticks, and grass using only two fingers or two popsicle sticks to simulate a bird building a nest. They compare/contrast pictures of various bird nests and draw the differences between the...
Curated OER
Kid City, USA
What a model community would look like? Get your kids talking with an activity that allows them to create their own town. After printing out a "fold out village," groups of young scholars use a variety of resources to help them build an...