Teach Engineering
Battle of the Beams
Make the strongest beam possible using taffy? Groups mold a taffy-water mixture into a beam and a reinforcing material of their choice. To finish the final installment of a two-part series, participants test its strength by adding...
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Reach For The Sky
Students consider alternative designs for a tall building and choose one of their designs to build. As a final step, they design and construct a model of a skyscraper.
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Earthquakes
Learners inspect the causes and effects of earthquakes and examine how seismic waves travel. In this earthquake lesson, students determine where earthquakes happen and why, before determining how to build an earthquake resistant...
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Suspension Bridges: Connecting Lives
Students explore bridges. In this bridge instructional activity, students design and build a suspension bridge after visiting related websites and reviewing famous bridges in non-fiction books. Students follow the...
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Newspaper Tower
Students design and construct a tower out of newspaper using a limited supply of newspaper, tape, and scissors. After completing their designs, they identify which designs can withstand the self-weight of the newspaper tower as well as...
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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,...
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Linear Computational Circuitry
In this electrical worksheet, learners draw a schematic design circuit board to grasp the understanding amplification in linear circuitry before answering a series of 35 open-ended questions pertaining to a variety of linear circuitry....
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Animals Up!
Learners design and build a pedestal or platform that holds a toy animal. In this building lesson, students use knowledge from a prior lesson as they build a platform or pedestal for a toy animal using on index cards. They learn the...
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Special Diodes
In this electrical circuit worksheet, students draw a schematic design and build a circuit board to grasp the understanding of diodes. Students answer a series of 8 open-ended questions. This worksheet is printable and there are on-line...
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Castle/Fort Unit
Students compare and contrast castles and forts. They observe buildings in their community and consider how castles and forts are similar. They design their own castle or fort and brainstorm materials to build with, discuss how the...
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Ramp Builder
Learners plan and build a ramp designed for maximum distance a car can travel. In this physics and data collection math lesson, students work in groups to design a ramp using various household materials. Learners test small cars on their...
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Engineering For The 3 Little Pigs
Students engage in a lesson which demonstrates the importance of rocks, soils and minerals in engineering and how using the right material for the right job is important. The students build three different sand castles and test them for...
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Geometry of Democracy
Students explore the architecture of New England by identifying geometric shapes. In this architectural lesson, students examine photographs of classic building architecture and use a transparency to trace geometric shapes they...
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Gingerbread Architecture: An Exploration and Engineering
Eighth graders design and build a gingerbread house. In this technology instructional activity, 8th graders research the important components of a house. They evaluate the strength of their design and suggest modifications when necessary.
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Engineering: Which Roof Is Tops?
Students determine regional climates by examining photos of house roofs. They observe teacher-constructed examples of roofs and make predictions as to which style is best for snowy climates. After evaluating the examples, they record...
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Light Your Way
Students investigate how a simple series circuit functions. They design and construct a working portable flashlight, develop a written plan for the flashlight, test their flashlight for functionality and reliability, and draw the series...
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How Does Your Garden Grow?
Students construct and maintain a school garden. In this gardening lesson, students plan the construction of the garden by writing letters to local businesses asking for supplies and materials; students build the garden using their math...
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Leaning Tower of Pasta
Students experiment with different structures to determine which ones are able to handle the greatest amount of load using spaghetti and marshmallows. They discuss how engineers design buildings, construct their buildings and complete a...
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Scaling Down the Pyramids
Students construct three-dimensional models of the three pyramids at Giza. They research the building of the pyramids and record the height, base and angle measurements of each pyramid. They create a file of facts regarding the pyramids.
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Mr. Pitonyak's Pyramid Puzzle
Students determine how much it would cost to build a pyramid using modern materials and ancient methods. They design scale drawings, models and submit final cost bids in an attempt to get the job of building a pyramid.
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"Girls Only" Science Workshop
Young scholars design sleds. In this engineering lesson, students collaborate to engineer and build a real working sleds from the materials provided. This lesson was originally designed to be taught to a group of female young...
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Bulbs & Batteries in a Row
Students investigate simple series circuits and their properties. In small groups they draw a circuit diagram on their Series Circuit Building worksheet, follow step-by-step directions to construct a simple series circuit, and solve...
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Rockets on a Shoestring Budget
Students, operating under simulated budget constraints, build pop-rockets and launch them. Working in pairs, they complete budget worksheets and use their "Blast Off Bucks" to pay for the construction. They then redesign their rockets...
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Cardboard Boat Challenge
Students build a boat out of cardboard and tape. They apply Archimedes' Principle to their design.