DiscoverE
Emergency Shelter
Save yourself! Groups create a sturdy emergency shelter out of bamboo. The shelter must be large enough to fit one person. Now the most important question: Which member of the group gets to use the shelter in an emergency?
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TE Activity: Space Shelter
Students simulate that they need to develop a new home on a different planet. They design a shelter that will ensure their survival after researching the characteristics of the other planet. They write an essay about their home design.
Teach Engineering
Incoming Asteroid! What's the Problem?
Oh, no! An asteroid is on a collision course with Earth!. Class members must rise to the challenge of designing a shelter that will protect people from the impact and permit them to live in this shelter for one year. In this first lesson...
Teach Engineering
How Big? Necessary Area and Volume for Shelter
Teams must determine the size of cavern needed to house the citizens of Alabraska to protect them from the asteroid impact. Using scaling properties, teams first determining the number of people that could sleep in a classroom and then...
Teach Engineering
Live Like an Animal
When your parents say that your room's a pig sty, tell them about biomimicry. The sixth installment of a nine-part Life Science unit has scholars research the shelters used by animals in the natural world, like turtle shells. Using the...
Teach Engineering
Ranking the Rocks for Desired Properties
Math rocks! Cavern design teams determine the rankings of rock types based upon desirability points. The points are connected to the properties of the rocks and their usefulness in building a cavern.
Teach Engineering
Rocks, Rocks, Rocks: Test, Identify Properties and Classify
Time is growing short. Teams work together to identify physical properties of rocks in order to determine the properties that would best suit their cavern shelter design.
Curated OER
Doghouse Design
Elementary engineers design a dog house suitable for a large dog according to specific criteria. Students create a design for a doghouse that allows their dog to grow, protects him from the elements, and keeps food and water dishes...
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The Need For Shelter
Fifth graders build a shelter to protect themselves from rain. They perform durability and water proof testing on the shelters. They make observations of plants found in the Amazon rainforest.
Teach Engineering
Energy in Our Lives Carousel
Don't waste any more energy trying to find a great resource on energy. The third installment of a 25-part Energy Systems and Solutions unit focuses on energy use in pupils' lives. They consider how their daily routines consume energy and...
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Daily and Seasonal Cycles
First graders identify the sun as a source of heat and light. They identify features of houses that help keep use sheltered and comfortable throughout daily and seasonal cycles. Students are told that summer is the best season to...
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Improving the Building Envelope System
Students explain the different heat transfer mechanisms and how they influence the building envelope. They develop ways in which the building envelope can be improved and test hypotheses about building envelope designs.
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Sun Friendly Homes
Students design and build a model solar energy home. In this technology lesson, students test the efficiency of their model houses by measuring temperature at regular intervals. They analyze data and share results with the class.
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TE Activity: Built to Last?
Fifth graders test the shelters that were built in a prior activity. They determine the level of durability and water resistance of these shelters through a scientific investigation.
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Journey to the Afterlife
Students work together to design an Egyptian funerary barge. They discover the importance of the afterlife to Egyptians. They create their boat and share their design with the class. They compare and contrast the technology of Ancient...
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Storm Busters
Students investigate hurricanes and invent a way to diffuse or redirect a hurricane before it becomes destructive in this technology-based science project. Cooperative learning groups are emphasized.
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Environment: Wild Wind Direction
Students examine the different types of wind patterns. Using common materials, they construct weather vanes to measure and record wind direction over a two-week period. After analyzing the data, they draw conclusions about the...
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Ecosystems and Remote Sensing
Young scholars obtain remote sensing data to compare and contrast global biomass data with global temperature data.
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Make it a habitat
Students consider the adaptation of life forms through natural selection to fill various niches and accommodate changing environmental conditions. They select an ecosystem and conduct research to provide as much detailed information as...
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Coastal Weather Issues: Planning for a Hurricane
Seventh graders utilize internet resources to gather, analyze, and interpret hurricane data. They develop a public information booklet that be used as a guide for the community to use when preparing for a hurricane.
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Rain Garden
High schoolers build rain gardens. In this community service lesson, students study the effectiveness of rain gardens in allowing water to run off. High schoolers build a community rain garden at their school.
Curated OER
Pio, Pio, Que Frio
Students investigate the characteristics of living things. They determine that different organisms have different needs and describe and compare them. They draw and verbally respond about their favorite animal.
Other
Ontario Council for Technology Education: Designing a Bus Shelter [Pdf]
By the end of this project, the student will be able to understand and work through the stages of the design process, assess and develop design criteria when creating concept and scaled sketches, and use computer design software...