Students design dashboards for vehicles in 2020. After researching past and current trends in vehicle design, they sketch alternatives and select one to draw with computer-assisted design software (CAD), labeling all the components. With...

Wrap up the unit in one final design. Pairs use their knowledge of aviation to design new flying machines and record how their designs take into consideration the forces that act upon airplanes. The pupils determine whether their designs...

Introduce your class to Glogster with this literary analysis lesson. At the end of your short story unit, they choose one literary element to apply to three short stories and make an online poster using Glogster. Samples are included. If...

Knowing the basics of drafting allows individuals to create drawings that show all the views and measurements necessary to allow others to visualize the original object. Pupils gain experience by drawing three orthographic views of...

Extracting oil is more difficult than many think! Learners work together and get hands-on as they represent oil companies drilling for oil by simulating oil extraction using beans. They identify the challenges faced in using...

How well can you launch a ping-pong ball? Small groups design launchers that can launch a ping-pong ball 20 feet into a target. The teams follow the engineering design process as they develop a solution that meets the design...

Challenge your class to use their understanding of the engineering design process to design and build a small-scale, off-road prototype for an assistive technology device. Teams select materials to build their scale models, and, using...

Watch your marshmallows fly. The engaging STEM activity has groups create a catapult to launch marshmallows. After testing their prototypes, they consider improvements and redesign their catapults.

Space, the Final Frontier. The nine NASA-created challenges in this unit are designed to teach class members the engineering design process. Each challenge comes with teacher and student pages that can be used individually or as a...

Draw a rainbow over the rainbow. The second segment in a series of six has the class practice using functions to edit a program that draws a rainbow. After creating the function, the interactive lesson challenges pupils to create another...

Your class will be blown away when they build their own city tower structure! Engineering scholars partner up to plan, build, and test their own paper towers. As they build, they gain valuable design skills, learn about wind tunnel...

Third graders explore the structural composition of buildings and houses. In this math lesson, 3rd graders explain how architecture is related to mathematics. They create a blueprint of a structure with at least three different spaces.

Quit repeating yourself ... you can make this simpler! Rather than repeating the same set of code over and over, class members learn to build and call functions in a series of challenges in App Lab. In the end, they combine...

Scholars learn how to make a digital canvas and fill it with artwork by creating a drawing app using the canvas element. The activity requires learners to previous knowledge of arrays and return commands to draw images.

Using the Twist™ application, elementary schoolers design their dream room. They follow the prescribed steps to calculate width, length, perimeter, and surface area in order to create a 2-dimensional representation of their dream room...

Students evaluate the acceptable use of classroom space. The class participated in a brief lecture and discuss of floor plans and how they are used in architecture. Using graph paper, they create a scale drawing of the classroom...

View Byzantine architecture from the comfort of your classroom. A PowerPoint presentation introduces important vocabulary terms and examples of Byzantine architecture in the ninth lesson of the 11-part series. A Jeopardy game reviews...

Give your class a chance to show what they know. In the last installment of a seven-part series, pupils summarize and review what they have learned in the series. They present their solutions for creating a biosensor to detect cancer...

Students become both mystery readers and writers. They utilize the Internet to understand the elements of this classic genre; employ critical thinking skills when reading various stories in both print and electronic formats; form groups...

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...

Find an answer to the age-old debate of whether life exists on Mars. Groups determine criteria to help look for signs of life on Mars. The activity has the class simulate testing Martian soil samples for signs of life before drawing...

Fifth graders create a HyperStudio book report after reading a novel. They work in pairs or small groups to design a HyperStudio stack about a previously-read novel. They use a variety of graphic organizers to have Students gather...

Pupils design a program to make an automated vehicle perform a specific task. In this robotics lesson, students play the role of scientists competing to win a factory's contract. They present their algorithm to class.

Sixth graders view an animated program showing how the continents fit together millions of years ago. In groups, they compare and contrast the distribution of rocks and fossils based on how the continents fit together. After reading a...