Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Logan Explains the Engineering Design Process

For Teachers 4th - 6th
What are the steps in the engineering design process? What activities do engineers actually complete during those steps? Students learn the steps and then apply their new knowledge in this design challenge.
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Design Step 7: Improve and Redesign/manufacture a Product

For Teachers 9th - 10th
As students learn more about the manufacturing process, they use what they learned from testing their designs in the previous activity to continue to improve and redesign. Students also have the opportunity to manufacture their final...
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Be "Cool" With Popsicle Engineering

For Teachers K - 1st
Beginning kindergarteners are introduced to science and engineering concepts through questions such as "What is a Scientist?" and "What is an Engineer?", and go on to compare and contrast the two. They are introduced to five steps of the...
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Pharmaceutical Research Design Problem

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Through this lesson and its associated activity, students explore the role of biomedical engineers working for pharmaceutical companies. First, students gain background knowledge about what biomedical engineers do, how to become a...
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Requirements & Constraints: Making Model Parking Garages

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
The difference between an architect and an engineer is sometimes confusing because their roles in building design can be similar. Students experience a bit of both professions by following a set of requirements and meeting given...
Lesson Plan
Other

Minnesota Department of Transportation: Bridge Up! Engineering [Pdf]

For Teachers K - 1st
In this lesson, students learn about the difference between human-made and natural components in our world. They will then identify natural and human-made items using photos. They will learn about the Engineering Design Process, why...
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Simulation in Healthcare

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students learn how engineering design is applied to solve healthcare problems by using an engineering tool called simulation. While engineering design is commonly used to study and design everything from bridges, factories, airports to...
Lesson Plan
Other

Ontario Council for Technology Education: Designing and Testing a Crane [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
By the end of this project, students will be familiar with the 6 different simple machines and will be able to identify how these machines are used in products and tools they use on a daily basis. They will investigate how mechanical...
Lesson Plan
Other

Ontario Council for Technology Education: Designing a Bus Shelter [Pdf]

For Teachers 10th - 12th
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...
Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Introducing Engineering

For Teachers K - 1st
There is something gross under the cafeteria table. Do you pick it up? Gross! How about we mimic a bird's beak to solve the problem of picking up our trash? This lesson models walking through the first few steps of the Engineering Design...
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Simple Machines and Modern Day Engineering Analogies

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students apply the mechanical advantages and problem-solving capabilities of six types of simple machines (wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley) as they discuss modern structures in the spirit of the engineers and...
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Hidden in Plain Sight

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Steganography is the science and art of hiding messages in plain sight so only the sender and intended recipient know the existence of a message. Steganography can be characterized as security through obscurity. Through this activity,...
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: What Is Engineering? What Is Design?

For Teachers 4th - 8th
An overview of engineering and design which introduces the students to the basic steps of the engineering design process. This lesson challenges students to plan a picnic for their friends by considering its various components as they go...
Lesson Plan
Other

The Design Museum: Can You Redesign an Object to Make It Easier to Use?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Grant Douglas has cerebral palsy and needs assistance to eat. While he was sitting at home being fed cornflakes by his mum, the phone rang. She answered it and as she talked, Grant could see his cornflakes getting soggier and soggier....
Lesson Plan
TryEngineering

Try Engineering: Can You Canoe?

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Teams of students learn about the engineering design process as they design, build, and test a model canoe made with everyday materials. Lesson focuses on how materials engineering has impacted the manufacturing of canoes over time.
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: The Artificial Bicep

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students learn more about how muscles work and how biomedical engineers can help keep the muscular system healthy. Following the engineering design process, they create their own biomedical device to aid in the recovery of a strained...
Lesson Plan
TryEngineering

Try Engineering: Working With Watermills

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Teams of students design, build, test, and evaluate a working watermill made from everyday materials. Lesson explores how watermills generate energy from water, while students gain an understanding of the structural engineering design...
Lesson Plan
TryEngineering

Try Engineering: Working With Wind Energy

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students use the engineering design process to build a working windmill out of everyday materials. Lesson explores the technology behind wind energy being used to generate energy in businesses and homes worldwide.
Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Magnet Engineering Design Challenge

For Students 3rd
Use the engineering design process to create a solution to problem involving magnets?
Lesson Plan
TryEngineering

Try Engineering: Designing Drones

For Teachers 3rd - 7th
This lesson focuses on helicopters and drones, how they fly, how they are used in different ways that help people and the environment. Teams of students explore helicopter flight; and design, build, and test their own simple rotor out of...
Lesson Plan
Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education, Stevens Institute of Technology

Ciese: Scratch My Back: Children's Engineering Activity

For Teachers K - 1st
This lesson is based on the book Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup. In the book, a big, smelly bear has an itch in the middle of his back and can't scratch it. Nothing the bear tries works. Using the Engineering Design Process,...
Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Engineering Solutions

For Students K - 1st
Anyone who has attempted one of those "claw machine" games at local restaurants or retailers knows how impossible it seems to win. This activity will get students using the engineering design process to develop a claw that will actually...
Lesson Plan
Other

Ontario Council for Technology Education: Transportation Design and Construction [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this project, students will develop knowledge and skills related to the construction of vehicle/craft systems. They will identify and describe the major systems and components of vehicles, aircraft, and/or watercraft such as body,...
Lesson Plan
Other

Ontario Council for Technology Education: Designing a Tool Storage Board [Pdf]

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students begin this project by taking an inventory of hand tools at home. They then categorize their tools and make a detailed list in a spreadsheet. After research on tool storage, they will choose materials and a tool board style, then...