Students are introduced to the parameters of an engineering challenge in which their principal has asked them to devise an invisible security system to cost-effectively protect a treasured mummified troll, while still allowing for...

Students gain a basic understanding of the engineering components behind telecommunications, in particular, the way telephone communication works to link one phone to another for conventional landline and cellular telephones. During this...

Created to teach students of the 21st century, SOPHIA is bringing the world of engineering straight to your fingertips. Become the commander of your own learning experiences as you take part in this interactive experiment.

Create a creature that uses air to create motion with this challenge. Site includes tips, lesson plans, and a place for students to document their design process.

This challenge has students using a zip line to guide a boat to move through the water for long distances. To help the students build a fast and steady boat this site contains a lesson plan as well as tips. Students can also document...

This resource explains why data collection is a great way to make informed improvements to a design, and how to do it. Data can be quantitative - such as a measurement of distance or time - or qualitative, such as an observation of...

A challenge that asks students to move a marble, a straw, and a coin from the table into a cup using a robotic arm they designed. The site includes a lesson plan, tips, and a place for students to document their design process.

Build a zoetrope machine where you can animate a facial expression and the machine plays the animation back with this site. Site contains lesson plans, tips, and a place to document your design process.

Using common household items, students are challenged to build a Mars rover that can travel using elastic energy. Site includes a lesson plan, tips, and a place for students to document their design process.

In this activity, student teams in grades K-6 explore the design process by engineering a way to keep an ice cube from melting for 30 minutes. [6:00]

Students investigate decomposers and the role of decomposers in maintaining the flow of nutrients in an environment. Students also learn how engineers use decomposers to help clean up wastes in a process known as bioremediation. This...

Based on the book Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming. Students must use the engineering design process to plan and build a barrier that will keep hungry bunnies out of a garden.

Starting with the book Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup, young scholars use the engineering design process to design a solution to the bear's problem of not being able to scratch an itchy back.

Students are asked to use the engineering design process to construct a house for the third pig in The Three Little Pigs story that can withstand the huffing and puffing of the wolf.

This unit has students design and build foam tubing roller coasters. The design process integrates energy concepts as they test and evaluate their designs that address the task as an engineer would. The goal is for students to understand...

The design requirements for a science project will differ from those of anyone else because it will apply to a specific problem statement and the product, system, or experience that is being designed. In the table, are some examples of...

In this design activity, students investigate materials engineering as it applies to weather and clothing. The students will design and analyze different combinations of materials for effectiveness in specific weather conditions....

In this stills collage adapted from the National Science Teachers Association/Craftsman Young Inventors Awards, see several inventions by students in grades 4-7 and read about some of the challenges they faced during the design process.

Teams of learners learn about the work of software engineers as they design a simple computer game using free software available in multiple languages.

In an open-ended design activity, students use everyday materials (milk cartons, water bottles, pencils, straws, candy) to build a small-scale transportation device. They incorporate the use of a wheel and axle, and lever into their...

Students become "engineers" as they learn how to develop pipeline systems for transportation. In this lesson, they work in teams to design, develop, and execute a pipeline plan to transport both a golf ball and a ping pong ball from one...

The focus of this civil engineering lesson is on designing, building, and testing an irrigation system made from everyday materials to move water from one place to another.

This activity has students redesign and justify the packaging currently used in some consumer products. Design criteria include reducing the amount of packaging material by 25%.

Chemical engineering lesson plan investigates the processes of chemical plating and electroplating. Teams of students work together to devise a chemical system for plating metal objects with copper, then test and evaluate their findings...