Curated OER
Freestanding Structures: A Tech Museum Floor Activity
Students attempt to design the tallest structure that they can with the given materials which are wooden dowels and rubber bands. They discuss the physics of their structure and how they would improve it the next time they built a...
NASA
Rocket Races
And they are off! Using Styrofoam meat trays and balloons, individuals build racers that demonstrate Newton's Third Law of Motion. Pupils run their racers three times and make improvements between each trial. To conclude the activity,...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Tinkering with Tops
Get kids' heads spinning by challenging them to design a top that will rotate for a minimum of 10 seconds without leaving a 30-cm circle. Groups of learners collaborate through a planning stage, testing stage, and evaluation stage. Some...
Curated OER
Design and Construct a Road Sign Support
Learners use simple materials to design, build and test a model of a free standing structure used to support overhead road signs.
Curated OER
Capturing Renewable Energy
Pupils watch a video segment on the engineering design process, then design a storage system for renewable energy. Students brainstorm and research ways in which renewable energies such as solar and wind power can be stored.
TryEngineering
Rescue Rover
Learners explore how rescue devices are made and used. In this rescue lesson students design and build their own rescue device then test it.
Curated OER
What Happened to the Water? Designing Ways to Get and Clean Water
Students design ways to clean a water source or find a new water source depending on various hypothetical family scenarios. They draw and write about how to provide water to a community facing a water crisis, and present their solutions...
Curated OER
"Eggsploring" Engineering!
Put a new twist on the egg drop by turning your students into aerospace engineers!
Curated OER
Chemical Engineering: Volcanoes
Students study volcanoes using a chemical engineering project. For this volcanoes lesson, students create a model town and discuss the properties of a volcano. Students then make a volcano using a chemical engineering format for their...
Teach Engineering
Edible Rovers (High School)
Design and build a rover ... then eat it? This activity has groups of two design and build Mars rovers. The teams determine what instruments they want to include with their rover and plan a budget. They calculate the cost of the body of...
Teach Engineering
Edible Rovers
The good thing about building this rover is you get to eat it afterwards. Pairs determine rover parts they want to include in their design based upon their cost and usefulness. The teams design their rovers, build them from edible...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Water Fountain
Thorough instructions are given to guide you through making a demonstration hydraulic pump from two plastic soda bottles. After using the resource to teach your class about Pascal's and Bernoulli's principles, turn them loose in groups...
Teach Engineering
Mechanics of Elastic Solids
Make the connection between Hooke's law and elasticity with an activity that introduces the class to the behavior of elastic materials. The resource defines stress and strain to calculate the modules of elasticity of...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Classroom Paper Recycling
After reading about the history and recycling of paper, creative crafters collaborate to think of a new process for making recycled paper. A complete teacher's guide and student worksheets are included. There is no written procedure for...
Curated OER
Groundwater Detectives
Students measure the pH of soil samples from a hypothetical site to locate a contaminant spill and will predict the direction of groundwater flow using mathematical modeling. They use the engineering design process to develop...
Curated OER
Capturing Renewable Energy
Students watch a video segment on the engineering design process, then design a storage system for renewable energy. Students brainstorm and research ways in which renewable energies such as solar and wind power can be stored.
Curated OER
Capturing Renewable Energy
Young scholars watch a video segment on the engineering design process, then design a storage system for renewable energy. Students brainstorm and research ways in which renewable energies such as solar and wind power can be stored.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Sticky Engineering Challenge
Students explore the properties of different adhesives. In this physics lesson plan, students construct a building structure and determine what glue to use in the process. They present their design in class.
Curated OER
Introduction of Careers in Technical and Engineering
Ninth graders explore career opportunities in technology and engineering. In this engineering lesson, 9th graders design plans and build machines to perform tasks.
Curated OER
Designing Machines
Students explore simple and compound machines. In groups of four students, they design a compound machine using K'NEX that has a stated purpose and consists of at least two simple machines.
Curated OER
Cleaning the Air
Learners investigate how engineers design methods of removing particulate matter from industrial sources to minimize negative effects of air pollution. In small groups they design and construct a filter with the goal of removing pepper...
Curated OER
Disassemble a Click Pen
Young scholars dissamble and analyze the spring system of a click pen. They analyze a cross-section worksheet, dissamble the pens, fill in the missing parts of the cross-section diagram, and write a description of how the pen works.
LABScI
Catapult: Flight of the Marshmallows
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.
Teach Engineering
Aerogel Cookies
Cookies are definitely important for scientific learning. To study aerogels, future engineers use chocolate chip cookie dough to make models. Their task is to design a process that removes the chocolate chips from the cookie dough,...