DiscoverE
Let's Make an Elastic Puppet
Create bending joints—but don't break! The activity shows how to make a puppet using straws and fishing line. Pupils create cuts to make joints that rely on the elasticity of the straw to bend and return to their original shapes.
Teach Engineering
Rube Goldberg and the Meaning of Machines
A Rube Goldberg machine does not really look like it would make work easier. Introduce your class to Rube Goldberg with a resource that shows how his inventions make simple tasks harder to complete.
Curated OER
Technology: Recipes Around the World
Learners research international cuisine and create Web pages based on them. Once they have organized their findings, they demonstrate their research with a multimedia presentation. The project concludes with a party using food ...
Teach Engineering
Optimize! Cleaner Energy Options for Rural China
What are the trade-offs when looking to get the most benefit from an energy source? Small groups compare the cost-to-emission levels of several energy sources by looking at the information graphically. The groups utilize this information...
Curated OER
Paper Suspension Bridges: You Want Me To Go Up There?
A few class periods will be required to complete this physics investigation with your high schoolers. There is an unavailable video written into the lesson plan, but there is plenty of material here to bridge the gap. Two terrific...
Discovery Education
Satellite Telemetry
Satellites require rockets to launch, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand them. Future engineers learn about how satellites send data to Earth and how to interpret satellite images. They see how radio waves play a role...
Technical Sketching
Introduction — Surfaces and Edges
How different can 3-D and 2-D really be? An engineering resource provides an explanation about the importance of two-dimensional technical drawings. Several samples show how to create multi-view drawings from pictorials and vice-versa....
Curated OER
Using Fairy Tales to Debate Ethics
Is trickery ever justified? Is it okay to steal from someone who has stolen from you? Puss, from Puss in Boots, and Jack, from Jack and the Beanstalk, might have some ideas about these ethical questions. After listening to a series of...
Curated OER
Compare and Contrast Night to Life is Beautiful
After reading Elie Wiesel's Night, watching the movie Life is Beautiful, and researching World War II, class members write a comparison essay on the book and film. This includes a prior knowledge activity, discussion in whole and small...
Curated OER
The Little Prince: Problematic Situation
Your plane has crashed in the Sahara desert. What do you do? Explore the possibilities with a role-playing activity based on Antoine de Saint Éxupery's The Little Prince. In groups, kids decide whether they would walk to find help to try...
National Sailing Hall of Fame
Introduction to Sailboats
The left part of the boat is called what? An informative lesson and accompanying slideshow presentation introduce middle schoolers to the terminology and parts associated with a sailboat.
Curated OER
"An Internet Nose for News"
Students conduct research on the Internet. In this technology studies lesson, students use a variety of Internet search engines to research a topic of their choice. Students complete worksheets based on their research.
Curated OER
Creating Your Own Ad
Students analyze the effective advertisements in print and Internet ads. In this advertisements lesson, students create a collage of original and repurposed words, graphics, and images of advertisements. Students create a poster for the...
Curated OER
Sentence Train
What child doesn't like trains? Use this fun idea to practice writing. Young readers learn to write complete sentences by using a train graphic organizer made out of construction paper. Each section of the train (engine, boxcar, and...
Curated OER
Things That Fly
Students locate images of two things that fly on the Internet and print them. They develop graphic organizers to compare and contrast the two images and exhibit the images along with the organizers in a classroom gallery.
Curated OER
Space Shuttle
One slide details the features of Space Shuttle Discovery in graphic form. Another shows a faulty hydrogen fuel sensor. The final slide is a picture of the explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger and the ill-fated crew. If you wanted to...
Curated OER
Exemplary Plans, Engineer It!
Students research tall buildings and identify the geometric shapes used in the construction of the buildings. They compare shapes and infer why some are better than others in building. They produce a multimedia presentation of geometric...
Teach Engineering
Android App Development
Building an accelerometer app for your Android device. Groups develop an app that uses the accelerometer on an Android device. The purpose of the activity is to reinforce the programming design. The post activity assessment challenges...
Teach Engineering
Penny Perfect Properties (Solid-Liquid Interations)
I can get more water to stay on a penny than you can! Collaborative pairs determine the volume of liquids that can be contained on the surface of copper pennies and plastic coins. The pairs analyze their results using graphs and go on to...
Science NetLinks
Green Roof Design
Green roofs aren't just eco-friendly — they are literally green with trees. Groups learn about the concept of green roofs in order to be able to design one. The groups design a 5,000-square-foot green roof for a fictional apartment row...
DiscoverE
Air-Powered Mini Rocket
Does the position of the clips make a difference? The activity provides directions to build and test a paper rocket. Pupils attach paper clips to the rocket in different configurations and measure the distance the rocket flies each time....
National Energy Education Development Project
Introduction to Wind Energy
The U.S. produced enough wind energy in 2015 to power all of the homes in Alaska, California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and...
Curated OER
October Sky
In this rockets worksheet, learners complete the questions while watching the video, October Sky. Students learn about the experimental aspects of building a rocket. Learners complete 4 graphic organizers and 11 short answer questions.
Curated OER
Creation Stories
Learners read and research American Indian creation stories as a way to understand the origins of American Literature. They conduct Internet research utilizing Internet search engines. They create an online report page as well as write...