Redecorate a classroom on a budget. Middle schoolers rebuild a classroom after a disaster. They conduct Internet research to determine construction supplies needed and the most cost effective way to reach the predetermined results. They...

Middle schoolers investigate the use of math in everyday life. They investigate several occupations and pay scales. They complete spreadsheets that show how monthly bills can be organized using technology. They use word processing...

Students follow the food pyramid to create a daily food budget. They research food prices online or in newspapers. They graph the amount of each food group included in their menus. They can also create a weekly food menu based on a fixed...

A solid foundation is important for all things—especially houses. Learners research different materials for foundations based on environmental impact and cost. They decide whether concrete, insulated concrete, or wood would be best for...

Students examine their ecological footprint. In this technology based lesson, students calculate patterns of consumption and suggest ways to decrease their resource usage. This lesson includes several multi-media resources, videos, and...

Our final proposal for the cost of the bridge requested is ... In the last segment in a series of 10, pairs work together to develop a proposal for a city bridge design. The class completes a cost comparison between concrete and steel to...

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...

The classic egg-drop experiment gets a new bounce with an activity that asks pairs to design a lander similar to one used to land a rover on Mars within a fixed budget. The activity provides a great introduction to the idea of...

Teams use the design process to design, build, and test a model levee to protect the town from a wall of water. A handout provides a price list for the materials learners can use to build their levee within a budget.

Students determine how to spend donated money. For this money choices lesson, students explore the needs of the community. They determine the best use of donated funds for a good cause or charity. Students play a bingo game to reinforce...

Class members learn how to estimate the total costs involved to design and build a bridge by including design, material, equipment, and labor costs. The activity includes a discussion about the trade-off between cost and aesthetics.

Fifth graders plan a budget for a camping trip. They use a spreadsheet to organize the budget and word processing justification for their choices.

Turn your pupils into engineers who are able to use scientific principals to design a ship. This long-term project expects pupils to understand concepts of density, buoyancy, displacement, and metacenter, and apply them to constructing a...

Sixth graders analyze an introductory lesson for Microsoft Excel. They go step by step through the creation of a basic spreadsheet and the use of simple formulas in a problem solving format.

Eighth graders will create model drawings of bridges and integrate technology into the process of creating a visual representation. Technology is used in the industry of design and architecture. This lesson helps to build real life skills.

Pairs work as engineering teams to design and build model bridges from drinking straws and tape. In this third segment in a series of 10, teams compete in an attempt to build the strongest bridge. To help with the design, the groups...

Students investigate how engineers use different types of bridges for different places. In small groups they design and construct bridges for three different scenarios, and answer a series of investigating questions applied to the...

Students build three types of towers, engineering them to hold an egg one foot high for 15 seconds. They discover that engineering designs are subject to constraints such as time, money and size specifications. In this activity students...

Eighth graders use a spreadsheet for the first time. They work on a selected environmental issues as their theme. Students prepare costs or income for an event that raises money for an environmental issue. They use the costs and income...