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Sounds Like Music
Students define and examine the connections between sound and music and how engineers design instruments. They listen to examples of musical instruments, view a demonstration of a tuning fork and bottles filled with varying amounts of...
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Time for Design
Learners are introduced to the design process used in engineering. They compare and contrast this process with the steps followed in the scientific method. Students then participate in a brainstorming session that asks them to design a...
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Crash! Bang!
Young scholars study the physical force of linear momentum by investigating collisions. They analyze the difference between elastic and inelastic collisions. They calculate linear momentum.
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Tornado!
Young scholars examine the characteristics and types of tornadoes. They discuss how they are formed, conduct an experiment with two liter bottles, analyze data and determine mean and median, and design a house to withstand tornado-force...
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Rock Solid
Students investigate the three types of material stress related to rocks. They watch a PowerPoint Presentation, view an online animation of the three types of rock stress, identify the various types of rocks, answer true or false...
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Spring Has Sprung
Spring lesson plan ideas can allow students and teachers a chance to use the outdoors as a classroom and a source of study topics.
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It's Alive! Using Microorganisms in Cooking
Students create a KWL chart about food. In this chemistry lesson, students differentiate physical and chemical changes. They explain how microorganisms are used in food preparation.
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Muscles, Oh My!
Pupils explore the human muscular system. For this science lesson, students discuss how engineering is related to the field of bio-mechanics and human movement.
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Determining the Age of Fossils
Students examine the concept of radioactive dating. In this radioactive dating lesson plan, students investigate how to determine the ages of fossils and rocks as they learn about half-life radioactive decay.
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What is Energy?
Learners define energy and identify the different types that exist. They identify places they see, hear or feel energy. They understand the role of engineering in finding and testing sources of energy for the production of electricity.
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Dinosaurs - Online Research
Second graders familiarize themselves with dinosaurs through online research.
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Harvesting Oil from the Earth
Fourth graders research sources of fossil fuels especially oil while determining how scientists take core samples from an Earth model. They look at oil consumption and production in the US and throughout the world.
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Naturally Speaking
Students identify the Earth's natural resources and classify them as renewable or non-renewable. They simulate the distribution of resources and discuss the fairness and effectiveness of the distribution. They identify ways that they use...
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Who's Down the Well?
Learners identify several sources of contaminants to groundwater. They discuss the movement of possible contaminants through that groundwater from outside sources. They describe how environmental engineers analyze contaminants to...
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Gardening for Beauty, Food, and Enjoyment
First graders create their own garden. In this plant lesson, 1st graders discover the essential elements for a plant to grow. They planted their own garden and read the amount of space needed and the sunlight preferred for each plant.
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Cartography
Students follow directions to draw a map of an island. They complete the island map adding their own details using symbols and a legend.
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Aerospace
Learners experiment with weight and balance of a glider. In this flight instructional activity students construct their own flying glider and record their experiment with it.
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Electrifying the World
Students explore the fundamental concepts of electricity. They examine different circuit diagrams to study how electricity flows. They finish by creating their own simple circuit.
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From Sunlight to Electric Current
Students explore concept of current in electrical circuits. They examine how energy from the sun can be used to power everyday items, including vehicles.
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Unlocking the Endocrine System
Fifth graders use an analogy to the mail delivery system to study the workings of the human endocrine system. They discover the interrelationships between the human body systems while comparing them to engineering communicating with...
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Do Plants Eat?
Students explain that photosynthesis is a process that plants use to convert light energy into glucose. They summarize photosynthesis as a chemical process in which the plant uses carbon dioxide and water to form glucose and oxygen.
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The No Zone of Ozone
Young scholars explore the causes and effects of the Earth's ozone holes through discussion and an interactive simulation. Using gumdrops and toothpicks, they conduct a large-group, interactive ozone depletion model.
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The Science of Swinging
Students learn how a pendulum works in the concept of an amusement park ride. In this pendulum lesson, students are introduced to Newton's first law of motion and how it works in an amusement park ride. Continuous motion and inertia are...
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Aquatic Field Data
Students use laptops and sensors to measure water quality and graph their results. In this aquatics instructional activity students post their results to a website or email.