You don't need a scale to determine weight. This activity provides a way to use the concepts of air pressure and surface area to determine the weight of a vehicle by calculating the amount of weight each tire supports.

Too much material will weigh you down. The sixth segment in a series of 22 highlights how weight affects a plane. Pupils learn that engineers take the properties of materials, including weight, when designing something. 

Beware the falling fruit. Scholars design and build parachutes that can help protect fruit as it falls. They test out their creations, learning about gravity, weight, air resistance, and measurement concepts along the way.

Bend it, but don't break it. Groups investigate the strength of different materials. Using a procedure in the seventh segment of a 22-part series on aviation, pupils determine how far a rod will bend. They determine the strength-to-mass...

Young scholars analyze critical load and how to reinforce the design of a structure to hold more weight. They examine basic structures and which materials to select. They create a prototype to hold more and more weight.

Students utilize the process of scientific inquiry and technological design to explain thrust, weight, lift and drag in flight. They design an "airplane" to test the "mechanics" of flight. In addition, they brainstorm and sketch a design...

Students study material strength and how it varies with shape and arrangement.  In this paper structures lesson students work in teams to build a portable paper structure that can support the weight of a book. 

Stop and drop what is in your hand! Pupils investigate how form effects drag in the 12th part of a 22-part unit on aviation. Groups create equally weighted objects and determine which one falls the fastest by collecting data.

Planning a unit on simple machines? Save some time and energy with this collection of lessons and activities that explores how these devices are used in the real world to make life a little easier. 

Create an egg-citing study of energy. Pupils investigate the effect of height and mass on the overall amount of energy of a falling object. The fourth segment in a six-part series on energy uses a weighted egg falling from different...

How do computers sort data lists? Using eight unknown weights and a balance scale, groups determine the order of the weights from lightest to heaviest. A second instructional activity provides the groups with other methods to order the...

Learners design a skydiver and parachute constraption to demonstrate how drag caused by air resistance slows the descent of skydivers as they travel back to Earth. They experience how gravity pulls the skydiver toward the earth and how...

Ramp up the engineering design process in your classroom with an activity that challenges teams to design, build, and test a small-scale portable wheelchair ramp. The class develops design requirements, and teams test their designs...

A little too much strain could cause a lot of stress. Groups conduct a strength test on clay. Using books as weights, pupils measure the compression of clay columns and calculate the associated strain and stress. Teams record their...

Don't waste all that carbon dioxide. Scholars first produce carbon dioxide by mixing baking soda and vinegar. They measure the masses of the reactants and products to verify the law of conservation of mass. As a culminating activity,...

Students design and conduct experiment to determine if weight added incrementally to an object affects amount of friction encountered when it slides across a flat surface. They graph data from their experiments, and calculate...

Second graders choose the appropriate measuring tool by discussing a tool to measure contents in desks. They then use a scale to weigh contents in desks. Next, they study standard units of measurement by writing down the weight in...

Students investigate pulleys and pulley systems. They demonstrate how multiple pulleys dramatically reduce required force. They study hoe pulley systems are used in machines and impact everyday life.

Which pulley system will give us a whale of a good time? Teams compare the theoretical and actual mechanical advantages of different pulley systems. They then form a recommendation for how to move a whale from an aquarium back to the ocean.

Fifth graders experiment with student-made aluminum boats to test for buoyancy. They design a boat and determine how many marbles it takes to sink it while recording their data in a spreadsheet. They design a graph using the data and...

Middle schoolers analyze graphs to determine relationships between variables and rates of change. They determine the basic concepts about static reaction forces. They determine the slope and equation of a line.

Students explore characteristics of mass. In this scientific inquiry about mass lesson, students drop rocks of different weights from various heights and record the depth of the "crater" created.  Students record their findings on a...

It's a neat idea, but the task of designing a system for filling jars with consistent specific amounts of a product may be a little out of reach, especially for younger pupils. Intended as an engineering design lesson, this may be better...

After examining how a spring scale works, teams work together to design their own general measurement device. Reading material provides background information, but there is no part of the procedure in which learners handle an actual...