Model an oil spill cleanup. An engaging engineering lesson has groups using aerogels to simulate an oil spill cleanup (vegetable oil in water). Along the way, they learn about nanotechnology and hydrophilia/hydrophobia.

After researching the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, students do an experiment where they simulate an oil spill. They then simulate a cleanup using dispersant, and observe what happens before and after the...

Here is a kit that you can create to help understand the impact of an oil spill and the logistics of the clean-up effort. Unfortunately, real-life oil spills are not quite as easy to clean up.