DiscoverE
Windy City Tower
Your class will be blown away when they build their own city tower structure! Engineering scholars partner up to plan, build, and test their own paper towers. As they build, they gain valuable design skills, learn about wind tunnel...
American Chemical Society
Designing a Shade Structure
Bring the learning outdoors with an enjoyable activity about Earth's heating, sunlight, and shade. Scholars use problem-solving skills as they design, build, and test a sunshade structure. Participants view a video summarizing the...
Curated OER
Teach Text Structure for Nonfiction
Learners gain a strong foundation for reading, writing, and using nonfiction through this activity. They gain an awareness and general understanding what text structures are. Students also identify and interpret what clues they can use...
NASA
NASA Engineering Design Challenges - Spacecraft Structures
What kind of design challenges are there in building structures to support rocket engines? The unit takes design teams through the process of building the lightest possible thrust support structure that can withstand the necessary forces...
DiscoverE
Everyday Engineering: Build an Earthquake Resistant Structure
Shake, rattle, and learn! Future engineers build structures out of toothpicks or spaghetti sticks, using marshmallows as connectors. They then use a homemade shake table to test the sturdiness of their creations.
DiscoverE
Art and Engineering Activity Packet: Grades 6-8
Build an appreciation of engineering. Pupils in grades 6-8 learn about science and engineering in a set of three engaging activities. They build spinning tops, construct wind structures, and create recycled paper as part of an engaging...
Museum of Science
Skyscraper Engineering
The sky's the limit when learning about engineering. Future engineers conduct an activity to learn about forces associated with skyscrapers. They design and build a model of a skyscraper from basic household materials, then test their...
DiscoverE
Everyday Engineering: Windy City Tower
A little wind shouldn't hurt a building. Given three sheets of paper and six feet of tape, scholars create a structure that can withstand wind and hold up a weight. They conduct tests using a fan and decide on any improvements to make...
Bonneville
Engineering 101
Make a structure too sturdy to fail. Scholars first watch a video and consider the reasons for the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse. They take part in two engineering challenges, one using newspapers and the other using spaghetti sticks...
Curated OER
Destination Outer Space
Students investigate space travel. In this space travel instructional activity students examine space exploration history, engineers and scientists involved in space exploration, and Newton's third law of motion. Students make rockets.
Discovery Education
Hurricane Force
It's important to make sure houses can withstand winds. A hands-on activity has learners create a structure out of household materials. They use a fan to simulate hurricane-force winds to see if their structures can withstand the...
DiscoverE
Textbook Support Challenge
Textbooks are heavier than a sheet of paper, so how can paper hold up a textbook? Young engineers create a structure out of paper that can support a textbook. To add another wrinkle, they must stay within budget and time constraints.
Curated OER
Marshmallow Design Challenge
How tall is your marshmallow structure? Using only limited supplies (including uncooked spaghetti noodles, masking tape, and one marshmallow), teams endeavor to support the marshmallow atop the tallest spaghetti structure they can build....
Curated OER
Design and Build a Road Sign Support
Emergent engineers plan, construct, and experiment with a spaghetti noodle structure that could be used to hold a load. Set them up for success by first showing them a four-minute video on engineering design and a slide show of different...
Curated OER
Genetics and Genetic engineering
The details and definitions of Biotechnology and genetic engineering are very useful, but this is a very long PowerPoint with no images or ways of breaking up the information. The slides are nicely composed and relevant, so this could be...
Curated OER
Engineering Bones
Students identify the features of a prosthetic limb and explain how engineers are involved in the prosthetic design. In this bone engineering lesson students describe the design criteria that goes into choosing the materials that go...
Curated OER
Stable Structures
Consider what it means to create a stable structure. The words stable and structure are defined, then stable objects are depicted and discussed in terms of their design features. Learners are asked to design a photo frame that includes...
Curated OER
Audio Engineers: Sound Weavers
Students explore audio engineering. In this career education and "sound" science lesson, students define related vocabulary and make connections between the music they listen to and the job an audio engineer does after listening to...
Skyscraper Museum
What is a Skyscraper?
Skyscrapers are amazing feats of architectural design that create the iconic skylines of the world's biggest cities. Young architects explore the defining characteristics of these monstrous towers with the first lesson in this four-part...
Curated OER
Constructions and Creations: Sturdy Structures
Have your class draw the plans and design a structure. Learners discuss and investigate the variables in the stability of a 2D and 3D model. They also consider how to add a circuit to the design. Afterwards, they present their work.
Curated OER
Building Bridges
Provide a comprehensive exploration of bridges and civil engineering. First, learners discuss the different types of bridges. Then, they identify the characteristics of a suspension, beam, and arch type of bridge. In addition, they learn...
Curated OER
Cell Analogies!
Liken a cell and its organelles to a tiny person and its organs. After gathering information on cell structures and their functions, small groups collaborate to come up with an analogy of their own. They produce a collage describing the...
Curated OER
Shapes That Make Structures Strong
Learners study the various shapes engineers choose to make structures strong -- in particular, triangles, arches, and domes. They construct a variety of forms, and discuss how tension and compression are distributed by triangles,...
Curated OER
Engineering Redesign
You can use these hands on lessons to get kids excited about the field of engineering!