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Activity6:37
Bonneville

How to Build a Turbine

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Here is a six-minute video of a pair of electrical engineers that illustrate how to build a wind turbine. A list of materials is provided, along with general guidelines for your class. Use this to introduce turbine design to your...
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Activity5:09
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Bonneville

How to Build a Motor

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Electrical engineers entertain and explain how to construct an electromagnet-driven motor. Kellie and Mike, the hosts of the show, are enthusiastic teachers that will help introduce a project that you likely include in your middle school...
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Activity4:34
Bonneville

The Great Marble Drop

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Mike and Kellie, a team of electrical engineers, demonstrate how to to design a contraption that accurately drops a marble onto a target. The materials needed and general instructions are provided on the website or via a downloadable...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Learning About Solar Updraft Towers

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Give it up for updraft towers. Pupils learn about solar updraft towers by first watching a video. They then research these structures on their own and think about how the toys they made in the previous lesson use the same scientific...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Let's Build Our Wind and Solar Energy Toy

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Who says toys can't be educational? The fourth of five parts in the Solar Updraft Towers unit has scholars create toys that run on solar and wind energy. The devices need to be solar updraft towers that can be placed on a warm surface...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Wind Power: A Hands on Experience

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Turn a learning experience into a fun lesson. Future engineers create blades for a wind turbine using card stock. Using a fan, they test how well the blades help the wind turbine turn. The goal is to build blades that are effective...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Where Does Energy Go?

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Convection currents aren't just a bunch of hot air. The second of five lessons in the Solar Updraft Towers unit focuses on energy transfer and convection currents. Young scientists watch six demonstrations that illustrate how warm air...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Informative Writing: Where Does Energy Come From?

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Get energized about all the different sources of energy. A research project has scholars investigate a renewable or non-renewable energy type of their choice. They write a report on their findings and decide on a way to publish their work.
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Lesson Plan
Bonneville

Solar Powered Water Pumping

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
Here's the perfect lesson for those who think the world needs faster pumps. Building on the previous activity, scholars work to make the pumps function faster in transferring water between containers. They try adding an additional solar...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Designing a Faster Water Pump

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
Things can always be made better. The culminating installment in the seven-part Understanding Science and Engineering unit has pupils design their own water pumps. In groups, they build a prototype of a design of their choice, then test...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Making Observations and Recording Data for Solar Powered Water Pumping

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
Get pumped about an activity with water pumps. The fifth of seven installments in the Understanding Science and Engineering unit has pupils learn how to make observations, record data, and create data displays. Each group measures the...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

A Simple Circuit

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
Heat up a instructional activity on solar energy by building a circuit for a cooling fan. Given a solar module and a DC motor, scholars develop hypotheses for how to make the fan turn. They test out their hypotheses, and then draw a...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Solar Powered Calculator

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
The perfect place to do one's math homework? Outside, of course. The third of seven lessons in the Understanding Science and Engineering unit focuses on solar energy. Learners investigate solar-powered calculators and discover how solar...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Probes of Prior Knowledge

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
A bright future learning about electricity awaits. Future scientists conduct two probes to investigate electrical energy. The first requires them to think about how electricity is made, while the second has them identify appliances that...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Setting Expectations for Science and Engineering Projects

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
What is science? Sitting in a whole group discussion, scholars first share their ideas on science and how to conduct investigations. They learn about the steps for scientific inquiry and experimentation. Once finished, individuals then...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Design and Engineer Solutions

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
What's the best way to collect all that trash? A culminating activity has scholars use the knowledge and skills from the unit to design a solution to the plastic trash island problem. They use 3-D pens or a 3-D printer to build models of...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Engineering 101

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

The Problem of Plastic Trash Islands

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Trash collection can be a hassle, especially out in the ocean. The second of four parts in the Adrift in a Sea of Plastic unit has pupils research plastic trash islands in marine ecosystems. They investigate why they occur and potential...
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Lesson Plan
Bonneville

TinkerCAD: Introduction to 3D Printing

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Steer young minds to build better boats. Future engineers first spend a few days exploring the TinkerCAD software and completing some embedded lessons. They then design sea crafts with buoyancy in mind and print them using a 3-D printer.
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Bioreactor Water Circulation System

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Make those microbes warm up water. Pupils first investigate water pumps, then design a water circulation system that uses solar energy. A bioreactor in the system takes energy from compost and helps heat water.
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Compost Bioreactor Design

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Organic waste is a hot topic. The second of three installments in the Bioreactor Water Heating unit challenges pupils to create bioreactors that collect energy released from compost. After watching videos on the properties of water and...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Passive Solar Water Heating

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Put empty milk jugs to good use. Scholars consider the characteristics they might change about a milk jug to improve light absorption. They design a passive solar water heater using the milk jug and then measure the temperature change in...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Creating the Most Effective Solar Heater

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
If changing one variable can improve a design, why not try changing more? Using the results from the previous activity, scholars decide on the variables that caused the most improvement in the effectiveness of the solar heater. They take...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Manipulating Design Variables on Solar Heaters

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Always strive to make things better. The second of three activities in the Experimenting with Solar Heaters unit has learners design new solar heaters that are more effective compared to the simple models they used in the previous...