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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Be a Structural Engineer!

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students investigate how to design and build items with a focus on structural strength as an engineer would. They complete a truss-building project as a final assessment.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Skyscrapers: Engineering Up!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students build their own newspaper skyscrapers with limited materials and time. They identify several different structural engineering principles relating to skyscrapers. They explain how their towers resisted the wind load.
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Activity
DiscoverE

Build a Watershed

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
What's the best way to learn how watersheds work? Build one! Combining engineering, the water cycle, and ecology concerns, the activity is the perfect fit for an interdisciplinary unit. Teams construct a model watershed with simple...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Design a Green Rooftop Garden

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Design and construct buildings with rooftop gardens. Junior engineers work in groups to build two buildings and then perform experiments to determine whether or not a garden affects the building temperatures. They graph and interpret...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Audio Engineers: Sound Weavers

For Teachers 4th - 8th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ask a NASA Engineer

For Teachers K - 6th
Pupils develop questions to ask a NASA engineer to email them. After emailing the quesitons to the volunteer, the answers are sent to the class via the same method. To end the lesson, they formulate more questions and repeat the process.
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Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

Design Step 2: Research the Problem

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How do you get started designing a product to meet your engineering design goals? Here, learners gain understanding of an important aspect of the engineering design process: background research. Through brainstorming and worksheets,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Architects and Engineers

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine the roles of architects and engineers. In this engineering lesson, students design a parking garage based on a descriptive scenario.  Students compare how architects and engineers work together on projects and how each...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Energy and Work: Transformation through Engines

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners are introduced to the concept of thermodynamics. In groups, they participate in experiments in which they discover how potential energy converts into kinetic energy. They use the internet to research the components of a...
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Activity
Practical Action

Floating Garden Challenge

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Climate change is affecting communities living in riverside areas by flooding land where crops used to grow. Using an array of instructional materials provided in this resource, you will have the opportunity to task your critical...
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Activity
DiscoverE

Pipe Maze

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Here's a lesson that is simply a-MAZE-ing! Introduce science scholars to pipeline systems through a hands-on project. Partnered pupils participate in the design, construct, and test a PVC pipeline maze. Reusable materials and clear...
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Lesson Plan
1
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Purdue University

Bio Inspired Design Paper Flowers

For Teachers 3rd Standards
Can paper flowers have some of the same properties as real flowers? First, learners investigate how water is absorbed into a flower through capillary action by using real flowers, yarn, and paper. Then, they have an opportunity to create...
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Lesson Plan
NOAA

Invent a Robot!

For Teachers 5th - 6th Standards
Wait til your class gets their hands on this! Aspiring engineers design a working robotic arm in the fifth and final installment in a series of ocean exploration lessons. Pupils learn about the use of underwater robots in ocean...
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Lesson Plan
North Carolina State University

Pipe Cleaner Towers

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Small groups work together to create a tower out of 15 pipe cleaners under a set of imposed limitations. First, restrict team members to use only one arm, and then remove the use of spoken language. There is also a time limit. The brief...
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Lesson Plan
Kenan Fellows

Assembly Required and the Design Process Too!

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
An engineering design lesson plan contains connected activities as a capstone engineering project. The activities revolve around the principle of improving an existing object and designing the manufacturing process in order to do so. The...
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Lesson Plan
NPR

Communicate the Solution

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Communication is key. Scholars produce videos to highlight their engineering solutions to the plastic problem in the ninth installment of the series of 10. Feedback from other groups lets them improve the videos.
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Activity
Anchorage School District

Roller Coaster Project

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Emerging engineers work in teams to design pipe insulation roller coasters for marbles that meet specific parameters. They are required to label along the track the areas where kinetic and potential energy are highest and lowest, where...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Communicating through Engineering Information Technology

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students analyze prior labs by keeping a lab notebook. They share their lab notebook by electronically sending it to their classmates. Students demonstrate evaluation of other lab notebooks within the same classroom and those from other...
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Unit Plan
Teach Engineering

Solar Water: Heat it Up!

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Young engineers are instructed to design and build their own solar water heaters. Then, they calculate the efficiency and cost and compare them to commercially available models. This is a full unit for pupils to apply their knowledge.
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Activity
DiscoverE

Waterproofing the Roof

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Can your pupils build a roof that stands the test of time? Use an insightful engineering design project to highlight both materials science and architecture. Scholars either team up or work as individuals to design, create, and test a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Researching Engineers Lesson Plan

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students research different kinds of engineers and investigate what each one does. After completing three days of research and using a research guide sheet, they create a PowerPoint presentation of at least 8 slides but no more than 15.
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Lesson Plan
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Teach Engineering

Extinction Prevention via Engineering

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
It's time to save endangered species through engineering. The third lesson in a nine-part Life Science unit has young environmentalists study species extinction. An engaging discussion leads to some ideas on how to use engineering design...
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Lesson Plan
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Build a Big Wheel

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
What does it take to prepare for a construction project? In an engineering lesson plan, youngsters examine how a Ferris wheel can turn and carry a load without falling apart. After reading up on big wheel designs, they create a model...
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Unit Plan
NASA

NASA Engineering Design Challenges - Spacecraft Structures

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
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...

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