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Lesson Plan
National History Day

Helping Life and Aiding Death: Science, Technology, and Engineering at Work during World War I

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Science, engineering, and United States history? Pupils research collections of artifacts from the Smithsonian to learn about historical scientific innovations. At the end of the lesson, they write an essay to discuss technology's...
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Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

Exploring Energy: What Is Energy?

For Teachers 5th - 6th Standards
...Then the water heater exploded like a bomb. Using a video of an exploding water heater, the resource presents the definitions of energy, potential energy, and kinetic energy to be used in later lessons of the unit.
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Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

Dirty Decomposers

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Do not let the class just sit and rot. Pupils learn how decomposition and nutrient recycling is important to an ecosystem. Groups design an experiment to determine how environmental conditions affect decomposition. They develop a poster...
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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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Activity
DiscoverE

Design a Shoe

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Engage young scientists in a project where high fashion meets engineering! Using foam core and hot glue, partnered pupils design and create a functional, fashionable pair of shoes. Groups then put the footwear through its paces using a...
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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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Activity
DiscoverE

Slender Tower Challenge

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Looking for an engineering project that will tower above the rest? Try a design experiment that has built-in fun! Groups examine a variety of skyscraper designs, then compete to create their own slender towers. The teacher's guide is...
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Activity
DiscoverE

Water Pollution Cleanup

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
How do scientists determine the best method for removing pollutants from our water sources? Environmental scholars experiment with pollution clean-up options to discover which are the most cost-effective, fastest, and most thorough....
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Activity
DiscoverE

LIDAR: Mapping with Lasers

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
We would be lost without maps! How are they made? Introduce junior topographers to LIDAR technology with a fascinating activity. Set up a mock city, then have learners operate a laser measure to determine the shape of the landscape using...
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Activity
DiscoverE

Build a Bobsled Racer

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Host a design challenge of Olympic proportion! Junior engineers build their own bobsleds using simple materials. The activity focuses on kinetic and potential energy and how the center of mass affects motion on a downhill track....
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Unit Plan
Harvard University

Creative Computing

For Teachers K - 12th
Scratch the surface of computer coding. A seven-unit lesson guide provides a crash course on computer programming. It uses a programming language called Scratch.
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Interactive
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Google

Interland

For Students Pre-K - 8th
"Be Internet Awesome" is the motto in a super cool digital citizenship interactive created by Google. Interland is made up of four lands that explore the importance of digital safety and helps young Internet users to be alert, strong,...
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Lesson Plan2:39
Code.org

Star Wars: Building a Galaxy with Code

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Welcome to the code side. The interactive lesson introduces coding in a game format with familiar characters. Young computer experts learn to develop code to control the interaction of the characters in the game. The activity ends with...
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Activity
Teach Engineering

Wizardry and Chemistry

For Teachers 11th - 12th
No need to go to Ollivanders to buy a magic wand. In the chemistry lab activity, young magicians mix chemicals to create combustible compounds. By applying these compounds to an iron wire, they create magic wands.
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Activity
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Teach Engineering

Communicating Your Results

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Groups analyze and interpret their data from previous research in order to develop individualized findings. The teams then use guidelines to help determine what aspects of their research to include on a poster. Class members then compare...
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Lesson Plan
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Teach Engineering

Introduction to Environmental Engineering

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
A series on environmental engineering introduces the class to issues that environmental engineers work to solve. This first lesson focuses on air and land issues, and looks at ways to reduce pollution.
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Lesson Plan
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Teach Engineering

Introduction to Water Chemistry

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
What are the issues surrounding water quality? Viewers of this short presentation gain information about the importance of clean water, the lack of fresh water, water contamination, and ways that engineers treat water. 
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Lesson Plan
Code.org

The Need for DNS

For Teachers 9th - 12th
That's one complicated address book! To understand the need for a system that keeps track of addresses, pupils trying to find the IP address of their classmates. Then individuals change their IP addresses, which leads to research about...
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Lesson Plan
Code.org

Encoding Color Images

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Color me green. The fourth lesson plan in a unit of 15 introduces the class to color images and how to encode color images using binary code and hexadecimal numbers — and they will quickly notice that it is easier to code the color for...
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Lesson Plan
Code.org

Sending Binary Messages

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pairs build a device that will be able to send a binary message. They then update their device to allow it to send four possible messages before upping the ante to eight. The provided self-assessment rubric comes with reflection...
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Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

Design Step 6: Evaluate/Manufacture a Final Product

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
This is what all of the excitement has been building up to! Young engineers create engineering drawings, use machines to manufacture their products, test, and evaluate their designs in the last step in the engineering design process.
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Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

Design Step 5: Construct a Prototype

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Enough with the talking, let's build something! In the fifth step in the engineering design process, young engineers build a prototype to test their ideas. The lesson walks them through the process of evaluating it step-by-step....
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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
Institute of Physics

Activities for STEM Clubs

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Need some support or ideas of how to entertain middle schoolers or what clubs to bring into your school?  Let this excellent 40-page resource guide with links and step-by-step directions on STEM activities guide your decision.