Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Two-Cell Battery

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students build their own two-cell battery and determine which electrolyte solution is best suited for making a battery. They discuss background information for their experiment, construct and test their battery, and using the chart on...
Lesson Plan
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Walk, Run, Jump!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students participate in a series of timed relay races using their skeletal muscles. They compare the movement of skeletal muscle and relate how engineers help astronauts exercise skeletal muscles in space. They list the three types of...
Lesson Plan
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20/20 Vision

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars determine their own eyesight and calculate what a good average eyesight value for the class would be. They examine how technology enhances eyesight and how engineers play an important role in the development of these...
Lesson Plan
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A Recipe for Air

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students create a pie graph using M&Ms to demonstrate the composition of air. They label each section of the graph, and list the fractions from largest to smallest.
Lesson Plan
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Good News - We're on the Rise!

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students build and observe a simple aneroid barometer to discover changes in barometric pressure and weather forecasting. They graph changes in barometric pressure for two weeks and make weather predictions.
Lesson Plan
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Lunar Lollipops

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students work with a partner, Styrofoam ball and light source to simulate the positions of the Earth, Moon and Sun at various stages during the phases of the Moon. They describe why the Moon is visible from Earth and complete a worksheet.
Lesson Plan
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Electricity: Will It Conduct?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students build conductivity testers and investigate which solids and solutions conduct electricity. Working in groups, they predict which items will conduct electricity and record their answers on worksheets.
Lesson Plan
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Environment: Wild Wind Direction

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine the different types of wind patterns. Using common materials, they construct weather vanes to measure and record wind direction over a two-week period. After analyzing the data, they draw conclusions about the...
Lesson Plan
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Wind Energy

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students explore wind energy by making a pinwheel to model a wind turbine. They experiment with their turbine by placing it in different locations for optimal energy.
Lesson Plan
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Carve That Mountain

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learners investigate major landforms (e.g., mountains, rivers, plains, hills, oceans and plateaus). They build a three-dimensional model of a landscape depicting several of these landforms. Once they have built their model, they act as...
Lesson Plan
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Do You Have the Strength?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine the strength and resilience of the human heart. They squeeze a tennis ball to demonstrate the strength of the human heart, record and analyze the results on a worksheet, and create a poster of a design of a device to...
Lesson Plan
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Engineering For The 3 Little Pigs

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students engage in a lesson which demonstrates the importance of rocks, soils and minerals in engineering and how using the right material for the right job is important. The students build three different sand castles and test them for...
Lesson Plan
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Energy Detectives at Work

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students are "Energy Detectives" working for an engineering firm that does energy evaluations at schools. In teams, they locate energy sources around the school, and record their findings on an Energy Detective Worksheet.
Lesson Plan
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Energetic Musical Instruments

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students apply the principles and concepts associated with energy and the transfer of energy in an engineering context through the designing and making of a musical instrument. After the accomplishment of the design, students must...
Lesson Plan
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The Dirty Water Project

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate different methods (aeration and filtering) for removing pollutants from water. They design and build their own water filters. Students identify the pollutants in a water sample using sight and smell, explore what...
Lesson Plan
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Turning the Air Upside Down

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students analyze how engineers study temperature inversions and convection currents to understand why pollution levels may be higher in some areas than others. They participate in an experiment that allows them to build simple models to...
Worksheet
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Four Estimating the Area of Small Objects Problems

For Students 5th - 8th
In this estimating area worksheet, students work with their families to draw four small objects found around their house and estimate the area of each object. 
Lesson Plan
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Oyster Morphs: Adaptations to the Environment

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students demonstrate how organisms adapt to their environment. They examine prey and predators, natural selection, and adaptations by representing oyster morph.
Lesson Plan
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Compare Human-made Objects with Natural Objects

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine and observe how many human-made objects get their basic design from things in nature. They listen to the book "Nature Got There First," compare/contrast hollow bones with drinking straws, bird beaks and tool pliers, and...
Lesson Plan
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Dangerous Air

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students investigate how pollution is a global issue. They locate the countries affected by radiation from Chernobyl, sequence the progress of radiation transport from Chernobyl and plot the pollution points on a world map, and read and...
Lesson Plan
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Is That Natural?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine how they use and waste natural resources. They participate in a class discussion about natural resources, in small groups complete a worksheet identifying ways students misuse natural resources, and create an...
Lesson Plan
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It's Really Heating Up in Here!

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students create and observe a greenhouse effect model and discuss the implications of global warming theory for engineers, themselves and the Earth. They discover that Global warming is becoming an increasing concern as we learn more...
Lesson Plan
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The Path of Electrons

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students engage in an interactive "hot potato" demonstration to gain an appreciation for the flow of electrons through a circuit. They role play the different parts of a simple circuit and send small items representing electrons (paper...
Lesson Plan
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Completing the Circuit

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students use a battery, wires, small light bulb and a light bulb holder to learn the difference between an open circuit and a closed circuit, and understand that electric current only occurs in a closed circuit. They describe the...