Teach Engineering
Racing With the Sun - Creating a Solar Car
Here's an exciting and innovative lesson that's sure to get your charges fired up! In it, they use engineering design principles to construct and test a fully solar powered car. One caveat: the kits that each group needs to make their...
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...
eGFI
Tippy Tap Hand Washer
High school physics or engineering classes construct a system for piping water from a storage tank to a water dispenser. They will apply Bernoulli's principle and perform calculations for elevation, pressure, and velocity. This is a...
eGFI
Zero-Energy Home Design
Challenge young engineers to design a one-bedroom scale house that would collect and maintain as much heat as possible. Special constraints must be adhered to, but creativity is also allowed. Diagrams and background information are...
Curated OER
'Hunger Games' Science: Investigating Genetically Engineered Organisms
In The Hunger Games novel and movie, a futuristic, dystopian society is the setting. In it, a genetically engineered bird escapes control of the government. Using this as a starting point, teenagers examine the realistic possibility of...
Curated OER
Turn It Upside Down: Introduction to Computer-Aided Design
Students explore a computer-aided design program. Students chart out roller coaster design, computer graphics and architecture. Students focus on understanding the connections between mathematics, science, technology and innovation.
Curated OER
Play on Words Design
High schoolers create a design of an image that combines two words to create an unusual visualization. They improve their drawing skills by completing a detailed, colored pencil rendering of the "Play on Words" they design. Using...
Curated OER
Creating Biodiesel and Mitigating Waste
Biotechnology pros produce their own biofuel using waste oil and fresh vegetable oil. They test the quality of their product using titration techniques and pH analysis. They write their observations and report their findings. Be aware...
Curated OER
Itaipu Dam and Power Plant (Brazil and Paraguay)
Learners study South America's Itaipu Dam and Power Plant in order to gain an understanding that hydroelectric power is a major means of generating electricity throughout the world. They also look into the environmental impacts that...
Curated OER
High-Tech Food: Science in Your Shopping Cart
Kids are given a lot to think about, as they delve into the world of high-tech foods. They discuss GMOs, biotechnology, food enhancements and domestication. They view videos, engage in class discussions, complete worksheets, and learn...
Curated OER
Streetfilms' Moving Beyond the Automobile
This is an exceptional series that you can use in an environmental or engineering unit. There are four lessons: "Sustainable Transportation," "Designing for Safety," "Changing the Landscape," and "Engaging in Policy." Each instructional...
Curated OER
Cell Wall Recipe: A Lesson on Biofuels
Biotech engineers discover that changes in the DNA code for cell wall formation can help create crops better suited for biofuel production. They extract DNA from wheat germ. They decode paper strips with codes and relate the activity to...
Curated OER
The BEAM Project: Building Efficient Architectural Models
Technology or engineering teams are given a task to design, construct, and test the efficiency of a structure that will foster an even temperature throughout an entire sunny day. Intended as a long-term project, pupils research, plan,...
Curated OER
Programming the "Rinse Robot"
Experienced chemistry technicians use then layer chromatography to discover how much of a free compound is left after each rinse cycle. Where this could obviously be used as a practice with chromatography technique, it can also be used...
Curated OER
Waste Watchers
Students recognize the importance of saving energy to save natural resources. In this saving energy lesson, students complete a worksheet to find types of electricity meters in their homes. Students use meter readings to calculate energy...
Curated OER
Solar Electricity ~ The Colour Sensitivity of a Photovoltaic Cell
Teacher's notes, a materials list, detailed procedure, tips, and extension ideas are all included to make teaching this lesson on photovoltaic cells a sunny spot in your day! After some brief background reading, physical science...
Curated OER
Lesson: Communication, What's Valued, and the Written Word
Upper graders compare their cell phones to a lacquer box from the Japanese Edo Period. They consider how each is a form of communication and how the very nature of each object communicates social norms, ideology, and beliefs. A really...
NASA
Pop Can Hero Engine
Hang a soda can from a string and watch it spin by the force created by water streaming out of slanted holes. This plan provides background information, detailed materials and procedures, discussion questions, a lab worksheet, and...
Curated OER
Correlation of Variables by Graphing
Middle and high schoolers use a spreadsheet to graph data. In this graphing lesson plan, learners determine how two parameters are correlated. They create a scatter plot graph using a computer spreadsheet.
Curated OER
Who Works at Our School?
Young interviewers will learn more about the school staff by asking them questions and creating a bulletin board display. They will learn how to make thoughtful interview questions, conduct professional interviews, and organize...
Curated OER
Snail Mail vs. E-mail: Let the Challenge Begin
Compare past and present forms of written communication with a fable to guide your pupils in discovering the benefits of various forms of written communication.
Curated OER
Equipment Ad
Students create a one-minute advertisement for a piece of sports safety equipment. They define the terms ad, advertisement, and commercial and demonstrate creative-thinking and creative-writing skills.
Curated OER
An Autograph Book from Yesteryear
Students explore a school autograph book from the 1880s and create a contemporary version of it. They imitate the style of the autograph book entries as they write thoughtful text and rhymes.
Curated OER
Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have A Dream" Speech
Invite your class to investigate racism and civil rights by analyzing the great Dr. Martin Luther King's speech. Your learners will read the words from the "I Have a Dream" speech and analyze the political and racial overtones. They will...