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...

How can you teach a person about technology and engineering if he has never been exposed to the tools and devices used to create and construct? Learners with visual impairments examine a number of common tools, such as hammers, wrenches,...

Nanofibers can be made through electrospinning or force spinning in order to reduce the negative impact on the environment. Pupils study the role of fibers and dye on the environment through a series of five hands-on activities. Then,...

It's "Green light, go!" with this lesson plan! STEM classes are illuminated with the history of traffic signals and how the engineering design has improved over time. They also learn about patents for new inventions. Finally, they...

To begin the learning about dams, learners read (or are read to, depending on the age group) a passage about how dams work. Next, they work in groups to use the materials provided to build a small scale working dam. After the experience,...

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...

Step by step is always best. In groups, future engineers create the tallest possible tower with marshmallows and spaghetti sticks. Along the way, they learn about the engineering design process. 

A comprehensive lesson on acceleration awaits your physicists and engineers! Two YouTube videos pique their interest, then sample F=ma problems are worked and graphed. The highlight of the lesson is the building of a Lou-Vee air car!...

What would it take to live on the lunar surface? Small groups build model rockets in order to simulate launching a habitat into space and rebuilding it. Divide the class into groups to design and build a model of a lunar habitat. The...

Class members use an air quality monitor to measure the amount of gas-phase pollutants emitted by different sources. Groups choose three different sources and make predictions about what the monitors will detect. Teams then expose...

Need some activities to go along with your unit? A collection of hands-on activities from PBS offers opportunities to add to your electricity, sound, and force units. The electricity activities revolve around building a...

Let's see how complicated we can make this simple task. The last activity associated with a 10-part series has groups design and build a Rube Goldberg machine. Teams determine a simple task to accomplish and use the engineering design...

Which pulley system will give us a whale of a good time? Teams compare the theoretical and actual mechanical advantages of different pulley systems. They then form a recommendation for how to move a whale from an aquarium back to the ocean.

I can move about freely, but you cannot. The class models the movement through cell membranes by way of passive and active transport. Members of the class play the roles of various proteins, atoms, compounds, and cell actions and mimic...

Individuals discover how to draw cubes on triangle-dot paper. They use cubes to build structures and draw corresponding isometric drawings on dot paper in the second lesson of the series of five. The activity also introduces the concept...

Bridges rely on tension and compression to keep them standing. Pairs test this principle by constructing simple bridges and applying a force to the center. Teams use the provided worksheet to record their observations of the...

How well can you launch a ping-pong ball? Small groups design launchers that can launch a ping-pong ball 20 feet into a target. The teams follow the engineering design process as they develop a solution that meets the design...

How accurate are robots? Groups draw lines by moving robots backwards and forwards by one rotation of the wheels. Using the appropriate formula, they determine the percent error in the length of the lines in relation to the calculated...

Orange you glad you can make circuits using fruit? Young electricians learn about electric circuits and electricity. As part of the lesson, they build a circuit with an orange and then with a banana.

Sure, you may be able to build a better mousetrap, but what about a gum dispenser? In a fun engineering challenge, teams must design and build a working interactive gumball machine with specific constraints and criteria.

If it's on the Internet, it must be true—right? How can someone tell if a website contains less-than-truthful information? Savvy surfers evaluate sources in the fifth of a six-part college and career readiness instructional activity...

I bet I can cross the room without having the lights come on. Class members set up an experiment in which they try to determine what materials will mask motion detected by a sensor. Groups predict how materials will interact with...

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...

Be over the moon about finding a resource on lunar power stations. An interesting unit composed of 10 lessons has pupils first learn about the energy and power needs of a futuristic lunar colony. They design and build a lunar power...