TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Strawkets and Weight
In this activity, students investigate the effect that weight has on rocket flight. Students construct a variety of their own straw-launched rockets, or "strawkets," that have different weights. Specifically, they observe what happens...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Strawkets and Control
In this activity, students investigate the effect that fins have on rocket flight. Students construct two paper rockets that they can launch themselves by blowing through a straw. One "strawket" has wings and the other has fins. Students...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Fuel Mystery Dis Solved!
In this activity, students investigate the simulated use of solid rocket fuel by using an antacid tablet. Students observe the effect that surface area and temperature has on chemical reactions. Also, students compare the reaction time...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Aqua Thrusters!
In this activity, students construct their own rocket-powered boat called an "aqua-thruster." These aqua-thrusters will be made from a film canister and will use carbon dioxide gas - produced from a chemical reaction between an antacid...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Pop Rockets
Students design and build a paper rocket around a film canister, which is used as the engine. An antacid tablet and water are put into the canister, react to form carbon dioxide gas, and act as the pop rocket's propellant. With the lid...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Rockets on a Shoestring Budget
In this activity, students revisit the Pop Rockets activity from Lesson 3. This time, however, the design of their pop-rockets will be limited by budgets and supplies. They will get a feel for the limitations of a real engineering...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Find It!
In this activity students will learn the basic concept of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) using triangulation and measurement on a small scale in the classroom. Students discover how GPS and navigation integrate mathematic and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Stack It Up!
Students analyze and begin to design a pyramid. Working in engineering teams, they perform calculations to determine the area of the pyramid base, stone block volumes, and the number of blocks required for their pyramid base. They make a...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Choosing a Pyramid Site
Working in engineering project teams, students evaluate sites for the construction of a pyramid. They base their decision on site features as provided by a surveyor's report; distance from the quarry, river and palace; and other factors...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Solid Rock to Building Block
Students continue their pyramid building journey, acting as engineers to determine the appropriate wedge tool to best extract rock from a quarry and cut into pyramid blocks. Using sample materials (wax, soap, clay, foam) representing...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Wheeling It In!
In an open-ended design activity, students use everyday materials (milk cartons, water bottles, pencils, straws, candy) to build a small-scale transportation device. They incorporate the use of a wheel and axle, and lever into their...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Make Some Waves
In this activity, students use their own creativity (and their bodies) to make longitudinal and transverse waves. Through the use of common items, they will investigate the different between longitudinal and transverse waves.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Simple Instruments
In this activity, students work with partners to create four different instruments to investigate the frequency of the sounds they make. Students may chose to make a shoebox guitar, water glass xylophone, straw panpipe or a soda bottle...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Controlling Sound
In this activity, students use a variety of materials to design and create headphones that absorb sound.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Light Scavengers
In this activity, students examine various materials and investigate how they interact with light. Students use five new vocabulary words (translucent, transparent, opaque, reflection and refraction) to describe how light interacts with...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Visual Spectrum
In this activity, students make simple spectroscopes (prisms) to look at different light sources. The spectroscopes allow students to see differing spectral distributions of different light sources.