Make a splash from space. Participants use the engineering design process to create a waterproof space exploration vehicle capable of an upright landing. Young engineers test and modify designs as needed and participate in a group...

Small groups use the engineering design process to build and test a vehicle capable of carrying 250 grams a distance of five meters. The design must allow for the storage of potential energy and turn it into motion,...

Two vehicles move at a constant rate of speed toward each other, but when exactly will they pass? Pupils use still images from a video to determine the rate of speed and when the two cars meet. Then, they watch the complete video to...

Take your class out to visit your automobile and use the tires to compute the weight of the vehicle. This is done by measuring the surface of the tire meeting the ground and the air pressure. This is a fun lesson in the relationship...

Help your class determine the types of pollutants coming from vehicle exhaust. Groups use an air quality monitor to determine the emissions from different vehicles, to gain knowledge about combustion energy, and to predict how the...

Everyone knows that cars have safety features, but wouldn't it be fun to design your own? Learners with visual impairments build a ramp and then attempt to use the material provided to design a safety system to protect a raw egg from a...

High school physical scientists collide with motion. They work in pairs to design a paper car that will protect a raw egg during a head-on collision. Measurements of distance traveled, time of run, vehicle specs, and photo gate flags are...

Teams of six to eight players imagine that they are driving in a vehicle and collect balls that represent carbon dioxide emissions based on their different activities. "Greenhouse Gas Guzzler" cards tell teams how many balls to collect...

Students create a marketing campaign using digital photographs. In this digital marketing lesson, students perform online research to determine the attitude that a soda company is attempting to portray with its marketing. They take...

How can the circulatory system compare to a city map? Pupils distinguish the "roadways" and "vehicles" of the cardiovascular system, compare the anatomy and function of veins and arteries, and review different types of blood cells with...

You don't need a scale to determine weight. This activity provides a way to use the concepts of air pressure and surface area to determine the weight of a vehicle by calculating the amount of weight each tire supports.

How can math help your vehicle run better? Complete an interesting project-based learning task with your classes to determine the cheapest approach to mixing the ideal octane level of gasoline. Scholars create and solve a system of...

Teach solving for unknowns through a problem-solving approach. The grouping of five lessons progresses from finding an unknown through simple reasoning to solving simultaneous equations involving three and four variables. Each lesson...

No study of World War II would be complete without an in-depth examination of the events of June 6, 1944. Pascal Vuong's D-Day Normandy:1944, is the perfect vehicle to convey the sheer magnitude of the events that have been called...

How many Girl Scout cookies can you fit in a trunk? Learners consider this question after watching a video of an SUV being filled to the top with single boxes of the cookies. They use measurements of the trunk and the box of cookies to...

Big vehicles require some big tires. Given a picture of a flatbed hauling a large tire, scholars discuss and estimate the size of the tire. They then use information and video about the tires to estimate the height of a vehicle that uses...

Did you know that cars weren't designed for passenger safety until the 1960s? The lesson starts with a quick quiz on automobile safety. Then, scholars evaluate three cars for their safety features. This is the third in a set of nine...

Wind it up and let it go. Individuals build a basic spool racer in the second portion of a six-part unit on energy. After receiving three criteria, pupils modify their designs to meet the new challenge. Pairs compete against each other...

Space, the Final Frontier. The nine NASA-created challenges in this unit are designed to teach class members the engineering design process. Each challenge comes with teacher and student pages that can be used individually or as a...

A whole-group discussion kicks off a hands-on activity that challenges young engineers to build a sailboat using reusable materials. Participants gather recycled items to assemble their one-of-a-kind sailboat and test its ability to...

What makes up a community? People, of couse. Then there are the other living things, such as plants and animals. There are also buildings, streets, schools, businesses, and vehicles. This activity makes students aware of one othe...

Students create magnetic puzzles. In this language lesson, students use old puzzle pieces to create a useful learning tool. Students paint the puzzle pieces in one category such as animals or vehicles.

Energize an environmental science unit on natural resources with this collection of instructional materials. From simple coloring sheets for primary grade children, to guiding questions for a high school research...

Using helium as an example of propane, physical science middle schoolers experiment with and graph the relationship between temperature and volume in gases. In a whole-class demonstration, they show how molecules behave under different...