Teach Engineering
What is GIS?
Is GIS the real manifestation of Harry Potter's Marauders Map? Introduce your class to the history of geographic information systems (GIS), the technology that allows for easy use of spatial information, with a resource that teaches...
Curated OER
State Your Position
Students practice using a global positioning system. They discuss the use of celestial objects as navigation points and its problems. They list the advantages and disadvantages of GPS as well.
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Marshmallow Figures
Learners enjoy making 3-D figures while learning about rectangular prisms, pyramids, vertices, edges, and faces. After a lecture/demo, students use marshmallows, toothpicks and a worksheet imbedded in this lesson to create 3 dimensional...
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Crafting Models of Efficiency
Young scholars build and compare models of both an energy inefficient and efficient classroom. For this energy efficiency lesson, students creatively use recycled materials to build two separate classroom models. They factor in concepts...
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Can Young Children Distinguish Between Living and Non-living Things?
What does it mean to be living? Help your young scientists identify living and non-living things as a result of their learning through discovery. Observation of and interaction with a set of natural phenomena in their community will make...
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Presidential Places Quilt
Students design historical quilts. In this presidential history lesson, students research past presidents and landmarks named for them. Students create quilt squares to represent the landmarks and piece all of them together in a large...
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Mining Shapes
For this 2-D shapes lesson, kindergarteners review plane shapes attributes. They engage in a shape hunt in the classroom and create art using plane shapes. A good, hands-on lesson!
NASA
Collecting Electromagnetic Radiation
Astronomy is literally over your head, but this lesson will explain how we study it. Young scientists make telescopes, calculate and compare the light gathering power of lenses, and simulate detection of infared radiation....
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Jupiter’s Relative Size
How do you properly illustrate the extreme size difference between two planets—Earth and Jupiter? With the help of jellybeans, of course! Create a scale model of Jupiter's mass compared to Earth using a fishbowl, 1,400 beans, and a...
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Rockets on a Shoestring Budgut
Students work together to create rockets on a budget. They discover the limitations that real engineers face when designing and testing their products. They discuss their findings to complete the instructional activity.
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Unit Perimeters and Areas
Students use Geometers SketchPad to find the area and perimeter of several shapes. In this geometry lesson, students determine area of rectangles and progress through irregular polygons. None of the referenced worksheets are included...
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Does Contact Area Matter?
Students work together to design and implement an experiment on friction. They test to see if contact area affects the amount of friction. They discover how engineers use friction to make certain products better.
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GPS Receiver Basics
Middle schoolers practice using a GPS receiver. They walk in different directions and monitor their progress on maps. They enter specific locations and use information given to them to get them back to their original locations.
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Water Chemistry
Young scholars engage in a lesson that is concerned with the concept of water chemistry. They conduct research using a variety of resources. Students also consider an experiment to observe how water has the abiility to exist as three...
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How Do Things Fall?
Students observe falling objects. They discover the rate of falling is based on air resistance and not the weight of the objects. They discuss how engineers use this type of information to design aerodynamic shapes.
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Greenhouse Effect and Temperature
Learners look at a visualization of absorbed solar energy and discuss its role in maintaining surface temperature. They examine greenhouse effect and its role in maintaining a climate in which humans can survive.
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Menu Mania
Students explore the concept of estimating by watching a video, and discussing the strategies for estimation. They estimate the costs for various menu items, then calculate the exact amount spent.
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Math Can Be Mean!
Fifth graders are introduced to the topic of means. Calculating the mean, mode and median, they describe what each set of numbers tell and do not tell about the data. They use a line graph to practice finding the mean. They also use...
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Continuous Probability Distributions
Students practice continuous probability distributions. In this probability lesson, students calculate probability, use probability functions, and use rectangular distribution.
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Orbital Bliss
Most young mathematicians are aware that the planets don’t orbit the sun in a circle but rather as an ellipse, but have never studied this interesting feature. This resource looks at the planetary orbits in more detail and helps learners...
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Data
Students collect data from an experiment they perform. In this data lesson, students use multiple representations to solve practical problems; describe advantages and disadvantages of the use of each representation. Then, they evaluate...
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The Japanese Garden
High schoolers use the internet to gather information on the Japanese Gardens. They discuss topics with a horticulturist and build a replica of the gardens at their school. They work together to identify different types of plants.
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The Attack of the Manhole Monsters
Students explore the concept of similarity. They examine such topics as ratio of corresponding sides, internal ratios and scaling factors. After watching a video, student groups perform experiments outside the school building.
Project Food, Land & People
Loco for Cocoa
Students create a time line and map about how chocolate traveled the world. In this chocolate lesson plan, students also create and taste chocolate.