Curated OER
Building a Car: Mechanical Engineering
Students use common materials to build a car. In this car building mechanical engineering lesson, students build a car using a milk cartoon and plastic wheels. They discuss what mechanical engineers do and what makes a car run.
National Research Center for Career and Technical Education
Lou-Vee-Air Car
Who said teaching a STEM lesson had to be challenging? Incorporate a career and technology-centered car build into your upcoming force lesson plan, and your class will be moving down the road in no time! Pupils practice...
Curated OER
How Do Car Engines Work?
Students perform an experiment which simulates what happens inside an internal combustion engine. They explain how the chemical reaction they witnessed is similar to what happens inside the car engine.
Teach Engineering
Racing With the Sun - Creating a Solar Car
Here's an exciting and innovative instructional activity 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...
Curated OER
Solar Car Series: Angle/Energy Amount
Does the angle of a solar panel change the output? Emerging engineers find out! Demonstrate for your class how they can angle a straw to match the angle of light rays coming from a source. Then turn them loose to experiment with the...
Teach Engineering
Tools and Equipment (Part 1)
Looking for the best inclined plane for the job? Groups calculate the theoretical mechanical advantage for four different inclined planes. They determine the actual mechanical advantage by measuring the amount of force needed for the...
Discovery Education
Drive it Green
Explore and brainstorm innovations for cars with a STEM lesson that asks scholars to weigh different options when considering when buying a car. They research the fuel efficiency and carbon emissions for various options, and then design...
Curated OER
Mechanical Advantage
For this forces worksheet, students use the mechanical advantage equation to solve for input distance or output distance. The worksheet has 17 problems to solve.
Curated OER
Stolen Car Mini-Trial
Students participate in a mock trial about stolen cars. In groups, they take turns representing their clients and examining how a court operates. Other students act as the jury and share their reasons for the verdict they deliver.
Curated OER
Rates in Linear Mechanical Systems
Students examine factors that control rates in mechanical system. They identify units associated with speed, calculate speed of moving object, identify units associated with acceleration, and calculate acceleration of moving object.
Curated OER
Incline Planes
For this simple machine worksheet, students explore incline planes and learn how to calculate the mechanical advantage (MA) using forces or distance. This worksheet has 14 matching, 3 fill in the blank, and 6 short answer questions.
Virginia Department of Education
States and Forms of Energy
Energy is just energy, right? Explain various forms of energy to your young scientists by using an interactive experiment that contains common objects to demonstrate complex concepts. Pupils conduct experiments for radiant, thermal,...
Curated OER
Car Engines
Students create piston systems and explore the conversion of linear to rotary motion that propels a car. In this motion lesson, students build and test a model piston/crankshift system and discover why there is a maximum limit to how...
Curated OER
Work, Power, and Mechanical Efficiency
For this forces worksheet, students review the equations for work, power, and efficiency and then use these equations to solve 9 word problems.
Curated OER
Junior Solar Sprint Series: Gears and Drive Belts
Activate middle schoolers' minds with this physical science activity. Learners vary the diameter of gears and the number of teeth on them to find how energy output is affected. This writeup features well-developed background information...
It's About Time
Automatic Triggering Devices
How does the air bag trigger in an accident? The lesson explores how automatic triggering devices work in automobiles. Using examples such as a seat belt lock and air bag, scholars design their own device to better understand the...
Curated OER
Building the Car (Mechanics and Motion)
Students design and begin building a car out of K'NEX parts after a class discussion on the components of the car, the constraints and goals of the design, the type of testing that will be performed, and a demonstration of a basic...
Curated OER
Junkyard Wars: Mechanical Monsters
Young scholars examine slope and build a Lego car that can take a steep slope. In this mechanics lesson students build a car and demonstrate them in class and describe what they did.
Curated OER
Incline Planes
In this inclined planes worksheet, students review the equations for mechanical advantage using forces or distance. Students complete 6 matching, 11 fill in the blank, and 6 problems to solve.
Curated OER
Sweet Car Dreams
Students rebuild two different makes of cars. They calculate the cost of rebuilding the car. They create a spreadsheet to track their progress and costs.
Curated OER
Mechanical Monsters
Students experiment try to build a Lego car. In this physical science lesson students present and demonstrate the vehicle that they constructed.
Curated OER
TE Activity: Racing with the Sun - Creating a Solar Car
Learners use a purchased kit to build a solar powered car. They connect a solar photovoltaic panel to a motor which runs the car forward and backward. They determine how to wire the car to move in both directions.
Curated OER
Grammar-Mechanics Session #1/Parts of Speech
As part of a grammar lesson, use these sentences to identify parts of speech. There are no directions, but parts of speech are available. The resource contains ten sentences in all.
Rochester Institute of Technology
Molecules and Fuel Cell Technology
A fuel cell is where the jailer keeps gas guzzlers. Scholars review chemical reactions, chemical bonds, and chemical structure in order to apply these concepts. Participants construct fuel cell kits, using electrolysis to run the car and...