Teach Engineering
Working Together to Live Together
Whose home is it anyway? Design teams plan a housing development in which they must also protect a native species. The teams consist of a project manager, civil engineer, environmental engineer, and graphic designer. Teams present their...
Museum of Science
Skyscraper Engineering
The sky's the limit when learning about engineering. Future engineers conduct an activity to learn about forces associated with skyscrapers. They design and build a model of a skyscraper from basic household materials, then test their...
DiscoverE
DiscoverE Challenge: Critical Load
Take a load off .. and put the weight on a house of cards. Scholars learn about civil engineering and critical loads by building the sturdiest house possible out of a dozen playing cards. They conduct tests by placing pennies or other...
DiscoverE
Windy City Tower
Your class will be blown away when they build their own city tower structure! Engineering scholars partner up to plan, build, and test their own paper towers. As they build, they gain valuable design skills, learn about wind tunnel...
DiscoverE
Everyday Engineering: Water Pollution Clean Up
Water, water, everywhere, but pollution is a major problem. Scholars design a filtration device or process that removes dirt and other particles from water. They use various household objects such as marbles, cotton balls, or coffee...
DiscoverE
Everyday Engineering: Windy City Tower
A little wind shouldn't hurt a building. Given three sheets of paper and six feet of tape, scholars create a structure that can withstand wind and hold up a weight. They conduct tests using a fan and decide on any improvements to make...
DiscoverE
Bridges, Buildings and Beyond Activity Packet: Grades 6-8
Pour a solid foundation of engineering into the minds of future engineers. Scholars take part in three activities to learn about civil engineering. They build a model of a cable-stayed bridge, conduct an experiment to see the effects of...
DiscoverE
Designing Highway Interchanges
How do engineers determine the most efficient highway designs? Introduce young scientists to the world of topology, the branch of mathematics that examines how things are connected. Teams use model highways to create the most...
DiscoverE
Hoop Glider
Fly into an engineering lesson sure to get your scholars' interest off the ground. Young pupils create hoop gliders out of straws and paper hoops. Adjusting the size and number of the hoops lets them investigate the effect on flight...
DiscoverE
Build a Big Wheel
Pasta is great for cooking—and for making Ferris wheels. Aspiring engineers use an assortment of pasta types to create a functioning Ferris wheel. They keep track of the design process to refine their designs, if necessary. Let's hope no...
Museum of Science
Newspaper Fort
Newspapers aren't really the first material that comes to mind when building a fort. Pupils use newspaper rolls to design and build a sturdy structure. They consider how different shapes, like trusses, affect the strength of their...
Teach Engineering
The Magician's Catapult
Class members work in pairs to build a catapult to launch a grape a given distance. The catapult project, a compound machine, reinforces pupils' understanding of simple machines.
Teach Engineering
Grow Your Own Algae!
Develop a model of a wastewater treatment center. The last activity of the unit has pupils mix a lake water sample into a tank of water containing fertilizers. Over time, the algae from the lake water grows and removes the nutrient-rich...
DiscoverE
Tunnel Meetup
Meet me in the tunnels. Scholars choose a tunnel entrance and mark it on their side of the cardboard. They describe the location to their partners and see if they can guess each other's locations. Punching a hole through the cardboard...
DiscoverE
Build a Cable-Stayed Bridge
Large or small, bridges are architectural wonders! Construct a large-scale cable-stayed bridge during a whole class project. Scholars work in groups to erect the towers, build the roadway, and secure the cables of their very own bridges....
Teach Engineering
Cost Comparisons
Our final proposal for the cost of the bridge requested is ... In the last segment in a series of 10, pairs work together to develop a proposal for a city bridge design. The class completes a cost comparison between concrete and steel to...
Teach Engineering
Protecting Our City with Levees
Teams use the design process to design, build, and test a model levee to protect the town from a wall of water. A handout provides a price list for the materials learners can use to build their levee within a budget.
Teach Engineering
Amusement Park Ride: The Ups and Downs in Design
Groups design the ultimate roller coaster by considering potential and kinetic energy. They test their designs using marbles and then go on to rate each group's design based on aesthetics, loop diameter, and cost.
Teach Engineering
Rocks, Rocks, Rocks: Test, Identify Properties and Classify
Time is growing short. Teams work together to identify physical properties of rocks in order to determine the properties that would best suit their cavern shelter design.
DiscoverE
Paper Tower
Read all about it! Challenge your class to build taller and stronger. Newspapers provide the means to build towers in a simple activity. Scholars try to build as tall a tower as possible with just two sheets of newspaper.
Teach Engineering
Earthquakes Living Lab: FAQs about P Waves, S Waves and More
Let's talk about earthquakes .... Using the Internet, pupils research what causes earthquakes, how scientists measure them, their locations, and their effects. The resource is not only informative, but it also builds crucial research...
Teach Engineering
How Big? Necessary Area and Volume for Shelter
Teams must determine the size of cavern needed to house the citizens of Alabraska to protect them from the asteroid impact. Using scaling properties, teams first determining the number of people that could sleep in a classroom and then...
DiscoverE
Human Arch
Sometimes, we all need somebody to lean on. Scholars create a human arch by leaning against each other. They consider different approaches to making the arch sturdier and stronger.
Teach Engineering
Stay in Shape
Using their knowledge of right triangles, pupils find out how far a ship is from a light house. Class members determine how far around the world a ship would be sailing at a constant speed.
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