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Teach Engineering

Portable Wheelchair Ramp Challenge

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Ramp up the engineering design process in your classroom with an activity that challenges teams to design, build, and test a small-scale portable wheelchair ramp. The class develops design requirements, and teams test their designs...
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Teach Engineering

Bridge Types: Tensile and Compressive Forces

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Bridges rely on tension and compression to keep them standing. Pairs test this principle by constructing simple bridges and applying a force to the center. Teams use the provided worksheet to record their observations of the...
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Teach Engineering

Straw Bridges

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Pairs work as engineering teams to design and build model bridges from drinking straws and tape. In this third segment in a series of 10, teams compete in an attempt to build the strongest bridge. To help with the design, the groups...
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Teach Engineering

The Grand Challenge

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Magnetic resonance imaging, just how safe is it? The introduction to unit study of magnetic resonance imaging technology presents the grand challenge questions of how an MRI machine works, the risks involved, the physics involved,...
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Teach Engineering

Visualizing Magnetic Field Lines

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Magnetic fields might not be a field of dreams but they are useful. Class members observe the reactions of magnetic fields using a compass, iron filings in a paper container, and iron filings suspended in mineral oil. 
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Slinkies as Solenoids

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
What does an MRI machine have to do with a slinky? This activity challenges learners to run a current through a slinky and use a magnetic field sensor to measure the magnetic field. Groups then change the length of the slinky to see...
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Teach Engineering

Load It Up!

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
See how a marshmallow can hold up a bridge load. Teams take a closer look at the design of bridge piers. They determine the types of loads that might affect a bridge, and, using that information, they calculate the needed cross-sectional...
Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

A Good Foundation

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
It takes a strong foundation to build a house and a stronger one for a bridge. This resource presents the effects of geology and soil on bridge foundations. Working in groups, the class investigates the interaction of shallow and deep...
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Breaking the Mold

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
A little too much strain could cause a lot of stress. Groups conduct a strength test on clay. Using books as weights, pupils measure the compression of clay columns and calculate the associated strain and stress. Teams record their...
Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

Show Me the Money

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Class members learn how to estimate the total costs involved to design and build a bridge by including design, material, equipment, and labor costs. The activity includes a discussion about the trade-off between cost and aesthetics.
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Teach Engineering

Cost Comparisons

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
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...
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Teach Engineering

What's Wrong with the Coordinates at the North Pole?

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Here is an activity that merges technology with life skills as individuals use Google Earth to explore the differences between coordinate systems and map projections. The self-guided worksheet is the fourth segment in a nine-part unit....
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Teach Engineering

Searching for Bigfoot and Others Like Him

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Individuals create a GIS data layer in Google Earth that displays information about where one might find seven different cryptids. The class members research to find data on cryptid sightings they can include in their data...
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Teach Engineering

What is a Nanometer?

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Teams learn about the size of a nanometer by measuring objects and converting those measurements. A learning exercise then tests the groups' abilities to use nanometers by having them determine the size of objects that are too small to...
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The Challenge Question

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
A research position becomes a modeling job. The introductory lesson in a series of nine presents the challenge of analyzing a set of bivariate data. The class brainstorms what the data may represent. Pupils must decide what is needed to...
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Applications of Linear Functions

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
It's not so straightforward — lines can model a variety of applications. Pupils experience linear relationships within the context of science, including Hooke's and Ohm's Laws. Class members got a taste of motion and speed from the...
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Teach Engineering

Go Public: Osteoporosis Brochure

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Osteoporosis and family — notice the connection between the two. Pairs develop a brochure to educate the public about osteoporosis in the last portion of the six-part series. The teams draw on the information learned throughout the...
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Using Hooke's Law to Understand Materials

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Provide a Hooke for a lesson on elasticity with an activity that has groups investigate a set of springs. They use a set procedure to collect data to calculate the spring constant for each spring using Hooke's Law. The groups...
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Teach Engineering

Viscous Fluids

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Elasticity and viscosity. Help your class understand the similarities and differences with an introduction to viscous fluids. After describing four types of fluid behaviors: shear thinning, shear thickening, Bringham plastic,...
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Measuring Viscosity

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Groups use a marble to determine the viscosity of household fluids. The procedure calls for pupils to measure the amount of time it takes a marble to fall a specified distance in the fluids. Using unit conversions and algebra, the teams...
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Magnetic or Not?

For Teachers 8th - 10th
 The class must determine the magnetic properties of different materials, including aluminum and steel by sorting through materials using a magnet. Groups make a prediction on whether a material is magnetic and then perform...
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Drawing Magnetic Fields

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Class members use a compass and several points to map out the magnetic field of a magnet. Pairs trace the magnetic field lines produced by a permanent magnet by positioning the compass in numerous spots around the magnet to view the...
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Teach Engineering

Electricity and Magnetic Fields

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Introduce your class to the idea of magnetic fields around electrical wires with an activity that provides the information about the direction of a magnetic field around a wire carrying an electric current.
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Teach Engineering

Circuits and Magnetic Fields

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Have your class use compasses to try to find the magnetic field around an electric current. Groups use the same technique to visualize magnetic fields as they did in the second activity in the series, but this time, the field is...

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