Product improvement is the process of making meaningful product changes that result in new customers or increased benefits realized by existing customers. The two most popular ways to make product improvements are to add new product...

Students learn about the importance of creating and testing prototypes during the engineering design process. They start by building prototypes, which is a special type of model used to test new design ideas. Students gain experience...

Students explore the biosphere's environments and ecosystems, learning along the way about the plants, animals, resources and natural cycles of our planet. Over the course of lessons 2-6, students use their growing understanding of...

Students learn about the periodic table and how pervasive the elements are in our daily lives. After reviewing the table organization and facts about the first 20 elements, they play an element identification game. They also learn that...

Student teams follow the steps of the engineering design process to meet the challenge of getting their entire class from one location on the playground to the sidewalk without touching the ground between. The class develops a well...

Junior scientists use their imagination to create a Lego car. This investigation allows scientists to see that they can put items together to create some new product. Videos of the lesson in action and examples of student's journal...

An audio slideshow narrated by the set designer for the Tony Award-winning musical "The Light in the Piazza." Discusses the set designer's art as well as the designer's inspirations for the sets, both the exterior scenes of Florentine...

A printable article that reviews an art exhibit at the MoMA in New York. The article highlights a few of the product designs from the exhibit that each deal with the idea of safety. There is also a link to the online exhibit if you'd...

Introduce students to new product trademarks, logos, packaging, and advertising. Teams of students will design and create a logo or trademark, packaging box, and poster for original products.

This article describes the process by which an engineer at OXO looked at design, size, and variety when he redesigned OXO's line of POP containers.

After the jets hit, stairwells became the sole means of escape for thousands of WTC occupants. But design choices hampered full evacuation -- and made the descent even more harrowing. The stairs in the twin towers were a product of their...

A learning module on the Industrial Revolution in America that includes several supporting questions accompanied by formative tasks and source materials, followed by a summative performance task. Topics covered include how manufacturing...

Body scanning is a new technology that is shifting the focus of apparel production from "Cookie-cutter," to "One-of-a-kind." This site gives information about the technology, visualizations of a body scan, scenarios of the production...

This lesson is an exciting conclusion to the airplanes unit that encourages students to think creatively. After a review of the concepts learned, students will design their own flying machine based on their knowledge of the forces...

A solid introduction to Islamic art of the late medieval period (approximately A.D. 1250 to A.D. 1450) that relates historical events to the art production of the time. With informative descriptions and wonderful reproductions that...

Testing is critical to any design, whether it be in the creation of new software or building a bridge across a wide river. Despite risking the quality of the design, the testing stage is often hurried in order to get products to market....

Drawing is a key element in an inventor's skill set. When it comes to the working out of new ideas, inventors turn to pencil and paper. Mixing art and science, this exhibition site showcases a collection of industrial drawings that...

Through 10 lessons and more than 20 hands-on activities, students are introduced to the concept of an environment and the many interactions within it. As they learn about natural and human-made environments, as well as renewable and...