The Fantastic Voyage is becoming close to reality. The class reads an article on the use of nanotechnology in the medical field and participate in a discussion about what they read. The discussion method helps class members become more...

After reading about how wind turbines work to collect clean energy, groups brainstorm and design their own windmill. Within the provided financial and physical constraints, groups must build a working windmill using only the materials...

Steam engines have been around since the late 1600s, yet most pupils don't know how they work. Using an soda can, the instructor builds a simple steam engine for scholars to observe. Through a discussion, young scientists learn about the...

Helmets not included! Scholars brainstorm adjustments and sensors to football helmets in an engineering design project to help prevent injuries, such as concussions and spinal injuries.

Emerging engineers read about Arduino software and how it can be used. Then they follow a nine-step tutorial to connect an Arduino board to a computer and put it to work! The objective is to code a program that will cause an LED to...

During the Winter Olympics, this would be an engaging task to include in your STEM lesson. Design teams plan, construct, and test a miniature ski lift that can carry a pingpong ball up and down a rope line without falling out. With this...

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...

Introduce your class to map projections and coordinates, the basics for the work done in a GIS, with an activity that uses Google Earth to challenge learners to think about the earth's shape. 

Teams analyze the data they collected during the past six lessons and finalize where they will build a survival cavern. They then present their decisions to the rest of the class and justify their locations. 

Will that structure survive the force? The differentiated lesson plan allows pairs to choose the structure they would like to construct and the building materials they wish to use. Individuals record their findings in...

Working under specific constraints and with designated criteria, groups work together to create a product using an assembly line process. In addition, they work through the entire engineering design process with an excellent graphic to...

Students study the history and importance of the Triborough Bridge in New York City, and then research different bridges and prepare presentations about them. They, in groups, research a bridge and prepare a poster about it.

Start your engines! This five-lesson unit introduces physics and Newton's laws through automobile racing. Each lesson includes background information, a student worksheet, and an answer key. There are also culminating...

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...

Math rocks! Cavern design teams determine the rankings of rock types based upon desirability points. The points are connected to the properties of the rocks and their usefulness in building a cavern. 

Challenge young learners to cut the clutter with this fun engineering project. As employees of a home and office supply company, young engineers are asked to develop devices that organize everyday items. After participating in a...

Get to know the human body from the inside out. The first lesson plan in a series of 10 introduces the class to the abdominopelvic cavity. Biomedical engineers need to understand the region of the body as they develop and improve...

Here is a lesson that offers a great hybrid of forming new skills and using current knowledge to come up with a plan. The class brainstorms information they would need to know or already know about hybrid vehicles. They then group...

When you have to flow, you have to flow. The instructional activity introduces class members to microfluidic devices and their uses in medicine. They watch a short video on how the diameter affects the rate of flow. The worksheet has...

The second segment of a seven-part series reviews the challenge of determining whether gargling with salt water helps a sore throat. Individuals journal what they know about the challenge and what they are trying to figure out to...

It is plane to see that simple machines help reduce the force needed to perform a task.  This resource introduces three of the simple machines--the inclined plane, the wedge, and the screw, and  the formulas in order to be able...

The sun will continue to rise in the east and set in the west, no matter what. The first lesson in a series of eight introduces the class to solar angles. It makes connections between a person's latitude and the angle of position of the...

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.

Whatever floats your boat. Young engineers learn about density by measuring the masses and volumes of boxes filled with different materials. Using their knowledge of densities, they hypothesize whether objects with given densities will...