Curated OER
The Little Blue Engine
Students listen to a read aloud of Shel Silverstein's, The Little Blue Engine. They design and build a Lego train that climbs a three foot incline, one foot at a time. They draw and write about their design.
Curated OER
Introduction of Careers in Technical and Engineering
Ninth graders explore career opportunities in technology and engineering. In this engineering lesson, 9th graders design plans and build machines to perform tasks.
Curated OER
Want to Drag?!
Students use the Metric system and engineering software to design a scale model car. In this scale model car making lesson, students design a scale model car using computer software, the Metric system, and properties of aerodynamics....
Curated OER
Processing the Future: Innovations in Computer Technology
Students visit a website that takes them inside of a computer to see how it works. They investigate the people who contributed to computer technology.
Teach Engineering
Six Minutes of Terror
Help your class understand the design challenges when trying to land a remote spacecraft on a planet. Class members examine the provided information to understand how each component of a spacecraft is designed in order to safely land a...
Teach Engineering
The Grand Challenge
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,...
Teach Engineering
Tell Me Doc—Will I Get Cancer?
Can you beat the odds of cancer? In the first installment of a seven-part series, future biomedical engineers consider how to detect and diagnose cancer. An article on biosensors provides useful information toward this goal.
Teach Engineering
Abdominal Cavity and Laparoscopic Surgery
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...
Teach Engineering
All About Linear Programming
Class members connect engineering with an understanding of linear programming using a technical resource. Scholars learn about linear programming (linear optimization) and how it applies to engineering design in the first of two modules....
Teach Engineering
Photosynthesis—Life's Primary Energy Source
Wouldn't it be great if you could produce your own food? Scholars learn about the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in plants. They consider how to use photosynthesis as a model of an efficient system and how to apply...
Teach Engineering
Mechanics of Elastic Solids
Make the connection between Hooke's law and elasticity with an activity that introduces the class to the behavior of elastic materials. The resource defines stress and strain to calculate the modules of elasticity of...
Teach Engineering
May the Force Be with You: Weight
Too much material will weigh you down. The sixth segment in a series of 22 highlights how weight affects a plane. Pupils learn that engineers take the properties of materials, including weight, when designing something.
Teach Engineering
Active and Passive Transport: Red Rover Send Particles Over
I can move about freely, but you cannot. The class models the movement through cell membranes by way of passive and active transport. Members of the class play the roles of various proteins, atoms, compounds, and cell actions and mimic...
Teach Engineering
Floaters and Sinkers
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...
Teach Engineering
Can You Resist This?
Some things are hard to resist. Small collaborative groups build circuits and calculate the voltage using Ohm's Law. Budding engineers explore the connection between the voltage across different resistors and linear...
Kenan Fellows
A Farmer’s Challenge to Breed to the Greatest of Grapes
What does your class know about GMOs? Are they savvy to selective breeding? Challenge young minds to engineer the greatest crop of all time using a hands-on genetics unit. Learners discover the good and bad details of selective breeding,...
TryEngineering
Program Your Own Game
Young computer scientists get to see what it's like to be a software engineer as they use free online software to design a computer game. They play and evaluate games groups created to round out the activity.
Teach Engineering
Designing a Spectroscopy Mission
In this mind-bending activity, young engineers explore this question of whether or not light actually bends. Using holographic diffraction gratings, groups design and build a spectrograph. The groups then move on research a problem...
Teach Engineering
Design Step 2: Research the Problem
How do you get started designing a product to meet your engineering design goals? Here, learners gain understanding of an important aspect of the engineering design process: background research. Through brainstorming and worksheets,...
Teach Engineering
Nanotechnology as a Whole
It's a small (nanotechnology) world after all! The first segment of a six-part series gives an overview of nanotechnology, its principles and applications, and shares some of the engineering applications of nanotechnology. A...
Teach Engineering
Will It Fly?
Go fly a kite, then fly a plane! The 19th part of a 22-part unit on aviation looks at the way kites and gliders help aid in the understanding of flight. Pupils discuss how engineers used kites to influence airplane designs.
Teach Engineering
Imagining DNA Structure
Let's get a closer look at DNA and other molecular structures. The first lesson in the series of four introduces a variety of imagining techniques that engineers and scientists use to visualize molecular structures. The resource presents...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Water Rocket Launch
How do rockets fly? Teams design, build, and launch a rocket made from a two-liter bottle to explore forces on a rocket such as Newton's Laws of Motion. During the design phase, young engineers draw a diagram of their rocket and...
Discovery Education
Jets in Flight
This Discovery Education activity provides the information needed to understand the basics of flight. Before taking off, young pilots learn the eight stages of the engineering design process. Small groups then design and build...