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Lesson Plan
Messenger Education

Design Challenge: How to Keep Items Cool in Boiling Water

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Keeping items cool in boiling water... what? This engaging activity challenges high school learners to build a container that keeps butter in a solid state when placing the container in boiling water. Groups use previous knowledge and...
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Activity
NASA

Water Filtration Challenge

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
Can the class think like the scientists on the International Space Station? Engineers design, test, collect data, and improve a water filtration device similar to a system found on the ISS. Participants use pH strips, optional...
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Activity
DiscoverE

Arts and Engineering Activity Packet: Grades 3-5

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Art and science sometimes go hand in hand. A set of four activities for learners in grades 3-5 teaches engineering concepts as part of art projects. Class members build homemade robots, elastic puppets, musical instruments, and...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
WindWise Education

How Can I Design Better Blades?

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Small groups use information they have learned about blade construction to design, build, and test their own concepts. The teams compete in order to determine which design has the best average power output. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Design Challenge: Cup in the Cupboard

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Learners design device that will place a cup into a cupboard for a physically challenged person. They study the engineering design and how structure relates to function.
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Lesson Plan
Skyscraper Museum

Building a Skyscraper

For Teachers 2nd - 4th Standards
Creating buildings that reach hundreds of feet into the sky is no easy task. The third instructional activity in this series begins with four activities that engage young architects in exploring the major challenges that are faced when...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Purdue University

Design of an Earthen Dam for a Lafayette Neighborhood

For Teachers 3rd Standards
How do dams support bodies of water? Scholars engage in a hands-on STEM activity where they design, build, and test dams to learn about bodies of water and how humans use natural resources. They learn how criteria and constraints affect...
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Lesson Plan
NPR

Identify Criteria and Constraints

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
What defines success? The fourth installment of a 10-part series focuses on the criteria for engineering design success in solving the plastics problem. Pupils also consider any constraints.
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Lesson Plan
1
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Purdue University

Rock Steady: Designing a Sensor

For Teachers 6th Standards
Bridge young mathematicians' knowledge of engineering and design. Pupils use two desks and a plastic sheet to simulate a bridge. After learning about energy transformations, they use available materials to design a sensor that detects...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Purdue University

Sound Absorption Wall

For Teachers 3rd Standards
What types of materials absorb sound? Learners explore sound waves, the decibel scale, and how different materials affect sound. Then, they use their knowledge of sound meters to complete a STEM engineering design task to build...
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Lesson Plan
Berkeley Engineering and Mentors

Marshmallow Challenge

For Teachers K - 12th
Here is a lesson in collaboration cleverly disguised as an engineering design activity. There is no background material for you to teach here,  just instructions about materials and rules for participating groups. Use this as an...
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Activity
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 using...
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Activity
Teach Engineering

Automatic Floor Cleaner Computer Program Challenge

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Have your class use the engineering design process to program a vacuum robot. Using computer engineering concepts, teams program an automatic floor cleaner to traverse designated patterns. 
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Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

Fun with Air-Powered Pneumatics

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
How high did the ball go? Engineering teams build a working pneumatic system that launches a ball into the air. The teams vary the amount of pressure and determine the accompanying height of the ball. An extension of building a device to...
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Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Jets in Flight

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
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 an...
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Lesson Plan
Trash For Teaching

The Light-House Project

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Groups work together to design a lighthouse, from designing and drawing the wiring diagram, to creating prototypes of the switch and circuit, to envisioning and building a scale model along with a blueprint. By including different...
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Activity
DiscoverE

Designing Highway Interchanges

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
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...
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Activity
James Dyson Foundation

Challenge Cards

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Can you build it? Yes you can! This interactive game includes four design challenges presented on separate cards. The cards outline the challenges with limited restrictions but with an end goal in mind. The competitions include building...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
University of Wisconsin

Designing a Rain Garden

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Now it's time for all of the data collected in previous lessons to be applied to the design of a rain garden. This resource can only be used as part of the greater whole, since learners will need to rely on gathered knowledge in order to...
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Activity
DiscoverE

Design a Dome

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Do domed structures have advantages over their less-than-spherical counterparts? Junior architects explore the pros and cons of domes through a design challenge. Teams work together to plan, sketch, build, and test domes created from an...
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Engineering Lessons Adapted for Special Education

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Modifying engineering lessons from NASA makes them accessible to a wider variety of learners.
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Activity
Teach Engineering

Amusement Park Ride: The Ups and Downs in Design

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
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.
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Unit Plan
Scholastic

STEM Challenges and Activity Sheets 3–5

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
How can engineers help their communities? Three challenges in the first unit explore why STEM is important to communities and how neighborhoods are engineered to experience those benefits. The second unit prompts groups to plan an...
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Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

Designing Bridges

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Introduces your class to the types of loads experienced by a bridge. Groups calculate the ultimate load combinations to determine the maximum load requirement. Using this information, builders then determine the amount of material they...

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