A hands on lessons where students explore how materials and design affect the strength of a structure. After watching an excerpt Curious George, students build newspaper walls like George did and try out different solutions for making...

This interactive unit looks at the process of design. By the end of the lesson you will be able to identify innovation in a wide variety of designed objects and evaluate the impact of this innovation.

Third graders illustrate and write out notes for a plan (or several plans) to mitigate the effects of a local weather hazard.

Due to recent advances in technology and engineering, new innovations in equipment are helping to support the game of football in every respect.

Why do animals' ears all look different? In this activity, you will research all shapes and function of ears to create "better" ears.

This lesson poses the question "can you always take something apart and put it together in different ways?". Young scholars will take part in designing an investigation using snap cubes to help figure out an answer. Videos of the lesson...

Design the treehouse of your dreams with ABCya's Make a Treehouse! Choose from tree types, wood varieties and more. Would you like to build a house in a rainbow eucalyptus tree? No problem! How about a roller coaster entrance, and a...

In this video segment from Cyberchase, learn about the importance of creating a model as the CyberSquad designs a giant "Trojan Ducky" that will help them enter a fort without being noticed. [4:17]

An introduction to our solar system: the planets, our Sun and our Moon. Students begin by learning the history and engineering of space travel. They make simple rockets to acquire a basic understanding Newton's third law of motion. They...

Design a catapult, blast a balloon into the air, and try to hit the target the first time. If you miss, adjust the velocity and angle to reach the desired trajectory.

Can you muffle the sound of a jingle bell using a variety of Christmas-themed items? Explore your sense of hearing in this simple activity. Includes a video of Gemini astronauts playing Jingle Bells while in space in 1965. [1:22]

Commercial fishing nets often trap unprofitable animals in the process of catching their target species. In the following activity, students will experience the difficulty that fishermen experience while trying to isolate a target...

Students are challenged to use the technical problem solving to dump radioactive material (eggs) into water without touching them. Lesson plan includes timeline, student handout and discussion questions.

Each student uses a small quantity of modeling clay to make a boat that will float in a tub of water. The object is to build a boat that will hold as much weight as possible without sinking. In the process of designing and testing their...

Lesson investigates the modification of a material at the nanoscale to enhance it with properties such as water and stain resistance.

Students can hone their shape-recognition skills and use the plans to build a fleet of rockets.

Students learn about teamwork and problem solving in this lesson that focuses on friction and how ball bearings are used to reduce it.

Team lesson focuses on the different types of simple machines, how they work, and how they can be found in daily life.

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...

Students learn about water erosion through an experimental process in which small-scale buildings are placed along a simulated riverbank to experience a range of flooding conditions. They make model buildings either with a 3D printer or...

In this lesson, the children will be building a physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object, such as triangles, helps it function. At the end, the children will test their gumdrop structures and the class will collectively...

In this activity, students act as environmental engineers involved with the clean up of a toxic spill. Using bioremediation as the process, students select which bacteria they will use to eat up the pollutant spilled. Students learn how...

Students learn about traffic lights and their importance in maintaining public safety and order. Using a Parallax Basic Stamp 2 microcontroller, students work in teams on the engineering challenge to build a traffic light with a specific...

Students design, build and evaluate a spring-powered mouse trap racer. For evaluation, teams equip their racers with an intelligent brick from a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Education Base Set and a HiTechnic acceleration sensor. They use...