Challenge students to take on a real-life problem affecting people in Nepal. Many farmers living on the mountainside there grow fruit and vegetables, including tomatoes. To earn a living, they need to sell these at the local market. The...

Flooding due to climate change can have a devastating effect on people's lives. Set on the fictitious island of Watu, pupils explore how STEM skills can be used to help communities be better prepared for flooding. Students will work as a...

A lesson plan where students learn about the physics behind golf balls. Students evaluate different designs of golf balls to understand how their design impacts their function. After their evaluation, students will try to improve the...

Can you build a device that will deliver life-saving treatment to someone in a hazardous situation? During this lesson plan, students will learn how energy is converted and transferred between objects. Working in groups and through the...

Students will learn about the ongoing issues associated with drought in California and how water conservation can be part of a solution. Students will design a rooftop water catchment system for drought-conscious Ms. Drizzle to install...

During this math-focused unit, students will create a device that is used to harvest fruit from a tree. They will then look at failure points in order to iterate their design. Finally, students will describe their device as a system and...

Can your team build the appropriate bridge to fit the needs of various terrains? In this lesson, students will build an assigned bridge in order to increase knowledge of various types of bridges. Students will then engage in a design...

For this interactive, students plan, create, and test a zip line that will transport a hard-boiled egg without breaking it. They will make improvements on their design based on data about its performance. A motion sensor is required in...

This page offers a detailed description of and a link to a set of lessons that will assist teachers in targeting NGSS standard HS-PS2-3. Students investigate momentum and impulse and are challenged to solve an engineering problem that is...

Students modify a provided App Inventor code to design their own diseases. This serves as the evolution step in the software/systems design process. The activity is essentially a mini design cycle in which students are challenged to...

This unit is designed for advanced programming classes. It leads students through a study of human vision and computer programming simulation. Students apply their previous knowledge of arrays and looping structures to implement a new...

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

Students use the engineering design process to plan and construct a device for marking out the area for a small square outdoors, so that they can study what is contained inside it.

Learners investigate how a mouse works by dissembling and evaluating its design. They are also challenged to improve the design by eliminating or changing components of the mouse they dissembled.

Learners learn about wildlife habitats, environmental engineering, and the complexities of nest construction by attempting to design and build a nest themselves. This activity can be done individually or with a partner.

Students discover how gears work and how they can be used to adjust a vehicle's power. Specifically, they learn how to build the transmission part of a vehicle by designing gear trains with different gear ratios.

In this lesson, students discover the entire process that goes into designing a rocket for any customer. In prior lessons, students learned how rockets work, but now they learn what real-world decisions engineers have to make when...

In this activity, students revisit the Pop Rockets activity from Lesson 3. This time, however, the design of their pop-rockets will be limited by budgets and supplies. They will get a feel for the limitations of a real engineering...

Looking at transportation and the environment, students learn that some human-made creations, such as vehicles, can harm the environment. They also learn about alternative fuels and vehicles designed by engineers to minimize pollution....

Students explore the interface between architecture and engineering. In the associated hands-on activity, students act as both architects and engineers by designing and building a small parking garage.

Students reinforce their knowledge of the different parts of the digestive system and explore the concept of simulation by developing a pill coating that can withstand the churning actions and acidic environment found in the stomach....

Find hands-on challenges that focus on the engineering design process that use simple materials, allow for multiple solutions, and are ideal for ages 9-12.

Explore the streamlined shapes of submarines and design an effective hull shape. Observe how streamlining affects a vehicle as it is pulled through a water-filled trough.

This lesson is designed to help students document their research for a year long capstone project. (Creating an Engineering Report)The students will be following the requirements for the Siemens Math, Science Technology competition....