Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Sticks and Stones Will Break That Bone!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students learn about the strength of bones and methods of helping to mend fractured bones. During a class demonstration, a chicken bone is broken by applying a load until it reaches a point of failure (fracture). Then, working as...
Unit Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Students as Scientists

For Teachers 6th - 9th
This curricular unit contains two lessons that let students actually do the work of scientists as they design their own experiments to answer questions they generate. In the first lesson and its associated activity, students conduct a...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Taking the Boat to Manaus

For Teachers 5th
In this activity, the students will apply the concepts they learned regarding mass, volume and density in the previous activities to design a boat.
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: If You're Not Part of the Solution!

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students continue the research begun in the associated lesson as if they were biomedical engineers working for a pharmaceutical company. Groups each perform a simple chemical reaction (to precipitate solid calcium out of solution) to...
Unit Plan
Sophia Learning

Sophia: Engineering: Mentos Challenge 2 Day Lesson

For Students 9th - 10th
Created to teach students of the 21st century, SOPHIA is bringing the world of engineering straight to your fingertips. Become the commander of your own learning experiences as you take part in this interactive lesson.
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Wimpy Radar Antenna

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students will reinforce an antenna tower made from foam insulation, so that it will withstand a 480 N-cm bending moment (torque) and a 280 N-cm twisting moment (torque) with minimal deflection. One class will be used to discuss the...
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Skyscrapers: Engineering Up!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Skyscrapers are one of the most glorified products of Civil Engineering and contain an interesting history of progress and development. In this lesson, the students will learn about the history of the world's tallest free standing...
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Designing a Sustainable Guest Village

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson introduces students to their task of designing a permanent guest village within the Saguaro National Park. The design must provide a true desert experience to visitors while also emphasizing sustainable design, protection of...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Design, Build and Test Your Own Landfill

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students design and build model landfills using materials similar to those used by engineers for full-scale landfills. Their completed small-size landfills are "rained" on and subjected to other erosion processes. The goal is to create...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Design a Net Zero Energy Classroom

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students create a concept design of their very own net-zero energy classroom by pasting renewable energy and energy-efficiency items into and around a pretend classroom on a sheet of paper. They learn how these items (such as solar...
Unit Plan
Practical Action

Practical Action: Plastics Challenge

For Teachers 3rd - 9th
This is a challenge for students to develop solutions to the problems caused by plastic waste globally. They will learn about how plastic waste impacts people around the world, the different types of plastic, how they are each used, how...
Unit Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Robot Design Challenges

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Through the two lessons and five activities in this unit, students' knowledge of sensors and motors is integrated with programming logic as they perform complex tasks using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots and software.
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Designing a Spectroscopy Mission

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students find and calculate the angle that light is transmitted through a holographic diffraction grating using trigonometry. After finding this angle, student teams design and build their own spectrographs, researching and designing a...
Lesson Plan
Other

Engineering Your Future Ohio: Busting Myths

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A good introduction to the engineering design process, this project has students conduct tests to "bust myths," modelling the processes and tests shown on the show Mythbusters.
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Make an Alarm!

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
After reading the story "Dear Mr. Henshaw" by Beverly Cleary, students will build an alarm system for something in the classroom, as the main character Leigh does to protect his lunchbox from thieves. Students will learn about alarms and...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Design Packing to Safely Mail Raw Spaghetti

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students will use their creative skills to determine a way to mail raw spaghetti. The students will need to choose a way to safely package their raw spaghetti using only the materials provided. To test the packing designs, the spaghetti...
Lesson Plan
TryEngineering

Try Engineering: Engineered Music

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Object of this instructional activity is to learn about the engineering design of musical instruments. Young scholars work in teams to design and build their own "tunable" and unique instrument using everyday materials.
Lesson Plan
TryEngineering

Try Engineering: Engineer a Cane

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson focuses on how engineers improve assistive devices such as a cane to meet the needs of the elderly. Students work in teams to re-engineer a cane for a "client." They are assigned a client profile, develop a design to suit the...
Lesson Plan
TryEngineering

Try Engineering: Biomimicry in Engineering

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity focuses on the concept of Biomimicry and students learn how engineers have incorporated structures and methods from the living world in products and solutions for all industries. Students then work in teams to develop a...
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Naturally Organized

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students work in teams to design a tabletop supply organizer inspired by the natural home of an insect species. Their prototype stores the group's classroom supplies (scissors, crayon boxes, pencils, and glue sticks). In addition to...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Accept a Design Trade Off Challenge Science Projects

For Students 9th - 10th
Build a device to accomplish a fun task. Accept a design trade-off challenge of using only a set amount of simple materials, as if you were stuck on a desert island, to make your device work.
Lesson Plan
Other

Detroit Institute of Arts: Think Like an Engineer

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this STEAM instructional activity, students are immersed in a world of transportation design as they use the design thinking process to create their own vehicle prototype out of everyday materials.
Activity
Technovation

Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Build a Joystick

For Students Pre-K - 1st
As part of this engineering project, students will design and build a joystick that can turn on and turn off multiple things. The website also includes a lesson plan, tips to accomplish the challenge, and a place for students to document...
Lesson Plan
University of Hawai'i

University of Hawai'i: Exploring Our Fluid Earth: Activity: Design a Ship

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this activity, students apply their knowledge of buoyancy and ship stability to design a model ship. They test, evaluate, and refine the design of the model to optimize performance. Background information and other activities are...