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The Dirty Water Project
Young scholars investigate different methods (aeration and filtering) for removing pollutants from water. They design and build their own water filters. Students identify the pollutants in a water sample using sight and smell, explore...
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What Is Energy? Short Demos
Young scholars engage in three short, hands-on, in-class demos which expand students' understand of energy. First, using peanuts and heat, young scholars see how the human body burns food to make energy. Then, they create paper snake...
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Not So Neutral Views
Students explore ways to use indicators to distinguish between acids and bases. They conduct an experiment to model and discuss the harmful effect of acid rain in our living and non-living environment.
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Chemical Information Search
Students research information using various internet resources. In this chemistry lesson, students demonstrate their ability to navigate websites and gather necessary information. They evaluate the potential usefulness of the databases...
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Fighting Back!
Fifth graders inspect the basic functions of the immune system and determine how viruses and bacteria invade the immune system. They also explore what happens to the immune system in outer space.
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Tornado Damage!
Young scholars explore tornadoes, the damage they cause, and how to rate tornadoes. They will investigate the Fujita Damage Scale of tornado intensity, and use it to complete a mock engineering analysis of damage caused by a tornado....
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Energy Detectives at Work
Students are "Energy Detectives" working for an engineering firm that does energy evaluations at schools. In teams, they locate energy sources around the school, and record their findings on an Energy Detective Worksheet.
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Wind Energy
Students explore wind energy by making a pinwheel to model a wind turbine. They experiment with their turbine by placing it in different locations for optimal energy.
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TE Lesson: Fighting Back!
Young scholars examine the roles of the immune system in keeping the body healthy. They see how engineers contribute to this process by creating antibiotics, and vaccinations. They discuss how an astronauts' immune system may be...
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Let's Heat Things Up!
Students build and evaluate simple models to understand the greenhouse effect. They explore the role of increased greenhouse gas concentration in global warming, and the implications of global warming theory for engineers, themselves...
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What's Air Got to Do with It?
Students use M&M's to create a pie graph that expresses their understanding of the composition of air. They watch and conduct several simple experiments to develop an understanding of the properties of air (it has mass, it takes up...
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TE Lesson: Renewable Energy
Learners examine renewable energy sources such as solar, water, and wind. They experiment to determine how renewable energy is transformed into electricity. They investigate the role of engineers who work in the field of renewable energy.
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Wasting Energy at Home
Students act as energy conservation engineers and identify the ways energy is conserved or wasted. They also discover many ways to personally conserve energy everyday. Students discover how engineers perform home energy audits to...
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Newton Gets Me Moving
Fourth graders experiment with Newton's three laws of motion. For this motion lesson, 4th graders explore the three laws of motion and then work in small groups collaborating while experimenting with these laws. Numerous resources...
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Blast Off!
Fourth graders investigate the third law of motion. For this third law of motion lesson, 4th graders explore the forces necessary for a rocket to launch. Students compare and contrast propellant and fuel. Numerous resources are provided.
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Europe on the Internet
Students conduct Internet research on a selected city or country in Europe. They launch a search engine, explore various websites, write down basic facts about their country on a worksheet, and create a travel brochure.
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Stop Heat from Escaping
Students explore the uses of insulation and describe how insulation helps to conserve energy. They work in groups and use plastic, wool, paper and aluminum to experiment with the heat-retaining properties of various materials.
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I Can't Take the Pressure!
Students explore the concept of air pressure. Using candy or cookie wafers to model how air pressure changes with altitude, they conduct an aluminum can crushing experiment, compare the magnitude to gravitational force per unit area,...
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Computer Science Education Week
Equip students for the 21st century by exploring the fun of computer science.
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Getting to the Point
Students determine location by using the technique of triangulation. They imagine that they are out in the wilderness and have come to the top of a ridge. How can one identify the ridge on the topo map? How can one figure out where you...
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Patterns, Functions, and Algebra: Wired for Space
Learners assess how patterns, functions and algebra can assist NASA engineers design new ways of propelling spacecrafts. They explore how electricity and magnetism are replacing the fuel-consuming rocket propulsion. Electromagnetism is...
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Space Day Activities
Celebrate Space Day on May 7th with aerospace lessons that are sure to get kids excited about science and engineering!
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Inertia
Students conduct a simple inertia demonstration by spinning a hardboiled and raw egg. They push a wagon to demonstrate inertia. They explore Newton's first and second laws of motion.
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Making Decisions: Packaging and the Environment
Students work in small groups to redesign the packaging of several common items. They attempt to reach the goal of 25% reduction in packaging materials currently used and explore the impact of various materials and designs in landfills...