+
Lesson Plan
Mascil Project

Parachute Food Drop

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Drop a perfect project into your lesson plans. Groups use different building materials to create models of parachutes for food drops. After testing out their prototypes, they make improvements to their designs.
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Teach Engineering

Six Minutes of Terror

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Help your class understand the design challenges when trying to land a remote spacecraft on a planet. Class members examine the provided information to understand how each component of a spacecraft is designed in order to safely land a...
+
eBook
Rice University

College Physics for AP® Courses

For Students 9th - Higher Ed Standards
Take a look at an organized physics course. The 34-section electronic textbook covers material in AP® Physics 1 and 2. Teachers use the text to supplement lectures and have the class work through the labs. Each section contains multiple...
+
Activity
DiscoverE

Build a Bobsled Racer

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Host a design challenge of Olympic proportion! Junior engineers build their own bobsleds using simple materials. The activity focuses on kinetic and potential energy and how the center of mass affects motion on a downhill track....
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Testing and Refining Aircraft Design

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students design and make a flying device. They work in small groups to brainstorm ideas for the design of their device. They choose an idea or combination of ideas to use for their design and create a sketch of their design. The students...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Origami Flight: The Physical Setting

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders investigate the forces that move certain objects.  In this physics lesson, 6th graders design and create paper flying objects using origami methods, which they practice flying in different conditions.  Students record and...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Life Easier

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students use a chart of the six simple machines and become aware of how the machines improve our ability to meet the following needs: shelter, food, water, and transportation. Students use model cars to experiment with force. They divide...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simple Harmonic Motion

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students study harmonic motion and its oscillation.  In this simple harmonic motion lesson students demonstrate a series of regular oscillations and explain the theory behind the experiment. 
+
Unit Plan
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory

Simple Machines

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Simple doesn't mean useless. Individuals learn how simple machines benefit the user by changing the amount of effort. A seven-lesson unit begins with an overview of simple machines and then incorporates activities that allow the user to...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simple Machines III - Pulleys

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders are introduced to a spring scale to show that the forces on both sides of the pulley are the same. They break into groups to lift objects with fixed pulleys and with multiple looped pulleys and then measure the force...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simple Machines IV - Wheels and Axles

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders study everyday examples of simple machines. They examine how the combination of a wheel and axle works more efficiently than either in isolation. In a demonstration lesson, they see how a spring scale shows a force pulling...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree…You Might Become Famous

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students explore Newton's laws using CEENBoTs. In this physics lesson, students collect data and create tables and graphs. They calculate speed, acceleration and forces using mathematical formulas.
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Newton's Laws of Motion

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students perform three activities that each demonstrate one of Newton's Laws of Motion. They use a ramp and toy car to demonstrate inertia, calculate acceleration due to gravity, then use a medicine ball and rolling chair to demonstrate...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Avalanche!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers explain that when forces on an object are balanced, the motion of object does not change. They describe how an object changes its motion when forces on it are unbalanced. They plan and conduct a scientific investigation...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Space Ship Pilot

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pupils visualize the relation between acceleration and velocity in 2 dimensions. They are introduced to Newton's first law,and Newton's second law. Students work on an exploration activity where they condsider an example of a...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Big Wheels Keep on Turning

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders work in groups and investigate how force determines the speed and distance then they view the video, "Math Vantage #7: What's Your Angle?." They are given a real life problem to solve using speed, ramps, angle, incline...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simple Machines

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students demonstrate an understanding of how simple machines work. They show how various forces affect movement and advantages of them. They also design a compund machine. Students decide which level of questions they want to do and...
+
Worksheet
Curated OER

Newton's 3 Laws of Motion

For Students 4th - 8th
In this Newton's 3 laws of motion learning exercise, students view examples of each law and draw 1 example of each law on their own. Students draw 3 pictures.
+
Worksheet
Curated OER

Newton's Laws of Motion

For Students 4th - 5th
In this word search worksheet, students explore words relating to Newton's Laws of Motion. Students find thirteen words relating to Newton's laws of motion.
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simple Machines I - Inclined Planes, Wedges, and Screws

For Teachers 4th
The principles and uses of inclined planes, screws, and wedges are the focus of a science lesson. In it, youngsters come up with every day examples of simple machines, and build an example of one in class. That project is then used to...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Circle of Pong

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students, in groups, use given materials to devise a way to deposit a ping-pong ball into a paper cup that is located in the middle of a 6-foot diameter circle, while standing outside the circle.
+
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.
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Buoyancy

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Learners use materials found at a resource table to design simple devices that will house instruments to take water samples from a tub of water. They design 3 instruments, each varying in density so that one will float, one will hover...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Magnet Circus

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students explore the properties of magnets by designing a device that can move as far as possible using only magnets to move it, and design a machine that will stay in motion for the greatest period of time.