Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Do Things Fall?

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students study forces by examining the force of gravitational attraction. They observe how objects fall and measure the force of gravitational attraction upon objects. Students discover that, since gravitational constants are different...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Move It!

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students observe a demonstration presented by the teacher covering different types of energy. They participate in an experiment where they study numerous physics vocabulary words and visit websites that demonstrate examples of these...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Medical Instrumentation

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students analyze how medical devices that help the human body function. They work in pairs or groups to draw multiple views of the medical device and describe how engineering is used by biomedial engineers.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Navigating by the Numbers

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students observe how math is important in navigation and engineering. They study how surveyors use math and science to calcute, count, measure, label, and indicate distances on a map. They estimate specific distances.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rock Solid

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students investigate the three types of material stress related to rocks. They watch a PowerPoint Presentation, view an online animation of the three types of rock stress, identify the various types of rocks, answer true or false...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Skyscrapers: Engineering Up!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students build their own newspaper skyscrapers with limited materials and time. They identify several different structural engineering principles relating to skyscrapers. They explain how their towers resisted the wind load.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What's Air Got to Do with It?

For Teachers 4th - 6th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Build an Approximate Scale Model of an Object

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students create a model of an object of their choice using sketches that they have drawn. They study what a scale model is and how to construct one. They examine the uses for scale models and why they are produced.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cleaning Air with Balloons

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students examine how a pollutant recovery method functions in cleaning industrial air pollution. They listen to a teacher-led discussion, conduct an experiment with balloons, static electricity, and pepper, and observe and record the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dangerous Air

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students investigate how pollution is a global issue. They locate the countries affected by radiation from Chernobyl, sequence the progress of radiation transport from Chernobyl and plot the pollution points on a world map, and read and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Design a Recycling Game!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students discover that recycling is using a product more than once so that natural resources can be saved and so that we won't need so many garbage dumps and landfills. They see that there are different ways to recycle. Students design a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Design a Parachute

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students engage in a discussion about what a parachute is and how it works. They create a parachute using different materials that they think will work best. The students test their designs, which will be followed by a class discussion...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Design Your Own Rube Goldberg Machine

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle schoolers design and construct a Rube Goldberg machine that accomplishes a simple task in at least ten steps. They view and discuss various Rube Goldberg designs, identify types of simple machines, and in small groups produce a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor?

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students determine the amount of sugar in various types of gum. They chew a piece of gum until it loses its flavor and leave it to dry in order to weigh it and determine the amount of mass lost, and describe an experiment to determine...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Energetic Musical Instruments

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students apply the principles and concepts associated with energy and the transfer of energy in an engineering context through the designing and making of a musical instrument. After the accomplishment of the design, students must...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

TE Activity: Hot or Not

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine how the human immune system responds to germs and explain what a fever is. They design a thermometer in order to further explore temperature before completing a temperature conversion worksheet. They detail the work of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

It Takes Two To Tangle

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Young scholars utilize strategies to comprehend literature. They write stories with diverse vocablulary that incorporate the difference between internal and external conflict. They make sure that the stories use methods of managing and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Kidney Filtering

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate how kidneys function. They discuss how a dialysis machine works, and conduct an experiment in which they filter different substances through a plastic window screen, various sizes of hardware cloth, and poultry...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Light Your Way

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students investigate how a simple series circuit functions. They design and construct a working portable flashlight, develop a written plan for the flashlight, test their flashlight for functionality and reliability, and draw the series...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

TE Activity: Northward Ho!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students design a simple compass. They examine how the Earth's magnetic field has both horizontal and vertical components. They determine how a compass works and work with cardinal directions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

TE Activity: Pollution Politics

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students examine how a bill becomes a law in the US Congress. They investigate legislation about global warming. They determine the role of engineers as they educate Congress, the public and other government institutions about global...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Swing in Time

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Young scholars examine the motion of pendulums and come to understand that the longer the string of the pendulum, the fewer the number of swings in a given time interval. They see that changing the weight on the pendulum does not have an...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

TE Activity: Survive That Tsunami!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine the causes of tsunamis and observe a table top wave making machine. They make model houses while working in groups so that the can see how different construction types work. They discuss how engineers can design and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Trig River

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students calcute distances using trigonometry and angle measurements. They estimate the width of the Trig River, measure it and compare their results with their classmates. They collaborate with a group to research and find the results.