Khan Academy
Project: Public Transportation
Have your charges race their car creations across the screen in a JavaScript activity. Coders start with a small program that shows one wheel moving across the screen. Use this as a good place to start and challenge your young...
Staples Foundation For Learning
The President’s Desk
What stories can a desk paperweight and picture frame possibly tell us about the president of the United States? Pupils are transported to the desk of President John F. Kennedy through an engaging interactive site. The guide offers...
Teach Engineering
Tools and Equipment (Part 1)
Looking for the best inclined plane for the job? Groups calculate the theoretical mechanical advantage for four different inclined planes. They determine the actual mechanical advantage by measuring the amount of force needed for the...
Teach Engineering
Ramp and Review (for High School)
Rolling for momentum. As part of a study of mechanical energy, momentum, and friction, class members experiment rolling a ball down an incline and having it collide with a cup. Groups take multiple measurements and perform...
NASA
Beginning Engineering, Science, and Technology
Space, the Final Frontier. The nine NASA-created challenges in this unit are designed to teach class members the engineering design process. Each challenge comes with teacher and student pages that can be used individually or as a...
Teach Engineering
Energy Storage Derby and Proposal
Small groups use the engineering design process to build and test a vehicle capable of carrying 250 grams a distance of five meters. The design must allow for the storage of potential energy and turn it into motion,...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Chicago, the Transit Metropolis
Explore the role of public transportation in Chicago, from the 1890s through the 1950s.
Read Works
Read Works: New Lives for Old Buses
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about an African country that uses old school buses for public transportation. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Read Works
Read Works: Predicting the Future
[Free Registration/Login Required] A literary text about a futurist named Garry Golden and his predictions about transportation in the future. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Holt, Rinehart and Winston: Professional Writer's Models: Grade 10: Persuasive Essay [Pdf]
From the novel titled "We the Media," this essay from writer Adam Hochschild presents a persuasive argument against the volume of televisions in places of public transport. A good model which can be used as a resource for students.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control: Public Health, 1900 1999 Motor Vehicle Safety
Read about the reduction in vehicle-related deaths and the safety measures that made traveling safer. This article includes some information on the Highway Safety Act and the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Acts, through which...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Traffic Lights
Students learn about traffic lights and their importance in maintaining public safety and order. Using a Parallax Basic Stamp 2 microcontroller, students work in teams on the engineering challenge to build a traffic light with a specific...
Read Works
Read Works: New Lives for Old Buses
[Free Registration/Login Required] A literary text about old school buses being used for public transportation in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Read Works
Read Works: Safe Ride
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students read about safety concerns on school busses. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in cause and effect.
Read Works
Read Works: Young Couple Finds a Way to Make Commuting Fun
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about two students who took a picture of themselves at every subway stop in New York City. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Do as the Romans: Construct an Aqueduct!
In this activity, students work with specified materials to create aqueduct components that will transport 2 liters of water across a short distance in their classroom. The goal is to build an aqueduct that will supply Aqueductis, a...