How do we know if the wind turbine at our school is impacting birds? Here, small groups work together and conduct field work in order to determine the impact of a human-made structure on birds. The groups also determine their searcher...

In collaborative groups, emerging engineers or environmental scientists plan and construct a water wheel or watermill that rotates for a total of three minutes. Everything you need to carry out this lesson is included: objectives,...

What do physicists and musicians have in common? A lot more than you might think. After first viewing a slide show presentation and completing a series of skills practice worksheets on the physics of light, sound, and...

After reading about how wind turbines work to collect clean energy, groups brainstorm and design their own windmill. Within the provided financial and physical constraints, groups must build a working windmill using only the materials...

Small groups work together to create a tower out of 15 pipe cleaners under a set of imposed limitations. First, restrict team members to use only one arm, and then remove the use of spoken language. There is also a time limit. The...

As an introduction to using a network to determine the fewest number of nodes that meet a given condition, small groups work together to determine the fewest number of ice cream vans, and their locations, to be able to serve the people...

Take your class on an out-of-this-world adventure with this fun engineering design lesson. Working in small groups, young scientists design, build, and test crew exploration vehicles using some creativity, teamwork, and...

Give small groups of physical scientists tokens that represent electrons in a photovoltaic cell. They play a dice game in which they move the tokens around, representing the flow of electrons through the p-n junction of a semiconductor...

Teach young engineers that all machines, no matter how complicated or complex, are made up of just six simple devices with this hands-on physical science lesson. Using the included templates, students first create paper models of...

What's the best way to use a simple machine to solve a real-world problem? Scholars construct their own simple and complex machines to explore the concepts of work and force. They discuss examples of simple machines they have found in...

Have small groups in your class construct working hygrometers as an example of the benefits of using sensors in engineering. This activity can be used during a weather unit when covering humidity or in a STEM activity as a preparation...

To begin the learning about dams, learners read (or are read to, depending on the age group) a passage about how dams work. Next, they work in groups to use the materials provided to build a small scale working dam. After the experience,...

What energy conversions occur in the operation of a device? Small groups investigate devices and the energy conversions that occur. The groups create energy flow diagrams with added conversion processes for each of the devices...

Small groups use the knowledge learned about the heart to design and build a prototype of an artificial heart valve. The teams demonstrate the functionality of their valve. They are also responsible for creating a pamphlet that describes...

Designing the right package — it's more than a pretty picture. Challenge small groups to design a food package. They must consider the type of food they are packaging and the package's ability to control the physical and...

Take a virtual trip to see other countries and cultures! After learning about different cultures and populations, English learners think about a place they'd like to visit. Small groups or individuals plan a trip to a country...

"Clean the data!" "I did not know it was dirty." Introduce your class to the process of cleaning data so that it can analyze it. Groups work through a guide that demonstrates the common ways to filter and sort data. Pairs then...

Create a geometric playground. Pupils work through a performance task to demonstrate their ability to use geometric concepts to solve everyday problems. The accompanying engineering design lessons show teachers how the assessment works...

Students investigate how transportation has evolved through the years. Students also generalize how transportation may continue to change in the future. Students work in small groups to brainstorm ideas the identify and solve a...

Teams design and build a windmill, under budget, that can lift an object. The groups evaluate and reflect on their own design, then on those produced by other teams. The goal is to determine which design is the most...

Design a mission over the rainbow. Small groups spend several weeks together determining a mission related to spectroscopy. The teams build spectrographs and analyze the design to determine whether it will carry out the mission. At the...

Have you ever conducted a Web search and received too many hits? Teach your class about Boolean search terms and provide them time to practice conducting efficient online searches. This lesson plan contains several fun activities which...

Let's see how complicated we can make this simple task. The last activity associated with a 10-part series has groups design and build a Rube Goldberg machine. Teams determine a simple task to accomplish and use the engineering design...

Students use iMovie to reinforce, apply, and share what they have learned about how electricity works by making a movie as a unit culminating activity.