From 3-D cities to building bridges, young engineers engage in innovative STEM challenges that promote brainstorming and collaboration. Learners take on the roles of different types of engineers as well as become familiar...

Groups of two to four work collaboratively to engineer a birdhouse that will stay cool in the summer heat. Teams examine several different-colored roofs, testing the efficiency of each with a heat lamp. Then, groups sketch their ideas,...

Students create a collage from their own digital pictures using Adobe Photoshop Elements. Following a step-by-step instruction guide, students create a collage from pictures of their summer vacation as part of a writing assignment.

Two activities work with a fiction and nonfiction book about robots‚—Robot Dreams by Sara Varon and Robot by Roger Bridgman. Scholars read each story, then build a robot out of found objects, examine robot sensors, and search for...

Introduce gas laws using the popular topic of SCUBA diving. This activity makes a connection between the gas laws and the effect of pressure and temperature changes during diving. Young engineers complete introductory experiments to...

Learners explore personal interests. They examine summer computer camps. Students write proposals to their school to sponsor the programs. Learners develop a list of Web sites that support the designed programs.

The sky's the limit when learning about engineering. Future engineers conduct an activity to learn about forces associated with skyscrapers. They design and build a model of a skyscraper from basic household materials, then test their...

Hear about a great resource on sound? An interesting hands-on activity has learners construct a device that will soundproof a phone or speaker. They test out different materials to see which ones best absorb sound waves.

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...

Encoding What I did Last Summer. Class members develop a way to encode a personal experience using a top-down approach to determine components and sub-components of their experience They then pick one portion of the experience and go...

Third in a set of lessons regarding reservoirs, dams, and hydropower, this involves a two-day hydropower plant simulation. Collaborative groups build, maintain, and finance the plant. The transparency of the reservoir setup can be...

Students identify and define the vocabulary words: summer, spring, fall, and rotation. They describe how the earth's rotation affects the seasons. Students match appropriate clothing with each season. They discuss why a particular...

The sun will continue to rise in the east and set in the west, no matter what. The first lesson in a series of eight introduces the class to solar angles. It makes connections between a person's latitude and the angle of position of the...

How do clouds form? Learners demonstrate the formation of clouds and the water cycle by testing four different setups in a plastic bottle. They identify the key components of a cloud to help them understand the process of cloud...

Learners explore symmetry in architecture.  In this cross curriculum art  and architecture lesson, students fold paper to illustrate symmetry and identify symmetrical and asymmetrical shapes.  Learners observe photographs...

Seventh graders utilize the Internet for use of search engines to plan a trip. They research and develop expenses for a trip and divide and round the cost of things to the nearest tenth.

Fifth graders investigate the Underground Railroad by creating a quilt.  In this U.S. History lesson, 5th graders discuss the history of slavery through a class "word splash" and by reading an Underground Railroad map online....

Students explore historical information about U.S. national parks using the stories of Edward and Margaret Gehrke as a primary source document. In this United States geography, history, and literacy activity, students view the diary...

Learners explore ways to use technology. They create pictures with Kid Pix software to describe something about themselves. They create pictures os something they did over the summer and write sentences to accompany their pictures. They...

Learners explore global water contamination and water shortage problems. In this geography/ecology lesson, students gain information about the lack of safe drinking water in many countries. Learners read, use websites, and complete...

Passive solar heating is a technology that's been in use for thousands of years. Here, elementary schoolers are exposed to this type of heating, the materials that are used in passive solar heating, and they study how engineers design...

Don't melt away! Pairs investigate different insulation materials to determine which one is better than the others. Using a low-temp heat plate, the teams insulate an ice cube from the heat source with a variety of substances. They...

Young scholars explore the variety of ways to use solar energy. They investigate the thermal energy storage capacities of different test materials to determine which to use in passive solar building design. They explain how passive solar...

It's all downhill from here. Scholars model a sewer system using straws and other household materials. They test out their systems using colored water and discover how gravity plays an essential role in sewers.