Building A Sturdy Car

Hands-on challenge to make a car that uses a battery-operated motor. Provides full list of materials with ideas on how to design, build, test, and redesign it if necessary. Also, includes ideas for taking your design to the next level....

Students study different motors and how they convert electrical energy to mechanical energy.  In this motor lesson students make a model of an electric motor and examine how it can be used to do work.

Students identify the characteristics of a bridge and build with junk materials.  In this bridge building lesson, students use cereal boxes, paper towel or toilet paper tubes and tape to create their bridges.  Bridges must be a certain...

Wind it up and let it go. Individuals build a basic spool racer in the second portion of a six-part unit on energy. After receiving three criteria, pupils modify their designs to meet the new challenge. Pairs compete against each other...

Students utilize computer programs to operate a simple robot.  In this technology lesson, students create robots using Lego pieces and simple motors to move them.  Students measure the speed of the robots by running Robolab software on...

Students design a car with two motors and then program the car to accomplish specific tasks within Pilot 4. They work in teams in order to program their own car in order to accomplish specific tasks outlined by the teacher. They write...

Students design and build a snowplow using LEGO materials. They compete in an Engineer's Challenge to clear a path through Styrofoam peanuts.

Students build houses out of legos. They create the strongest model with the "drop test" in mind. They must build a structure that will pass the drop test. (Teacher drops from waist to the ground)

Students listen to Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and work collaboratively to create a chair for a small stuffed animal that will allow it to sit upright and withstand a short drop out of Legos. Students write about the engineering...

Fourth graders explore how engineers transform wind energy into electrical energy by building their own miniature wind turbines and measuring the electrical current it produces. They see how design and position affect the electrical...