TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Launch Into Learning: Catapults!
Learners learn about catapults, including the science and math concepts behind them, as they prepare for the associated activity in which they design, build and test their own catapults. They learn about force, accuracy, precision and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Cell Celebration!
Students look at the components of cells and their functions. The lesson focuses on the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Each part of the cell performs a specific function that is vital for the cell's survival....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Cellular Respiration and Bioremediation
Students learn about the basics of cellular respiration. They also learn about the application of cellular respiration to engineering and bioremediation. And, they are introduced to the process of bioremediation and examples of how...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Cloning of Cells
Middle schoolers continue their education on cells in the human body. They discuss stem cells and how engineers are involved in the research of stem cell behavior. They learn about possible applications of stem cell research and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Introduction to Environmental Challenges in China
Through an overview of some of the environmental challenges facing the growing and evolving country of China today, students learn about the effects of indoor and outdoor air pollution that China is struggling to curb with the help of...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Homes for Different Climates
Students learn about some of the different climate zones in China and consider what would be appropriate design, construction and materials for houses in those areas. This prepares them to conduct the associated activity(ies) in which...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Rural Energy in China: How Can Engineers Make a Difference?
Young scholars learn about five types of renewable energy that are part of engineering solutions to help people in rural communities use less and cleaner energy for cooking and heating. Specifically, students learn about the pollution...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Shoes Under Pressure
Students explore the basic physics behind walking, and the design and engineering of shoes to accommodate different gaits. They are introduced to pressure, force and impulse as they relate to shoes, walking and running. Students learn...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Why Do We Build Dams?
Students are introduced to the concept of a dam and its potential benefits, which include water supply, electricity generation, flood control, recreation and irrigation. This lesson plan begins an ongoing classroom scenario in which...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Water and Dams in Today's World
Students learn about the importance of dams by watching a video that presents historical and current information on dams, as well as descriptions of global water resources and the hydrologic cycle. Students also learn about different...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Locks and Dams
Students are introduced to the structure, function and purpose of locks and dams, which involves an introduction to Pascal's law, water pressure and gravity.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Clean Energy: Hydropower
Hydropower generation is introduced to students as a common purpose and benefit of constructing dams. Through an introduction to kinetic and potential energy, students come to understand how a dam creates electricity. They also learn the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Dam Impacts
While the creation of a dam provides many benefits, it can have negative impacts on local ecosystems. Learners learn about the major environmental impacts of dams and the engineering solutions used to address them.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Where Has All the Water Gone?
Students learn about the Earth's water cycle, especially about evaporation. Once a dam is constructed, its reservoir becomes a part of the region's natural hydrologic cycle by receiving precipitation, storing runoff water and evaporating...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Are Dams Forever?
Students learn that dams do not last forever. Similar to other human-made structures, such as roads and bridges, dams require regular maintenance and have a finite lifespan. Many dams built during the 1930-70s, an era of intensive dam...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Ocean Water Desalination
Students learn about the techniques engineers have developed for changing ocean water into drinking water, including thermal and membrane desalination. They begin by reviewing the components of the natural water cycle. They see how...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Detail Drawings: Communicating With Engineers
Students are introduced to detail drawings and the importance of clearly documenting and communicating their designs. They are introduced to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Y14.5 standard, which controls how engineers...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Physics of the Flying T Shirt
Students are introduced to the physics concepts of air resistance and launch angle as they apply to catapults. This includes the basic concepts of position, velocity and acceleration and their relationships to one another. They use...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Mind Bending Gps Occultations
Students learn about the remote sensing radio occultation technique and how engineers use it with GPS satellites to monitor and study the Earth's atmospheric activity. Students may be familiar with some everyday uses of GPS, but not as...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Engineering the Heart: Heart Valves
Students learn how healthy human heart valves function and the different diseases that can affect heart valves. They also learn about devices and procedures that biomedical engineers have designed to help people with damaged or diseased...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Heat Transfer: From Hot to Not
Students learn the fundamental concepts of heat transfer and heat of reaction. This includes concepts such as physical chemistry, an equation for heat transfer, and a basic understanding of energy and heat transfer.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Light It Up
Through an introduction to the design of lighting systems and the electromagnetic spectrum, young scholars learn about the concept of daylighting as well as two types of light bulbs (lamps) often used in energy-efficient lighting design....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Off the Grid
Students learn and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of renewable and non-renewable energy sources. They also learn about our nation's electric power grid and what it means for a residential home to be "off the grid."
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Teach Engineering: Passive Solar Design
Young scholars are introduced to passive solar design for buildings--an approach that uses the sun's energy and the surrounding climate to provide natural heating and cooling. They learn about some of the disadvantage of conventional...