TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Tornado Damage!
Students will learn about tornadoes, the damage they cause, and how to rate tornadoes. Specifically, students will investigate the Fujita Damage Scale of tornado intensity, and use it to complete a mock engineering analysis of damage...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Nidy Gridy
Normally we find things using landmark navigation. When you move to a new place, it may take you awhile to explore the new streets and buildings, but eventually you recognize enough landmarks and remember where they are in relation to...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Northward Ho!
In this activity, students will create their own simple compass, be able to explain how a compass works, understand that the Earth's magnetic field has both horizontal and vertical components, and learn more about cardinal directions.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Find Your Own Direction
In this activity, students create their own simple compass using thread, needle and water in a bowl - and learn how it works.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Vector Voyage!
In this activity, students will use vector analysis to understand the concept of dead reckoning. Students will use vectors to plot their course based on a time and speed. They will then correct the positions with vectors representing...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Sextant Solutions
The earliest explorers did not have computers or satellites to help them know their exact location. The most accurate tool developed was the sextant to determine latitude and longitude. In this activity, the sextant is introduced and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Where Is Your Teacher?
In this activity, students will learn how to take bearing with a compass. They will also learn how to describe a bearing and find an object in their classroom using a bearing.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Trouble With Topos
Students learn how to identify the major features in a topographical map. They learn that maps come in a variety of forms: city maps, road maps, nautical maps, topographical maps, and many others. Map features reflect the intended use....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Topos, Compasses, and Triangles, Oh My!
In this activity, students will learn how to actually triangulate using a compass, topographical (topo) map and view of outside landmarks. It is best if a field trip to another location away from school is selected. The location should...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Nautical Navigation
In this activity, students explore the importance of charts to navigation on bodies of water. Using one worksheet, students learn to read the major map features found on a real nautical chart. Using another worksheet, students draw their...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: It's About Time
In past times, ocean navigators tossed a piece of wood over the side of their ships and noted how long until the ship passed the wood. They used this time measurement and the length of the ship to calculate their speed and estimate how...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Gps Receiver Basics
Students familiarize themselves - through trial and error - with the basics of GPS receiver operation. They view a receiver's satellite visibility screen as they walk in various directions and monitor their progress on the receiver's...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Gps Art
Students design their own logo or picture and use a handheld GPS receiver to map it out. They write out a word or graphic on a field or playground, walk the path, and log GPS data. The results display their "art" on their GPS receiver...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Gps Scavenger Hunt
Students go on a GPS scavenger hunt. They use GPS receivers to find designated waypoints and report back on what they found. They compute distances between waypoints based on the latitude and longitude, and compare with the distance the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: A Roundabout Way to Mars
Students explore orbit transfers and, specifically, Hohmann transfers. They investigate the orbits of Earth and Mars by using cardboard and string. Students learn about the planets' orbits around the sun, and about a transfer orbit from...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Satellite Tracker
Students use satellite tracking software available on the Internet to monitor a very large satellite, the International Space Station. Using information from this online resource, students predict and graph the motion of the space...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: I'm Not in Range
In this role-playing activity, students learn how cellular phone service works, its advantages and its limitations. Students also learn about the advantages and limitations of satellite phone service. Phone communication involves many...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Newton Rocket Car
The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate Newton's third law of motion - which states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction - through a small wooden car. The Newton cars show how action/reaction works and how the mass...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Strawkets and Thrust
In this activity, students investigate the effect that thrust has on rocket flight. Students will make two paper rockets that they can launch themselves by blowing through a straw. These "strawkets" will differ in diameter, such that...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Strawkets and Weight
In this activity, students investigate the effect that weight has on rocket flight. Students construct a variety of their own straw-launched rockets, or "strawkets," that have different weights. Specifically, they observe what happens...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Strawkets and Control
In this activity, students investigate the effect that fins have on rocket flight. Students construct two paper rockets that they can launch themselves by blowing through a straw. One "strawket" has wings and the other has fins. Students...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Fuel Mystery Dis Solved!
In this activity, students investigate the simulated use of solid rocket fuel by using an antacid tablet. Students observe the effect that surface area and temperature has on chemical reactions. Also, students compare the reaction time...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Aqua Thrusters!
In this activity, students construct their own rocket-powered boat called an "aqua-thruster." These aqua-thrusters will be made from a film canister and will use carbon dioxide gas - produced from a chemical reaction between an antacid...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Pop Rockets
Students design and build a paper rocket around a film canister, which is used as the engine. An antacid tablet and water are put into the canister, react to form carbon dioxide gas, and act as the pop rocket's propellant. With the lid...