TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Art in Engineering Moving Art
Students learn how forces are used in the creation of art. They come to understand that it is not just bridge and airplane designers who are concerned about how forces interact with objects, but artists as well.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Environments and Ecosystems
Students explore the biosphere and its associated environments and ecosystems in the context of creating a model ecosystem, learning along the way about the animals and resources. Students investigate different types of ecosystems, learn...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: A Mini World
As learners learn about the creation of biodomes, they are introduced to the steps of the engineering design process, including guidelines for brainstorming. Students learn how engineers are involved in the design and construction of...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Planting Thoughts
Young scholars gain an understanding of the parts of a plant, plant types and how they produce their own food from sunlight through photosynthesis. They also learn about transpiration, the process by which plants release moisture to the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Animals and Engineering
Young scholars are introduced to the classification of animals and animal interactions. Students also learn why engineers need to know about animals and how they use that knowledge to design technologies that help other animals and/or...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Cleaning Up With Decomposers
Students investigate decomposers and the role of decomposers in maintaining the flow of nutrients in an environment. Students also learn how engineers use decomposers to help clean up wastes in a process known as bioremediation. This...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Bridging the Gaps
Students are presented with a brief history of bridges as they learn about the three main bridge types: beam, arch and suspension. They are introduced to two natural forces - tension and compression - common to all bridges and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Designing Bridges
Middle schoolers learn about the types of possible loads, how to calculate ultimate load combinations, and investigate the different sizes for the beams (girders) and columns (piers) of simple bridge design. Students learn the steps that...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: A Good Foundation
Students explore the effects of regional geology on bridge foundation, including the variety of soil conditions found beneath foundations. They learn about shallow and deep foundations, as well as the concepts of bearing pressure and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Strength of Materials
Students learn about the variety of materials used by engineers in the design and construction of modern bridges. They also find out about the material properties important to bridge construction and consider the advantages and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Show Me the Money
Students learn about the major factors that comprise the design and construction cost of a modern bridge. Before a bridge design is completed, engineers provide overall cost estimates for construction of the bridge. Students learn about...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Harnessing Wind
This lesson introduces the ways that engineers study and harness the wind. Students will learn about the different kinds of winds and how to measure wind direction. In addition, students will learn how air pressure creates winds and how...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Harvesting Oil From the Earth
For this lesson, students investigate sources of fossil fuels, particularly oil. Students will learn how engineers and scientists look for oil by taking core samples from a model of the Earth. Also, students will explore and analyze oil...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Powering the u.s.
This lesson provides students with an overview of the electric power industry in the United States. Students also become familiar with the environmental impacts associated with a variety of energy sources.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Earth Rocks!
The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the basic elements of our Earth's crust: rocks, soils and minerals. They learn how we categorize rocks, soils and minerals and how they are literally the foundation for our...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What to Wear? What to Drink? Weather Patterns and Climatic R
How does our climate affect us? How do we decide what to wear each day? What factors determine if our clothing choices are comfortable? What is the source of our water? Young scholars explore characteristics that define climatic regions....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Earth Is a Changin'
This lesson introduces and describes the main types of erosion (i.e., chemical, water, wind, glacier and temperature). Young scholars learn examples of each type of erosion and discuss how erosion changes the surface of the Earth....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Lights Out!
This lesson introduces the concept of electricity by asking young scholars to imagine what their life would be like without electricity. Two main forms of electricity, static and current, are introduced. Students learn that electrons can...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Take Charge!
Students come to understand static electricity by learning about the nature of electric charge, and different methods for charging objects. In a hands-on activity, students induce an electrical charge on various objects, and experiment...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Electrons on the Move
Students learn about current electricity and necessary conditions for the existence of an electric current. Students construct a simple electric circuit and a galvanic cell to help them understand voltage, current and resistance.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Go With the Flow
Students gain an understanding of the difference between electrical conductors and insulators, and experience recognizing a conductor by its material properties. In a hands-on activity, students build a conductivity tester to determine...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: One Path
Students learn that charge movement through a circuit depends on the resistance and arrangement of the circuit components. In a hands-on activity, students build and investigate the characteristics of series circuits. In another...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Many Paths
Learners explore the composition and practical application of parallel circuitry, compared to series circuitry. Students design and build parallel circuits and investigate their characteristics, and apply Ohm's law.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Kinetic and Potential Energy of Motion
In this lesson, students are introduced to both potential energy and kinetic energy as forms of mechanical energy. A hands-on activity demonstrates how potential energy can change into kinetic energy by swinging a pendulum, illustrating...