Other
American Society for Engineering Education: Building for Hurricanes
In this engineering design challenge about building in hurricane-prone regions, students learn that a solid base helps stabilize a structure by constructing, testing, and redesigning a tower that can support a tennis ball at least 18...
Other
American Society for Engineering Education: E Gfi: Lesson: Made to Sail
Students use simple materials to design and make model sailboats that must stay upright and sail straight in a testing tank.
TryEngineering
Try Engineering: Making Sense of Sensors
Lesson explore sensors focusing on ones that measure humidity. Students work in teams to design, build, test, and evaluate a hygrometer which was made out of everyday materials to measure humidity levels.
The Tech Interactive
The Tech Interactive: Tech Tip: Data Collection: Reflecting on Your Design [Pdf]
This resource explains why data collection is a great way to make informed improvements to a design, and how to do it. Data can be quantitative - such as a measurement of distance or time - or qualitative, such as an observation of...
Other
The Design Museum: Can You Redesign an Object to Make It Easier to Use?
Grant Douglas has cerebral palsy and needs assistance to eat. While he was sitting at home being fed cornflakes by his mum, the phone rang. She answered it and as she talked, Grant could see his cornflakes getting soggier and soggier....
Practical Action
Practical Action: Floating Garden Challenge
In this unit, students will learn about the difficulty that farmers in Bangladesh and the UK experience trying to grow crops on land that is regularly flooded. Then they will be challenged to make a model of a structure that can float to...
Practical Action
Practical Action: Beat the Flood
Flooding due to climate change can have a devastating effect on people's lives. Set on the fictitious island of Watu, pupils explore how STEM skills can be used to help communities be better prepared for flooding. Students will work as a...
Practical Action
Practical Action: Wind Power Challenge
In this unit, students explore how life for people in the rural mountainous regions of Peru is different as they live without access to electricity. They learn how small-scale wind turbines have changed people's lives, as with a supply...
Practical Action
Practical Action: Plastics Challenge
This is a challenge for students to develop solutions to the problems caused by plastic waste globally. They will learn about how plastic waste impacts people around the world, the different types of plastic, how they are each used, how...
Practical Action
Practical Action: Squashed Tomato Challenge
Challenge students to take on a real-life problem affecting people in Nepal. Many farmers living on the mountainside there grow fruit and vegetables, including tomatoes. To earn a living, they need to sell these at the local market. The...
REMC Association of Michigan
Remc Association of Michigan: 21 Things4 Students: 15. Design Thinking
Design Thinking is a process for designing something to solve a problem. It shares a lot of similarities to the Engineering Design Process you might learn in a STEM class and the Scientific Method you learn in science. However, it tends...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Hedy Lamarr: Engineering and Invention
Discover Hedy Lamarr's contributions as a woman in STEM in this video from the American Masters film, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story. Lamarr has received belated acknowledgement for inventing frequency hopping, the basis of secure...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Solving Everyday Problems Using the Engineering Design Cycle
Students are introduced to two real-life problems that can be solved by using the engineering design process. For the first one, they watch a slide presentation that shows how students use the engineering design process to build an...
Utah State University
Utah State University: Optimization, an Important Stage of Engineering Design
Teaching middle and high school students how to weigh constraints and criteria against various design solutions in order to select the best possible solution is an important skill necessary for engineering, as well as for life. The...
Other
Engineering for Change: Necessary Trade Offs When Co Designing New Technology
The co-design of new technology with communities has benefits and trade-offs. Engineers Without Borders Australia describe a co-design project in rural Cambodia that they participated in. The goal was to design assistive technologies...
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Planning a Disaster Relief Mission: Storyboarding
Students plan a disaster relief mission employing a UAV (drone) by filling in a comic book-like storyboard of engineering design steps.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Curious George Stem: Pigeon Perch Lesson Plan
Students can explore the engineering design process while watching video excerpts from Curious George and participating in hands on activities.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Curious George Stem: Sail a Boat Lesson Plan
An hands-on lesson where learners create a wind powered boat with their knowledge of reusing, recycling of materials, and wind power.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Curious George Stem: Build a Wall Lesson Plan
A hands on lessons where young scholars explore how materials and design affect the strength of a structure. After watching an excerpt Curious George, students build newspaper walls like George did and try out different solutions for...
Other
Detroit Institute of Arts: Think Like an Engineer
In this STEAM lesson, students are immersed in a world of transportation design as they use the design thinking process to create their own vehicle prototype out of everyday materials.
Other
Lincoln Public Schools: Applied Technology & Engineering: Mousetrap Car It's a Snap! [Pdf]
This is an engineering activity that requires students to build a mousetrap car based on certain constraints. Constraints include students having a virtual budget that they use to buy approved parts for their car, the car having...
Other
Lincoln Public Schools: Applied Technology & Engineering: Solar Dragster Project [Pdf]
In this activity, students must design and build a solar-powered car that can complete a 20-meter racetrack (66 ft.) in the shortest amount of time over flat terrain. They learn about solar energy and car designs, and test their...
Other
Lincoln Public Schools: Applied Technology & Engineering: Bridge Busters [Pdf]
In this activity, students design and build the lightest bridge to support the heaviest load. They investigate different bridge designs and building materials, learn key terminology, and test their prototypes in order to meet the...
PBS
Pbs Nova: The Design Process: From Idea to Solution
What does innovation look like, and how can one generate innovative ideas in the classroom? This collection is built around "design thinking" and is intended to help educators and learners explore the invention of real, practical...