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Try Engineering: Simple Machines
The purpose of this lesson is to learn about the different types of simple machines and their uses. PDF (requires Adobe Reader) and RTF (requires Word or Notebook).
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Try Engineering: Hand Biometrics Technology
Lesson probes how biometrics technologies have been used worldwide to address security and identification systems. After exploring different biometric techniques, young scholars work in teams to find their own hand geometry biometrics,...
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Try Engineering: Infrared Investigations
Engineers use infrared technology to develop equipment and systems for a variety of industries. Teams of students are challenged to test the limitations of infrared in a basic television remote control to conceive a way to point infrared...
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Try Engineering: Pipeline Challenge
Students become "engineers" as they learn how to develop pipeline systems for transportation. In this lesson, they work in teams to design, develop, and execute a pipeline plan to transport both a golf ball and a ping pong ball from one...
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Try Engineering: A Question of Balance
Students work in teams to fill jars with a product that is uniform in weight or count. Lesson investigates how manufacturing engineers use weight scales and measurement to develop systems that can create consistent products.
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Try Engineering: Simple Kitchen Machines
Team lesson focuses on the different types of simple machines, how they work, and how they can be found in daily life.
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Try Engineering: Irrigation Ideas
The focus of this civil engineering activity is on designing, building, and testing an irrigation system made from everyday materials to move water from one place to another.
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Try Engineering: Shake It Up With Seismographs
During this lesson, students learn how seismographs work and how technology has impacted the world by helping save lives from earthquakes. They will work in teams to design, test, and evaluate the results of their own seismographs, then...
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Try Engineering: Temperature Tactics
Learners practice the engineering design process as they explore devices used to measure changes in temperature. They work in teams to design, build, test, and evaluate their own temperature gauge made from everyday materials.
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Try Engineering: Tinkering With Tops
Lesson explores the history, design, and motion of spinning tops. Student teams design and build their own tops that can spin for at least 10 seconds within a circle 30 centimeters in diameter.
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Try Engineering: Pollution Patrol
Students will work in teams to design and construct outdoor air pollution detectors from everyday items. They will then test the designs for presence of pollutants in the air and communicate their results to the class.
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Try Engineering: Solar Structures
During this lesson, students will construct a passive solar house from everyday items then explore how the sun's energy is used to heat and cool it.
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Try Engineering: Stop and Go
Lesson addresses how traffic is managed by the use of the traffic light. Student "engineers" work in teams to design a new traffic light system using new technology to meet the needs of society today.
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Try Engineering: Chair Lift Challenge
Lesson investigates how engineers develop safe transportation systems to operate in a variety of climates and environments. Teams of learners work together to construct a "chair lift" made from everyday materials as a test of this...
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Try Engineering: Electric Switches
Lesson focuses on how switches control the flow of electricity. Students are posed with the challenge of designing and building a simple switch into an electric circuit.
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Try Engineering: Heart of the Matter
Students learn about artificial heart valves and the engineering design process used in mechanical heart valve designs. The objective of the lesson is to develop an understanding of the interface between man and machine and the impact of...
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Try Engineering: Here Comes the Sun
Students work in teams to learn about solar panel design, simple circuits, and how solar energy is used to provide power to simple machines such as calculators.
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Try Engineering: Program Your Own Game
Teams of students learn about the work of software engineers as they design a simple computer game using free software available in multiple languages.
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Try Engineering: Engineered Sports
Students work in teams to investigate how aerospace engineering relates to sports, especially golf ball design and the physics of bounce. They use this information to determine whether these aerospace principles can be applied to...
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Try Engineering: Cast Your Vote
Students learn about the engineering design process as they design, build, test, and evaluate a voting system made with everyday materials. The objective of the lesson plan is to learn how engineering has changed methods of voting over...
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Try Engineering: Nano Waterproofing
Lesson investigates the modification of a material at the nanoscale to enhance it with properties such as water and stain resistance.
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Try Engineering: Trebuchet Toss
A lesson through which young scholars design and build a small trebuchet from everyday materials. After building and testing their models, students will compete to see whose prototype produces the farthest launch.
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Try Engineering: Classroom Paper Recycling
Students learn about the engineering design process as they devlop their own recycled paper using everyday materials. The objective of the instructional activity is to learn how chemical engineers work in teams to develop and improve the...
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Try Engineering: Spring Scale Engineering
Learners learn about the engineering design process as they design, build, and test a spring scale using everyday items that can measure the weight of an apple. The objective of the lesson is to explore how scales work and to learn about...