Concord Consortium
Concord Consortium: Stem Resources: Wind Generator
Using a voltage sensor, students will measure how much "electricity" is produced by the wind turbine that they design and build. Students will experiment with blade designs to see which one collects energy from the wind the most...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Solar Powered Water Desalination
Here is a cool project about making fresh water from salt water using solar power, also known as water desalination. The apparatus is made from readily available materials, and the power source is free. As an inventive thinker, you will...
Other
U.s. Green Building Council: Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design
LEED is a program for green building certification. Buildings are rated on a points system in one of five categories, including building design and construction, interior design and construction, building operations and maintenance,...
TryEngineering
Try Engineering: Oil Spill Solutions
In a lesson to teach students about the field of environmental engineering, they examine an oil spill, then design a system to contain the oil and extract it from the water.
Other
Building Green
This site has a wealth of information on environmentally conscious building. Includes news articles, case studies, green building products, and information about certification and continuing education. In many areas though, full access...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Optimize! Cleaner Energy Options for Rural China
Students work in engineering teams to optimize cleaner energy solutions for cooking and heating in rural China. They choose between various options for heating, cooking, hot water, and lights and other electricity, balancing between the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Fish Friendly Engineering
Students further their understanding of the salmon life cycle and the human structures and actions that aid in the migration of fish around hydroelectric dams by playing an animated PowerPoint game involving a fish that must climb a fish...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Windmill of Your Mind: Distributed Energy Goes to School
Students research the feasibility of installing a wind-turbine distributed energy (DE) system for their school. They write a proposal (actually, the executive summary of a proposal) to the school principal based on their findings and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Oil on the Ocean
Students learn about oil spills and their environmental and economic effects. They experience the steps of the engineering design process as they brainstorm potential methods for oil spill clean-up, and then design, build, and re-design...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Model Greenhouses
Students learn about the advantages and disadvantages of the greenhouse effect. They construct their own miniature greenhouses and explore how their designs take advantage of heat transfer processes to create controlled environments....
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Zero Energy Housing
Students investigate passive solar building design with a focus solely on heating. They learn how insulation, window placement, thermal mass, surface colors, and site orientation play important roles in passive solar heating. They use...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: News Flash!
This activity illustrates the interrelationship between science and engineering in the context of extinction prevention. There are two parts to the activity. The first part challenges students to think like scientists as they generate...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Sugar Spill!
In this activity, students act as environmental engineers involved with the clean up of a toxic spill. Using bioremediation as the process, students select which bacteria they will use to eat up the pollutant spilled. Students learn how...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Rooftop Gardens
Students explore whether rooftop gardens are a viable option for combating the urban heat island effect. Can rooftop gardens reduce the temperature inside and outside houses? Teams each design and construct two model buildings using foam...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Design a Net Zero Energy Classroom
Students create a concept design of their very own net-zero energy classroom by pasting renewable energy and energy-efficiency items into and around a pretend classroom on a sheet of paper. They learn how these items (such as solar...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Measuring Noise Pollution
Through investigating the nature, sources and level of noise produced in their environment, students are introduced to the concept of noise pollution. They learn about the undesirable and disturbing effects of noise and the resulting...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Where Are the Plastics Near Me? (Field Trip)
An adult-led field trip allows students to be organized into investigation teams that catalogue the incidence of plastic debris in different environments. These plastics are being investigated according to their type, age, location and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Where Are the Plastics Near Me? (Mapping the Data)
In a student-led and fairly independent fashion, data collected in the associated field trip activity are organized by student groups to create useful and informative Google Earth maps. Each team creates a map, uses that map to analyze...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Microbes Know How to Work!
Students design systems that use microbes to break down a water pollutant (in this case, sugar). They explore how temperature affects the rate of pollutant decomposition.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Grow Your Own Algae!
Students discover how tiny microscopic plants can remove nutrients from polluted water. They also learn how to engineer a system to remove pollutants faster and faster by changing the environment for the algae.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Air Pollution in the Pacific Northwest
Students are introduced to measuring and identifying sources of air pollution, as well as how environmental engineers try to control and limit the amount of air pollution. In Part 1, students are introduced to nitrogen dioxide as an air...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Air Pollution
Students are introduced to the concept of air quality by investigating the composition, properties, atmospheric layers and everyday importance of air. They explore the sources and effects of visible and invisible air pollution. By...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Environmental Engineering
In this unit, students explore the various roles of environmental engineers, including: environmental cleanup, water quality, groundwater resources, surface water and groundwater flow, water contamination, waste disposal and air...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Environment
Through 10 lessons and more than 20 hands-on activities, students are introduced to the concept of an environment and the many interactions within it. As they learn about natural and human-made environments, as well as renewable and...