Teach Engineering
Adapatations for Bird Flight - Inspiration for Aeronautical Engineering
It's a bird, it's a ... device made to mimic birds. The eighth installment of a nine-part module has pupils read various articles to learn about bird flight. They consider the implications for aeronautical engineering.
NASA
NASA: Moving Cargo
How does NASA transport people and cargo to planets? The five-lesson unit breaks down the transportation system that scientists use to transport cargo to space. Pairs team up in order to devise a transportation system that will carry the...
Curated OER
Airplanes and Airports: How To Take Off Without Ever Leaving the Ground
Students plan an airport visit. In this Airplanes and Airports lesson, students observe the people, activity, and machinery at airports. Then students compare the characteristics of their observations at the airport. Students make...
NASA
Transportation and Space: Reuse and Recycle
What can I use in space? The three-lesson unit has groups research what man-made or natural resources would be available during space exploration or habitation. Team members think of ways that resources can be reclaimed or reused in...
Baylor College
Heart and Circulation: Pre- and Post-Assessments
Middle schoolers demonstrate what they know about the structure and function of the heart and blood vessels. A set of 15 multiple-choice questions also addresses how the heart handles microgravity and how animals without circulatory...
Curated OER
Proportionality: Modeling the Future
Young scholars explore and examine how patterns, measurement, ratios and proportions are utilized in the research development and production of airplanes. They meet a pilot from the Federal Aviation Association who describes the growth...
Curated OER
TE Activity: Heavy Helicopters
Students study the concepts of weight and drag while making paper helicopters. They measure how adding more weight to the helicopter changes the time for the helicopter to fall to the ground. They apply what they examine to the work of...
Curated OER
Flight Direction
Students are introduced to NASA's Connect Series and Flight Direction programs. They explore the world of aeronautics and their missions. Students receive a front role set to the concepts and skills involved with the various NASA programs.
Curated OER
Sea to Sky
Young scholars investigate the Earth's major landforms and how they occur, and how engineers apply this knowledge for the design of transportation systems, mining, and measuring natural hazards. They listen to a teacher-led lecture,...
Curated OER
Air and Water Pressure
Students examine buoyancy and fluid pressure. They conduct a series of fun experiments to discover the effects of pressure and explore how pressure differences can be used to float, lift, transport, or hold a material in place.
Curated OER
How Long Would It Take To Travel To the Stars?
Students consider the amount of time that it would take to get to the star, Sirius using various modes of transportation, some practical and some whimsical. The practicality of physically going to another star system is explored in this...
NASA
Beginning Engineering, Science, and Technology
Space, the Final Frontier. The nine NASA-created challenges in this unit are designed to teach class members the engineering design process. Each challenge comes with teacher and student pages that can be used individually or as a...
Curated OER
Problems and Solutions in Aircraft Design
Students watch demonstrations of paper folded designs that do and do not fly and discuss their observations. They identify problems that they, the Wright Brothers, or NASA scientists face when designing an aircraft, and identify...
Curated OER
One World Ocean
Learners compare and contrast the properties of salt water in the oceans/seas and freshwater elsewhere on the planet. They also analyze mixing caused by currents in the ocean, including the effects of warm and cold water as well as with...
Curated OER
757 Glider Kit
Students work together to complete a 757 Glider kit. They use a GPS to discover how it operates in all weather landings. They complete different obstacles with the glider as well.
Curated OER
Balloonautics
Young scholars are introduced to basic aerodynamics through a discussion of thrust and drag and a hands-on activity. They examine the forces of thrust, drag, air pressure, aerodynamic shapes and Newton's Third Law Of Motion.
Curated OER
Angle Measurement and the AD-1 Aircraft
Students represent and solve problems using geometric models and apply geometric properties and relationships. They also practice constructing and measuring angles. By constructing, drawing, visualizing, and comparing geometric figures...
Curated OER
Plane Weather
Young scholars examine the important issue of plane safety. In groups, they are introduced to how NASA determines if it is safe to fly on a particular day given certain conditions. They use the internet to research the types of tools...
Curated OER
Planetary Landers
Students watch programs from a series titled "Planetary Landers". As a class, they view a poster of various vehicles that have made their way into space. In groups, they brainstorm the characteristics that should be included when...
US Senate
Us Senate Committee Commerce, Science and Transportation
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation has jurisdiction over several areas. Come and find out more about this powerful committee by checking out this resource.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Adaptations for Aeronautical Engineering
This activity first asks the students to study the patterns of bird flight and understand that four main forces affect the flight abilities of a bird. They will study the shape, feather structure, and resulting differences in the pattern...
Other
Faa: Office for Commercial Space Transportation
The official homepage of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation, a section of the Federal Aviation Administration dedicated to commercial launches into space
NASA
Nasa: An Educator's Guide to the Engineering Design Process: K 2 [Pdf]
The NASA BEST Activities Guides were designed to teach students the Engineering Design Process. This is one of three guides targeting different grade groups. All follow the same set of activities and teach students about humans' endeavor...
NASA
Nasa: Ocean Motion: Wind Driven Surface Currents: Upwelling and Downwelling
Explains what upwelling and downwelling of ocean currents are, and the impact of Ekman transport and the Coriolis effect on current movement as well as where they occur. The effects of upwelling and downwelling on water temperature and...