Curated OER
TE Activity: Choosing a Pyramid Site
Students determine how engineers decide on choices for final designs and sites for construction. They look at a surveyor's report while they evaluate sites where a pyramid could be build. They consider the distance the pyramid would be...
Curated OER
Highway Design for the Future
Eighth graders research highway designs and create a marble maze to illustrate a highway system. They test their designs and write reports defining the project and analyzing the results.
Curated OER
Design a Running Shoe for a Triathlete
Learners examine the design and construction of athletic footwear. They analyze the magnitude and directions of forces on the foot and leg in different sports, interview people, and design a running shoe for a triathlete.
Curated OER
Simple Research
Students conduct a simple research project using the internet as a source. They are shown how to narrow down a subject area to facilitate the search process. Students are shown the various search engines and how to tell whether a source...
Curated OER
Electric Car: American Industry and Innovation
Students study how an electric car operates. In this electric car lesson students assemble an electric car motor from parts from an internal combustion engine.
Curated OER
Rockets on a Shoestring Budget
Learners, operating under simulated budget constraints, build pop-rockets and launch them. Working in pairs, they complete budget worksheets and use their "Blast Off Bucks" to pay for the construction. They then redesign their rockets...
Curated OER
Bridges
High schoolers are introduced to the different types, designs and nature of bridges. They observe a historical look at the bridges in and around the Pittsburgh area through a video presentation. Connections are made between science and...
Curated OER
Harnessing Wind
Learners explore the ways that engineers study and harness the wind. They study the different kinds of winds and how to measure wind direction. In addition, students learn how air pressure creates winds and how engineers build and test...
Curated OER
Interactions Everywhere!
Learners examine interactions within the environment and environmental engineering careers. They discuss and view photos of natural and manmade environments, explore various websites, create a web to identify interactions between living...
Curated OER
Sounds Like Music
Students define and examine the connections between sound and music and how engineers design instruments. They listen to examples of musical instruments, view a demonstration of a tuning fork and bottles filled with varying amounts of...
Curated OER
Tower Challenge
Learners are given a problem to solve which is to construct a "Cost-effective" tower which supports a designated load. They work in teams to devise plans to create a tower capable of holding a standard brick using index cards.
Curated OER
Physics E3 Project Instructional Plan
Eleventh graders explore Hooke's law through a variety of hands on activities. In this physics lesson, 11th graders perform a computer simulation on Hooke's law. They design a mechanism to test the stress and strain of certain materials.
Curated OER
Let's Build
Students observe and discuss a picture of Curious George building a bridge and discuss what it means to build, plan and design a project. As a class, they list things they need to do in oder to build something and explore how a compass...
Curated OER
Want to Drag?!
Students use the Metric system and engineering software to design a scale model car. For this scale model car making lesson, students design a scale model car using computer software, the Metric system, and properties of aerodynamics....
Curated OER
Wind Effects on Model Building: Building Project Overview
Students design their own building according to certain criteria. In this semester long physics lesson, students calculate forces, compression and tension. They present their finished model in class.
Curated OER
Project Wetlands
Students develop a joint undertaking designed to solve an environmental problem in their local community. They tackle the problem of erosion of banks and chemical run-off into a nearby lake, which is within walking distance of school.
Curated OER
Production and Manufacturing/ Interlocking Project Production
Students plan and design their project idea and demonstrate what their product looks like. They make a set of instructions describing a process that could be used to manufacture this product in an industrial setting. Students are given...
Curated OER
Physics E3 Project Instructional Plan
Eleventh graders design and build their own solar cars. In this physics lesson, 11th graders explain the photoelectric effect. They discuss the pros and cons of using solar power as an energy source.
Curated OER
Wind, Pressure, Force, Calculus and Engineering Connections
Twelfth graders solve first order differential equations using the separation of variables technique. In this calculus instructional activity, 12th graders explain the connection between math and engineering. They brainstorm what...
Discovery Education
Make it all Better!
Discover how innovations can help your school and community. In the three-part STEM lesson, scholars learn the meaning of innovation and brainstorm innovations in their schools. They identify issues in their communities and think of...
Teach Engineering
Where Are the Plastics Near Me? (Mapping the Data)
The last activity in a nine-part series has teams create a Google Earth map using the data they collected during a field trip. Using the map, groups analyze the results and make adjustments to the map to reflect their analysis. A short...
Busy Teacher
The Phantom of the Opera
It's no masquerade! If Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera is part of your curriculum, check out this three-page packet loaded with suggestions for before, during, and after reading activities.
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
What's Down the Well?
Middle schoolers examine how environmental engineers determine possible sites for drinking water wells. They listen to a teacher led-lecture, and create their own groundwater well model using a coffee can and wire screening, observing...