Discovery Education
Clutter Cutter
Challenge young learners to cut the clutter with this fun engineering project. As employees of a home and office supply company, young engineers are asked to develop devices that organize everyday items. After participating in a...
Teach Engineering
Extinction Prevention via Engineering
It's time to save endangered species through engineering. The third activity in a nine-part Life Science unit has young environmentalists study species extinction. An engaging discussion leads to some ideas on how to use engineering...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Working with Wind Energy
After reading about how wind turbines work to collect clean energy, groups brainstorm and design their own windmill. Within the provided financial and physical constraints, groups must build a working windmill using only the materials...
Kenan Fellows
Gridiron Rescue: One Health Football Technology Project
Helmets not included! Scholars brainstorm adjustments and sensors to football helmets in an engineering design project to help prevent injuries, such as concussions and spinal injuries.
North Carolina State University
Construction
Engineering design projects serve as great opportunities for collaborative problem solving. In this case, students work in small groups designing, building, and eventually testing a structure that meets a teacher-specified objective. It...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Life Vest Challenge
After reading about the history and science of personal floatation devices, patents, and intellectual property, engineering teams design a life vest for a can of soup. To evaluate which groups considered the need for waterproofing, hold...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Arduino Blink Challenge
Emerging engineers read about Arduino software and how it can be used. Then they follow a nine-step tutorial to connect an Arduino board to a computer and put it to work! The objective is to code a program that will cause an LED to...
Kenan Fellows
Engineering Skills Through Problem Based Learning
Navigate the ups and downs of learning about energy. Future engineers consider how potential and kinetic energy apply to roller coasters. They design a roller coaster of their own and then use computer design software to showcase their...
Curated OER
Destination Outer Space
Students investigate space travel. In this space travel lesson students examine space exploration history, engineers and scientists involved in space exploration, and Newton's third law of motion. Students make rockets.
Teach Engineering
Engineering Brainstorming
Here is a lesson that offers a great hybrid of forming new skills and using current knowledge to come up with a plan. The class brainstorms information they would need to know or already know about hybrid vehicles. They then group...
Curated OER
Biomedical Engineering and Diabetes
Students compare and contrast the three types of diabetes. For this technology lesson, students identify the causes of this disease. They investigate ways to deliver insulin to the body and present their findings in class.
Curated OER
Skyscrapers: Engineering Up!
Students build their own newspaper skyscrapers with limited materials and time. They identify several different structural engineering principles relating to skyscrapers. They explain how their towers resisted the wind load.
Curated OER
Start Your Engines: An Internet Research Lesson
Fifth graders engage in a lesson which offers informational how-tos for conducting research on the Internet. Three search engines are introduced and used to gather information to solve a specific problem.
Curated OER
Be a Structural Engineer!
Students investigate how to design and build items with a focus on structural strength as an engineer would. They complete a truss-building project as a final assessment.
Curated OER
Building a Car: Mechanical Engineering
Students use common materials to build a car. In this car building mechanical engineering activity, students build a car using a milk cartoon and plastic wheels. They discuss what mechanical engineers do and what makes a car run.
eGFI
Design and Build a Road Sign Support
Emergent engineers plan, construct, and experiment with a spaghetti noodle structure that could hold a load. Set them up for success by first showing them a four-minute video on engineering design and a slide show of different signposts....
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Assembly Line
Working under specific constraints and with designated criteria, groups work together to create a product using an assembly line process. In addition, they work through the entire engineering design process with an excellent graphic to...
Curated OER
Finding Your Way in the World Wide Web
Researchers practice grouping items to explore the concept of a database. They apply these concepts to the WWW search engine format and consider why it is important to enter the most specific information.
Teach Engineering
Fairly Fundamental Facts About Forces and Structures
Don't twist and turn looking for a resource. The first installment of a six-part series teaches young engineers about the five fundamental forces of compression, tension, shear, bending, and torsion. These forces help explain different...
Curated OER
Don't Get Lost on the Web
Scholars discuss purpose of search engines, define World Wide Web, become familiar with website addresses, demonstrate understanding of site updating, create a list of topics about which they would like more information, and visit at...
Curated OER
Audio Engineers: Sound Weavers
Students explore audio engineering. In this career education and "sound" science lesson plan, students define related vocabulary and make connections between the music they listen to and the job an audio engineer does after listening to...
Curated OER
Ask a NASA Engineer
Students develop questions to ask a NASA engineer to email them. After emailing the quesitons to the volunteer, the answers are sent to the class via the same method. To end the lesson, they formulate more questions and repeat the process.
Curated OER
Locating And Utilizing Information Using The Internet
Third graders practice typing in a web address to find a specific web page and how to use a search engine to locate specific information. They access a search engine to locate information about geology to answer the questions on a quiz.
Teach Engineering
Introduction to Water Chemistry
What are the issues surrounding water quality? Viewers of this short presentation gain information about the importance of clean water, the lack of fresh water, water contamination, and ways that engineers treat water.