Teach Engineering
Six Minutes of Terror
Help your class understand the design challenges when trying to land a remote spacecraft on a planet. Class members examine the provided information to understand how each component of a spacecraft is designed in order to safely land a...
Rice University
College Physics for AP® Courses
Take a look at an organized physics course. The 34-section electronic textbook covers material in AP® Physics 1 and 2. Teachers use the text to supplement lectures and have the class work through the labs. Each section contains multiple...
DiscoverE
Build a Bobsled Racer
Host a design challenge of Olympic proportion! Junior engineers build their own bobsleds using simple materials. The activity focuses on kinetic and potential energy and how the center of mass affects motion on a downhill track....
Curated OER
Testing and Refining Aircraft Design
Students design and make a flying device. They work in small groups to brainstorm ideas for the design of their device. They choose an idea or combination of ideas to use for their design and create a sketch of their design. The students...
Curated OER
Origami Flight: The Physical Setting
Sixth graders investigate the forces that move certain objects. In this physics lesson plan, 6th graders design and create paper flying objects using origami methods, which they practice flying in different conditions. Students record...
Curated OER
Making Life Easier
Students use a chart of the six simple machines and become aware of how the machines improve our ability to meet the following needs: shelter, food, water, and transportation. Students use model cars to experiment with force. They divide...
Curated OER
Simple Harmonic Motion
Students study harmonic motion and its oscillation. In this simple harmonic motion lesson students demonstrate a series of regular oscillations and explain the theory behind the experiment.
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory
Simple Machines
Simple doesn't mean useless. Individuals learn how simple machines benefit the user by changing the amount of effort. A seven-lesson unit begins with an overview of simple machines and then incorporates activities that allow the user to...
Curated OER
Simple Machines III - Pulleys
Fourth graders are introduced to a spring scale to show that the forces on both sides of the pulley are the same. They break into groups to lift objects with fixed pulleys and with multiple looped pulleys and then measure the force...
Curated OER
Simple Machines IV - Wheels and Axles
Fourth graders study everyday examples of simple machines. They examine how the combination of a wheel and axle works more efficiently than either in isolation. In a demonstration lesson, they see how a spring scale shows a force pulling...
Curated OER
Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree…You Might Become Famous
Students explore Newton's laws using CEENBoTs. In this physics lesson, students collect data and create tables and graphs. They calculate speed, acceleration and forces using mathematical formulas.
Curated OER
Avalanche!
Students explain that when forces on an object are balanced, the motion of object does not change. They describe how an object changes its motion when forces on it are unbalanced. They plan and conduct a scientific investigation to test...
Curated OER
Newton's Laws of Motion
Learners perform three activities that each demonstrate one of Newton's Laws of Motion. They use a ramp and toy car to demonstrate inertia, calculate acceleration due to gravity, then use a medicine ball and rolling chair to demonstrate...
Curated OER
Space Ship Pilot
Students visualize the relation between acceleration and velocity in 2 dimensions. They are introduced to Newton's first law,and Newton's second law. Students work on an exploration activity where they condsider an example of a...
Curated OER
Big Wheels Keep on Turning
Eleventh graders work in groups and investigate how force determines the speed and distance then they view the video, "Math Vantage #7: What's Your Angle?." They are given a real life problem to solve using speed, ramps, angle, incline...
Curated OER
Simple Machines
Students demonstrate an understanding of how simple machines work. They show how various forces affect movement and advantages of them. They also design a compund machine. Students decide which level of questions they want to do and...
Curated OER
Newton's 3 Laws of Motion
In this Newton's 3 laws of motion learning exercise, students view examples of each law and draw 1 example of each law on their own. Students draw 3 pictures.
Curated OER
Newton's Laws of Motion
In this word search worksheet, students explore words relating to Newton's Laws of Motion. Students find thirteen words relating to Newton's laws of motion.
Curated OER
Simple Machines I - Inclined Planes, Wedges, and Screws
The principles and uses of inclined planes, screws, and wedges are the focus of a science lesson. In it, youngsters come up with every day examples of simple machines, and build an example of one in class. That project is then used to...
Curated OER
Circle of Pong
Students, in groups, use given materials to devise a way to deposit a ping-pong ball into a paper cup that is located in the middle of a 6-foot diameter circle, while standing outside the circle.
Curated OER
Engineering Lessons Adapted for Special Education
Modifying engineering lessons from NASA makes them accessible to a wider variety of learners.
Curated OER
Exploring Buoyancy
Students use materials found at a resource table to design simple devices that will house instruments to take water samples from a tub of water. They design 3 instruments, each varying in density so that one will float, one will hover...
Curated OER
Magnet Circus
Learners explore the properties of magnets by designing a device that can move as far as possible using only magnets to move it, and design a machine that will stay in motion for the greatest period of time.
Curated OER
Free Up the Ketchup!
Young scholars, in teams, use given materials and their knowledge of Newton's First Law to create a device that will remove a sticky ping pong ball from a 16-oz. cup (which represents ketchup stuck in a bottle.)