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What Color is Your Air Today?
Students investigate air quality. They analyze Air Quality Index data tables, interpret the graphs, complete a worksheet, and discuss trends in air quality.
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Do Plants Eat?
Students explain that photosynthesis is a process that plants use to convert light energy into glucose. They summarize photosynthesis as a chemical process in which the plant uses carbon dioxide and water to form glucose and oxygen.
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Just Passing Through
Pupils examine the functions of the kidney and its place in the urinary system. They discuss how astronauts go the bathroom in space, examine labeled diagrams of the urinary system, and draw a large scale drawing of the excretory system...
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Our Amazing Skeleton
Students study the skeleton, about the number of and types of bones in the body, and how outer space affects astronauts' bones. They discover how to take care of their bones here on Earth to prevent osteoporosis, or, weakening of the...
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The No Zone of Ozone
Students explore the causes and effects of the Earth's ozone holes through discussion and an interactive simulation. Using gumdrops and toothpicks, they conduct a large-group, interactive ozone depletion model.
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The Need For Shelter
Fifth graders build a shelter to protect themselves from rain. They perform durability and water proof testing on the shelters. They make observations of plants found in the Amazon rainforest.
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What is Energy?
Students define energy and identify the different types that exist. They identify places they see, hear or feel energy. They understand the role of engineering in finding and testing sources of energy for the production of electricity.
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Who's Down the Well?
Pupils identify several sources of contaminants to groundwater. They discuss the movement of possible contaminants through that groundwater from outside sources. They describe how environmental engineers analyze contaminants to...
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Acid Attack
Students explore the effect of chemical erosion on statues and monuments. They use chalk to see what happens when limestone is placed in liquids with different pH values. They also discover several things that engineers are doing to...
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Cleaning the Air
Young scholars investigate how engineers design methods of removing particulate matter from industrial sources to minimize negative effects of air pollution. In small groups they design and construct a filter with the goal of removing...
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Eek, It leaks!
Students construct model landfill liners out of two-inch strips of garbage bags within resource constraints. The challenge is to construct a bag that will hold one cup of water without leaking. This represents similar challenges that...
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Find It!
Students analyze the basic concept of Global Positioning Systems using triangulation and measurement on a small scale in the classroom. They describe a satellite and how it helps in locating a person on Earth. They explain how...
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For Your Eyes Only
Students identify two major types of visible pollutants, smog, and particulate matter, They explain that air pollutants are generated during incomplete combustion. They measure and rank collectors from the most pollutants to the least...
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From Lake to Tap
Pupils use the Internet to study how water is treated to make it safe to drink. They use a tutorial on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's website to gain this information. They complete a worksheet for the assessment portion of...
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Fuel Mystery Dis-Solved
Students describe how temperature and surface area exposure affect the rate at which fuel is consumed. They explain why engineers want to know about the properties of a fuel when designing rockets. They create a bar graph of result data.
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Hanging Around
Students explore weight by building a spring scale and observing how it responds to objects with different masses. Each team of students can make their own spring scale by following steps which are specifically outlined in the plan. As...
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How Full is Full?
Students examine porosity and permeability and relate these concepts to groundwater flow. They use simple materials to conduct a porosity experiment and use the information to understand how environmental engineers decide on the...
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Issues, Issues, Everywhere
Young scholars identify different opinions related to an issue as well as the things that influence those opinions. They analyze how engineers use an opinion spectrum to identify the differences of opinions in a large group to...
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Let's Bag It
Students observe and discuss a vacuum cleaner model of a baghouse to better understand how this pollutant recovery method functions in cleaning industrial air pollution. They give examples of when the use of a baghouse is appropriate,...
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Mercalli Scale Illustrated
Students study the Mercalli Scale and analyze how it is used to rate earthquakes. They construct a booklet with drawings that represent each rating of the scale. They study why engineers develop rating scales for earthquakes.
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Moving without Wheels
Students observe a simple water cycle model to better understand its role in pollutant transport. This activity shows one way in which pollution is affected by the water cycle; it simulates a point source of pollution in a lake and the...
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TE Activity: Pitch and Frequency
Learners experiment with a vibrating ruler and a kazoo to study the different pitches and frequencies they produce. They create both high and low pitch sound waves. They examine how engineers use sound energy when designing electronic...
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TE Activity: Stream Consciousness
Fourth graders study how environmental engineers monitor water quality. They use environmental indicators to determine the quality of stream water in their area. They count the number of macroinverabrates and use the information they...
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Strawkets and Control
Students investigate the effect that fins have on rocket flight. They construct two paper rockets that they can launch by blowing through a straw, one with fins and one with wings, and observe and record the results of the rocket flights.