Teach Engineering
Glowing Flowers
What a bright idea! Young scientists conduct an experiment on flowers to finish the last of a six-lesson unit on Cells. Putting the stems into dye-injected water and leaving it overnight results in flowers that glow. This is to simulate...
Teach Engineering
Air Pressure
Investigate what is pushing on us. An intriguing lesson has pupils calculate the amount of force on various squares due to air pressure. Using the data, individuals create a graph in the third lesson of the Up, Up and Away unit...
Teach Engineering
Stay in Shape
Using their knowledge of right triangles, pupils find out how far a ship is from a light house. Class members determine how far around the world a ship would be sailing at a constant speed.
Teach Engineering
Properties of Mixtures vs. Solutions: Mix It Up!
Now it becomes crystal clear why the unit is called Mixtures and Solutions. The fifth installment of a six-part unit explores mixtures and solutions. After viewing a demonstration on mixing pebbles with water, salt with water, and...
Teach Engineering
Stormy Skies
Young meteorologists examine the four main types of weather fronts and how they appear on a weather map. Participants learn about the difference between the types of weather fronts along with their distinguishing features. A...
Teach Engineering
Cellular Respiration and Bioremediation
You can breathe easily now that you've found a winning resource. Young biologists learn about the process of cellular respiration, primarily through teacher-led discussion and instruction. They also consider the concept of...
Teach Engineering
Package Those Foods!
Designing the right package — it's more than a pretty picture. Challenge small groups to design a food package. They must consider the type of food they are packaging and the package's ability to control the physical and...
Teach Engineering
Load It Up!
See how a marshmallow can hold up a bridge load. Teams take a closer look at the design of bridge piers. They determine the types of loads that might affect a bridge, and, using that information, they calculate the needed cross-sectional...
Curated OER
A Closer look at Oil and Energy Consumption
Upper graders analyze basic concepts about the consumption, importation and exportation of the worlds oil production. They create several graphs to organize the data and draw conclusions about the overall use of oil in the world.
Teach Engineering
Bend That Bar
Bend it, but don't break it. Groups investigate the strength of different materials. Using a procedure in the seventh segment of a 22-part series on aviation, pupils determine how far a rod will bend. They determine the strength-to-mass...
Teach Engineering
Airplanes Everywhere: Land! Water! Sky! Oh, My!
How important is aviation? Using the background information, teachers provide the class with a brief history of aviation. The class discusses how airplanes are important to the area of transportation in the 17th installment of a...
Curated OER
Break the Tension
Students experiment with the concepts of surface tension. They participate in a number of different experiments that introduce them to surface tension. They work in a small group in order to conduct these experiments.
Curated OER
Taking the Boat to Manaus
Fifth graders apply the concepts they know regarding mass, volume and density in the previous activities to design a boat. Student teams must make a boat which can travel the waters of the Amazon Rainforest. Each group makes a...
Teach Engineering
Windy Tunnel
Lift—it is about the wing's attack. Using a virtual wind tunnel, pupils investigate wing shape and angle of attack. Learners use worksheets to record their observations and to convert verbal relationships into mathematical equations in...
Curated OER
Earth: Our Big Blue Marble
Learners investigate Earth and its resources. In this Earth, space, and nature lesson plan, students collaborate to design presentations on the Earth, its cycles, and how humans have impacted the planet. Images, diagrams, and background...
Teach Engineering
Air Under Pressure
Introduce your class to air masses and how they affect the weather with a lesson plan that focuses on the differences between high and low air pressure systems. The class explores actual weather data using archived weather data.
Teach Engineering
The Cloning of Cells
Did you know that there are over 200 different types of cells in the human body? One type, the stem cell, is the focus of the fifth of six installments in the Cells unit. The lesson plan asks the class to discuss stem cells and their...
Teach Engineering
Show Me the Money
Class members learn how to estimate the total costs involved to design and build a bridge by including design, material, equipment, and labor costs. The activity includes a discussion about the trade-off between cost and aesthetics.
Teach Engineering
Airplane Tails and Wings: Are You in Control?
Keep everything under control. The lesson, the 16th segment in a 22-part unit, provides a more detailed look at the parts of a plane, specifically the control surfaces. Pupils learn about the construction of the wings and the tails and...
Teach Engineering
Fun with Bernoulli
Reduce the pressure in the classroom. The second instructional activity in an Airplanes unit of 22 introduces the class to Bernoulli's Principle. Pupils demonstrate the principle by blowing between different objects causing a reduction...
Teach Engineering
May the Force Be With You: Drag
Do not let friction drag you down! The 11th segment in a series of 22 focuses on the fourth force acting upon an airplane—drag. Pupils learn about the effects and causes of drag.
Curated OER
AM I on the Radio?
Young scholars create a working radio by soldering circuit components supplied from an AM radio kit. They demonstrate an efficient soldering technique, identify the circuit components used to construct their radio, and explain how their...
Curated OER
Silly Semi-Solids
Students create a polymer out of glue, water, and borax. They discuss the resulting substance and perform several experiments with it.
Curated OER
Strawkets and Weight
Students investigate the effect that weight has on rocket flight. They construct a variety of straw-launched rockets that have different weights, observe what happens when the weight of a rocket is altered by reducing its physical size...