Curated OER
Design and Construct a Road Sign Support
Students use simple materials to design, build, and test a model of a free-standing structure used to support overhead road signs.
Curated OER
Design And Construct A Road Sign Support
Students use simple materials to design, build, and test a model of a free-standing structure used to support overhead road signs. First, students watch a video on the engineering design process. Then the design challenge is defined.
Curated OER
The Last Word: Using Critical Thinking and Analysis to Reach a Decision
Want to explore the process of writing a persuasive essay and tie it in with the upcoming elections? Class members use Venn diagrams and the hamburger model of persuasive writing to write a five-paragraph essay on elections and...
Curated OER
Looking for Trouble - Using the Internet to Research Structured Controversy
Discuss controversial issues with your charges. More importantly, discuss how you have to research both sides of a controversy before taking a stance. In groups, middle schoolers research the controversial issue of dog sled racing. They...
Curated OER
The Sun: Earth's External Heat Engine - Part 1 of the Astronomy Model
Designed by School Power...NaturallySM, this lesson familiarizes advanced earth science and physics learners about the variables that affect our supply of solar energy. They examine gas spectra and perform calculations. There is an...
Curated OER
Copper Sheet Boxes: Artistic Engineering
Secondary artists create a metal box made from copper tooling foil and solid oil paint sticks (Shiva Paintstiks). The exacting design develops organizational principles and the painted finish allows for individual expression of...
American Physiological Society
Feeling the Heat
How do the changing seasons affect the homes where we live? This question is at the forefront of engineering and design projects. Challenge your physical science class to step into the role of an architect to build a model home...
101 Questions
Can-struction
Can you solve it?! A New York City art challenge involves making sculptures from cans. The task is to determine the number of cans used in the engineering award-winning sculpture. Scholars consider the patterns in the different layers to...
Bonneville
Learning About Solar Updraft Towers
Give it up for updraft towers. Pupils learn about solar updraft towers by first watching a video. They then research these structures on their own and think about how the toys they made in the previous lesson plan use the same scientific...
Curated OER
Tower Investigation and the Egg
Students build three types of towers, engineering them to hold an egg one foot high for 15 seconds. They discover that engineering designs are subject to constraints such as time, money and size specifications. In this activity students...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Sail Away
Students examine what naval architects and marine engineers do. In this engineering lesson students work in teams and design a boat with a sail structure.
Curated OER
Issues, Issues, Everywhere
Students 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 investigate how...
Curated OER
Suspension Bridges
Learners view examples of suspension bridges and discuss their structure. They complete a tension and compression experiment with a partner then perform a similar experiment with books. They discuss engineers and how they design and...
Curated OER
Design and Construct a Road Sign Support
Students design, build, and test a model of a free-standing structure used to support overhead road signs.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Working with Watermills
In collaborative groups, emerging engineers or environmental scientists plan and construct a water wheel or watermill that rotates for a total of three minutes. Everything you need to carry out this lesson is included: objectives,...
Teach Engineering
Investigating Torque
Torque--a teachable moment? Here's a lesson on torque (or moment) and variables that include size, reinforcement, structural bracing, and material that affect torque.
Curated OER
Media Literacy Skills
You're on camera! Third graders find a news story and research it to get more information. Everyone uses their found information to write a script and create their own news broadcast!
Curated OER
Building Bridges
Students identify the different types of bridges. Using the internet, they research information on how they are built by completing a scavenger hunt. Locating a specific area, they determine which type of bridge would be appropriate and...
Curated OER
Structures and Materials
In this materials activity, students will review different types of materials and the structures that can be made using these materials. This activity has 7 fill in the blank, 6 matching, 1 short answer, and 6 multiple choice questions.
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 lesson, 12th graders explain the connection between math and engineering. They brainstorm what engineers do in real life.
Curated OER
General Web Search Tools: An Introduction
Students study the three major web search tools: search engines, directories, and metasearch engines. They examine the appropriate times to use each of the search tools.
Curated OER
Free Standing Structure
Students demonstrate basic construction skills by building a free standing structure, using predetermined materials. They compute cost of structure by using multiplication skills or calculator.
Curated OER
House Structure Strength
Students build houses out of legos. They create the strongest model with the "drop test" in mind. They must build a structure that will pass the drop test. (Teacher drops from waist to the ground)
DiscoverE
Kinetic Sculpture
Let your creativity run wild. Scholars build a sculpture out of basic materials. These sculptures must be able to move in the wind (from an electric fan). However, they must also withstand the wind enough to not fall over—it's quite the...