Curated OER
Chemical Engineering: Volcanoes
Students study volcanoes using a chemical engineering project. In this volcanoes lesson, students create a model town and discuss the properties of a volcano. Students then make a volcano using a chemical engineering format for their...
Curated OER
Modern Technology and Farming
Learners explore the relationship between modern technology and farming. They view and discuss a 4-H Virtual Farm online, researching the five different farms and presenting their information to the class.
Curated OER
Allegheny Portage Railroad: Developing Transportation Technology (23)
Young scholars research the innovative technology used in building the Allegheny Portage Railroad, and how it was applied to other projects. They discuss technological change and the effect it has on their lives.
Curated OER
Construction Technologies: Construct the Strongest Bridge
Students investigate how engineers use different types of bridges for different places. In small groups they design and construct bridges for three different scenarios, and answer a series of investigating questions applied to the...
Curated OER
Don't Crack Humpty
Students investigate the engineering design process and the relationship between distance, time, and speed. Using a generic car base, small groups design a device that will protect an egg on or in the car as it is rolled down a ramp at...
Curated OER
Designing a 2-liter Pop Bottle Piece to be Used for Water Rockets
High schoolers design and create water rockets using recycled materials. In this technology activity, students measure and sketch their project design before drawing them using SolidWorks. They construct the bottle as accurately as...
Curated OER
Introduction to Engineering Information Technology
Students demonstrate knowledge of information sharing skills by discussing each step with their group members. They demonstrate application of information sharing skills by working with a group to share specific pieces of data with...
Curated OER
Medical Instrumentation
Middle schoolers analyze how medical devices that help the human body function. They work in pairs or groups to draw multiple views of the medical device and describe how engineering is used by biomedial engineers.
Curated OER
Carve That Mountain
Students investigate major landforms (e.g., mountains, rivers, plains, hills, oceans and plateaus). They build a three-dimensional model of a landscape depicting several of these landforms. Once they have built their model, they act as...
Curated OER
TE Activity: Environmental Interactions
Students design a web that shows the interactions between the living and non-living parts of the environment. They determine what an environment is and how engineers work together to solve problems. They complete a tally chart that they...
Curated OER
Where's the Energy
Young scholars research energy conversions. In this energy lesson plan, students describe the basic operation of a steam engine. They explain the energy conversions in the steam engine's operation.
Curated OER
The Little Blue Engine
Young scholars listen to a read aloud of Shel Silverstein's, The Little Blue Engine. They design and build a Lego train that climbs a three foot incline, one foot at a time. They draw and write about their design.
Teach Engineering
Off-Road Wheelchair Challenge
Challenge your class to use their understanding of the engineering design process to design and build a small-scale, off-road prototype for an assistive technology device. Teams select materials to build their scale models, and, using...
Curated OER
Processing the Future: Innovations in Computer Technology
Students visit a website that takes them inside of a computer to see how it works. They investigate the people who contributed to computer technology.
Teach Engineering
The Grand Challenge
Magnetic resonance imaging, just how safe is it? The introduction to unit study of magnetic resonance imaging technology presents the grand challenge questions of how an MRI machine works, the risks involved, the physics involved, and...
Teach Engineering
Tell Me Doc—Will I Get Cancer?
Can you beat the odds of cancer? In the first installment of a seven-part series, future biomedical engineers consider how to detect and diagnose cancer. An article on biosensors provides useful information toward this goal.
Teach Engineering
Incoming Asteroid! What's the Problem?
Oh, no! An asteroid is on a collision course with Earth!. Class members must rise to the challenge of designing a shelter that will protect people from the impact and permit them to live in this shelter for one year. In this first lesson...
Teach Engineering
Abdominal Cavity and Laparoscopic Surgery
Get to know the human body from the inside out. The first lesson plan in a series of 10 introduces the class to the abdominopelvic cavity. Biomedical engineers need to understand the region of the body as they develop and improve...
Teach Engineering
Rocks, Rocks, Rocks: Test, Identify Properties and Classify
Time is growing short. Teams work together to identify physical properties of rocks in order to determine the properties that would best suit their cavern shelter design.
Teach Engineering
Ranking the Rocks for Desired Properties
Math rocks! Cavern design teams determine the rankings of rock types based upon desirability points. The points are connected to the properties of the rocks and their usefulness in building a cavern.
Teach Engineering
All About Linear Programming
Class members connect engineering with an understanding of linear programming using a technical resource. Scholars learn about linear programming (linear optimization) and how it applies to engineering design in the first of two modules....
Teach Engineering
Fun with Air-Powered Pneumatics
How high did the ball go? Engineering teams build a working pneumatic system that launches a ball into the air. The teams vary the amount of pressure and determine the accompanying height of the ball. An extension of building a device to...
Teach Engineering
Design and Build a Rube Goldberg
Let's see how complicated we can make this simple task. The last activity associated with a 10-part series has groups design and build a Rube Goldberg machine. Teams determine a simple task to accomplish and use the engineering design...
Teach Engineering
Straw Bridges
Pairs work as engineering teams to design and build model bridges from drinking straws and tape. In this third segment in a series of 10, teams compete in an attempt to build the strongest bridge. To help with the design, the groups...