In this activity for grades 6 to 12, 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. Next, students conduct research by looking at and discussing images of sign support structures, observing overhead signs in their own environment, and watching a video about bridge design for comparison.

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Filed under: Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Lesson: Design and Build a Road Sign Support

In this lesson for grades 6 through 12, the goal is for students to figure out how to collect steam from boiling “polluted” water and then let it condense to create pure, clean water.

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Filed under: Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | 1 Comment »

In this activity, late-elementary school students work in small groups to build a roller coaster with at least one loop and one jump, demonstrating how potential energy transforms into kinetic energy. Students observe the relationship of height to potential energy and the resulting kinetic energy.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades K-5 | Comments Off on Class Activity: Build a Roller Coaster

Tags: Class Activities, forces and motion, friction, Grades 3-6, Grades K-5, kinetic energy, Mechanical engineering, roller coaster