Students in grades 5-8 create shimmering snowflakes using a simple chemical process. They supersaturate hot water with borax, then suspend a pipe cleaner shape in the liquid, allowing the crystals to form overnight.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5 | 3 Comments »

Tags: Chemistry, Crafts, Crystal study, grades 5-8

Students in grades 6-12 are challenged to build a drinking straw tower that can withstand simulated earthquake vibrations and increasing weight and pressure. Doing so, they learn basic principles of design and earthquake engineering while practicing team skills.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | 8 Comments »

Tags: Building Design, Civil Engineering, Class Activities, Engineering Design Process, Lesson Plans, Safety engineering

Students in grades 5-12 try to build the tallest structure they can using only two sheets of newspaper. As they do so, they learn about building design.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5 | 1 Comment »

Tags: Architecture, Building Design, Class Activities, Grades 5-12

What kinds of foods are easiest to ferment for fuel? Ethanol is made from a variety of plant substances – corn, sugar cane, even some kinds of wood. In this activity, students test different substances to see what they can learn about fermentation.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 9-12 | Comments Off on Activity: Ethanol Fermentation

Tags: Agricultural, Alternative Energy, Alternative Fuels, Class Activities, Environmental Engineering, Grades 9-12, Green Technology

In this Techbridge lesson, students in grades 5-12 collaborate to solve a fun engineering challenge: to create a device capable of transferring a set of “radioactive” golf balls from one bag to another – with no human contact. Which team can complete the task in the shortest amount of time possible?

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12 | 7 Comments »

Tags: Collaborative Activity, Mechanical engineering, Team-building skills

Students in grades 5-8 learn the basic principle of buoyancy and how submarines use it to dive and ascend in water through creating their own submarine out of a soda bottle, pennies, and other household items. Activity courtesy of the National Museum of the U.S. Navy.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, K-12 Outreach Programs, Lesson Plans | 3 Comments »

Tags: buoyancy, Class Activities, Engineering Design Process, Nautical Engineering, Ocean, Ocean science, submarine, U.S. Navy

Would you believe that slime is a member of the Space Shuttle team? As an advanced viscoelastic material, slime is an amazingly lead-proof hydraulic fluid used in all critical positioning systems in space. Check out these slime recipes from the Inamori School of Engineering, Alfred University.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5 | Comments Off on Activity: Making Slime

Tags: Chemistry, Class Activities, Physical Science, Physics

For this activity, which can be done with a partner school, student teams design a package for a single Pringles potato chip that allow it to be sent through the mail and arrive intact.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5 | 3 Comments »

Tags: Class Activities, Corporations, Packaging Engineering

Visit the chemistry activity page from CSIRO — The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia’s national science agency — to find simple, fun chemistry and physics projects for students. Other sections of this science Website offer information, videos, links, the Double Helix Science Club, and local resources for Australia teachers.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, K-12 Outreach Programs, Web Resources | Comments Off on Class Activities: Chemistry and Physics from CSIRO

Tags: Chemistry, Experiments, Physics