In this elementary school activity, students learn about biomimicry and how engineers often imitate nature in the design of innovative new products. They demonstrate their knowledge of biomimicry by practicing brainstorming and designing a new product based on what they know about animals and nature.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5 | 2 Comments »

Tags: Biomimicry, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5

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

In this activity for grades 3-5, students learn about their heart rate and different ways it can be measured. Students construct a simple measurement device using clay and a toothpick, and then use this device to measure their heart rate under different circumstances. Students make predictions and record data on a worksheet.

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In this scenario-based activity, students design ways to either clean a water source or find a new water source, depending on given hypothetical family scenarios. They act as engineers to draw and write about what they could do to provide water to a community facing a water crisis. They learn basic steps of the engineering design process.

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Filed under: Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | 1 Comment »

Tags: Clean Water, Grades 3-5, Water management

Students learn a simple technique for quantifying the amount of photosynthesis that occurs in a given period of time, using a common water plant (Elodea). They can use this technique to compare the amounts of photosynthesis that occur under conditions of low and high light levels. Before the experiment, students come up with a well-worded hypothesis to be tested. After the experiment, students pool their data to get a large sample size, determine the measures of central tendency of the class data, then graph and interpret the results.

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Filed under: Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Bubbling Plants

Students learn about biomimicry and how engineers imitate nature in the design of innovative new products. They demonstrate their knowledge by practicing brainstorming and designing a new product based on what they know about animals and nature.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Biomimicry: Natural Designs

Tags: Biomimicry, Design

Students analyze international oil consumption and production data. They make several graphs to organize the data and draw conclusions about the overall use of oil in the world.

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Filed under: Grades K-5, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Lesson: Oil and Energy Consumption

Tags: Class Activities, communications, Earth Science, Energy, Grades K-5, Lesson Plan, mining engineering, oil, petroleum engineering

In exploring ways to use solar energy, students investigate the thermal energy storage capacities of different test materials to determine which to use in solar building design.

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Tags: Lesson Plan, Solar Engineering

Students learn about applied forces as they create pop-up-books through the art of paper engineering. They also learn the basic steps of the engineering design process.

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Filed under: Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | 2 Comments »

Tags: Design