Activity: Solving Real Challenges with Engineering
Posted on January 2nd, 2011 by Jaimie Schock
In a multipart activity, students in grades 5-9 discover different engineering disciplines and brainstorm how different engineering skills can be applied to local or world problems. This eGFI original class activity is based on the winning submission to eGFI’s innovative teaching idea contest.
Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5 | 1 Comment »
Tags: Civil Engineering, Class Activities, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Grand Challenges
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.
This fun — but gooey — experiment with cornstarch has students in grades 3-8 creating, then testing, a batch of cornstarch ooze. They learn about the unusual properties of this and other non-Newtonian fluids.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Students grades 4-12 conduct a simple experiment that demonstrates how a familiar chemical — liquid soap — can be used to break the surface tension of water and propel a toy boat. Older students move into further inquiry of chemical dispersants and their use in combating oil spills.
