A farm, community art show, dinner party, or classroom? The possibilities are endless when transforming a parking space into a roadside showcase for the design side of STEM this PARK(ing) Day, Friday, September 21.

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Filed under: Class Activities, K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features, Web Resources | Comments Off on Pop-up STEAM PARK(ing) Lots

Tags: ASLA, Class Activities, Design, installations, landscape architecture, PARKIing) Day, Public Policy, public space, Resources for Teachers, STEAM, traffic, urban infrastructure, urban planning, Web Resources

Students in grades 9 to 12 analyze real-world traffic data to evaluate the efficiency of a section of a public transit system and suggest design improvements. They then evaluate whether the changes make positive impacts on the system’s performance. Includes link to a California Academy of Sciences challenge on designing more energy-efficient, greener buses.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 9-12, K-12 Outreach Programs, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Mass Transit Living Lab

Tags: Class Activities, data, FasTracks, Grades 9-12, graphs, Lesson Plan, mass transit, NGSS, route, Systems Engineering, traffic engineering, transportation engineering, urban planning

Middle school students design a robotic “bee” that would have the potential to pollinate crops in place of a native bee and then evaluate their model against real pollinators.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Engineer a Bee

Tags: Agricultural Engineering, bee, Class Activities, design challenge, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plan, Mechanical engineering, plant, pollinator, robo-bees, Robotics

Students in grades 3 to 5 learn about the engineering design process by making a 2-dimensional model (graphic illustration) of an apparatus that will pollinate a field.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Honeybee Human Design Challenge

Tags: Agricultural Engineering, Class Activities, crops, design challenge, Grades K-5, honey bee, Lesson Plan, Mechanical engineering, pollinator

High school students design a permanent guest village within the Saguaro National Park in Arizona after studying the desert ecology. Their designs must provide a true desert experience for visitors while emphasizing sustainable design, protecting the natural environment, and conserving energy and resources.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Designing Desert Digs

Tags: bio-inspired design, Biomimicry, Class Activities, cooling, desert, eco-village, ecology, Energy, Engineering Design Process, environment, Environmental Engineering, Grades 9-12, habitat, heat, Lesson Plan, Saguaro National Park, shelter, solar power, Sustainability, tourist village

From 3-D printing to robotics and artificial intelligence, technology is radically altering traditional manufacturing. How would you bring these exciting career paths to life in your classroom? Make a pitch in the Manufacture Your Future Teacher Challenge for a chance to win $5,000 to put your proposal into action! Deadline: October 19. 2018.

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Filed under: Class Activities, For Teachers, K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features | Comments Off on Manufacture Your Future Teacher Challenge

Tags: 3-D printing, additive manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, Arconic Foundation, artificial intelligence, automation, Contest, Discovery Education, Manufacture Your Future Teachers Contest, Resources for Teachers, Robotics

Teams of high school students learn about energy and energy transformation, then use their knowledge to design and build a paper model of the most fun and exciting roller coaster they can imagine.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Paper Roller Coasters

Tags: CCSS, Class Activities, forces, Grades 9-12, Gravity, kinetic energy, Lesson Plan, Mathematics, motion, Newton's Laws, NGSS, Physical Science, potential energy, roller coaster, vectors, velocity

Students in grades 7 to 9 build model roller coasters using pipe insulation and marbles, then analyze them using physics principles, including conversions between kinetic and potential energy and frictional effects. A class competition using various marbles to represent different passenger loads determines the most innovative and successful designs.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Building Roller Coasters

Tags: Class Activities, forces and motion, friction, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Gravity, Lesson Plan, NASA education, Physics, rides, roller coasters, theme park

In this activity, small groups of students in grades 3 to 8 learn about forces, energy, and efficiency by measuring a bicycle’s gear ratios, calculating tire revolutions, and testing who can ride a course the swiftest based on that information.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Grades K-5 | Comments Off on Pedal Power

Tags: bicycle, biking, Class Activities, Energy, Engineering, forces, gear, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans, motion, pedaling, Physics, SciGirls, simple machines, Videos, Web Resources