Posted on April 30th, 2018 by Mary Lord
Students in grades 9 and 10 are introduced to the biomechanical characteristics of helmets and challenged to incorporate them into helmet designs. They come to understand the role of engineering associated with safety products – in this case protecting the brain and neck of a bicyclist in the event of a crash, with the design dependent on the user’s needs and specifications.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Build a Bike Helmet
Tags: bicycle, bicycle helmet, Class Activities, EcoHelmet, Engineering Design Process, force and motion, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plan, Materials Engineering, NHTSA, Physics, Safety engineering, Sports, video
Posted on April 18th, 2018 by Mary Lord
Students in grades 6 to 8 explore food production problems related to population growth and then engineer a model vertical farm as a potential solution in a fictional community, Greentown, culminating with a presentation to the imaginary city’s “legislators.”
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, K-12 Outreach Programs, Lesson Plans, Web Resources | Comments Off on Engineer a Vertical Farm
Tags: agriculture, Class Activities, crops, EiE, Engineering Design Process, engineering grand challenges, Engineering is Elementary, Engineering is Everywhere, Environmental Engineering, Environmental science, food supply, Grades 6-8, greenhouse, plant science, school gardens, STEM education, vertical farming, Web Resources
Posted on April 6th, 2018 by Mary Lord
Students learn about the Great Pacific garbage patch, research the extent and impact of plastics pollution on oceans, and present that information as a short, eye-catching newsletter suitable to hand out to fast-food restaurant customers.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Ahoy! Plastic in the Ocean
Tags: Class Activities, Common Core State Standards, data analysis, ecosystem, Environmental Engineering, environmental stewardship, GIS, Grades 6-8, graphic design, great ocean garbage dump, Lesson Plan, literacy, Mapping, Marine Science, Pollution, Research, STEAM, Videos, water cycle, writing
Posted on March 12th, 2018 by Mary Lord
Working in pairs, students in grades 6 to 8 follow the engineering design process to create the strongest truss bridge using a fixed amount of plastic drinking straws and tape. Let the competition begin!
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Straw Bridges
Tags: bridge, Bridge Design, Class Activities, Engineering Design Process, forces, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plan, truss
Posted on February 8th, 2018 by Mary Lord
Students in grades 3 to 12 explore the effects of gravity, friction, and air resistance upon acceleration by using the engineering design process to design, build, and test their own bobsleds with the aim of reducing run times with each attempt.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5 | Comments Off on Bobsled Blitz
Tags: 2018 winter Olympics, Aerodynamics, Bobsled, Class Activities, Engineering Design Process, forces and motion, friction, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5
Posted on February 8th, 2018 by Mary Lord
Children’s literature is full of memorable wildlife adventure stories, but Deborah Lee Rose and Jane Veltkamp’s Beauty and the Beak may be the first to feature engineers and their role in outfitting an injured eagle with a 3-D printed prosthetic beak. A free education guide with standards-based STEM, STEAM, and literacy lessons accompanies the book, winner of the 2018 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books.
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Filed under: Class Activities, For Teachers, Special Features, Web Resources | Comments Off on Injured Eagle Lands New Beak
Tags: 3-D printing, AAAS/Suburu best science books, bald eagle rescue, Beauty and the Beak, biologyy, Birds of Prey Northwest, children's literature, Class Activities, Deborah Lee Rose, eagle, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental science, Internet Resources, Jane Veltkamp, Prosthetics, raptor, Resources for Teachers, STEM education, wildlife, wildlife engineering, wildlife rescue
Posted on January 26th, 2018 by Mary Lord
From 360-degree cameras to “green” stadiums, the Super Bowl offers plenty of engineering to cheer about. This eGFI roster of hands-on design activities, videos, and other resources will help your students learn forces, motion, and other gridiron-related STEM concepts.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Special Features, Web Resources | Comments Off on Super Bowl Engineering
Tags: Class Activities, concussion, Curriculum, Football, forces, helmets, inertia, Internet Resources, motion, Resources for Teachers, Safety engineering, Sports Engineering, STEM education, Super Bowl, torque
Posted on January 5th, 2018 by Mary Lord
High school students design and build wind chimes using their knowledge of physics and sound waves, and under such constraints as weight, cost, and the number of musical notes their chimes must generate. They make mathematical computations to determine the pipe lengths. Links to similar activities for younger students included in activity scaling section.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Wind Chimes
Tags: career technical education, chimes, Class Activities, Engineering Design Process, frequency, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plan, Mathematics, Physics, sound, STEAM, wave length, wind chimes
Posted on December 13th, 2017 by Mary Lord
Students in grades 6 to 9 learn about biomedical engineering and the human sensory system, then follow the engineering design process to create sensory-integration toys for youngsters with developmental disabilities.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Sensory Toys Make Sense!
Tags: adaptive technology, Biomedical Engineering, Class Activities, Engineering Design, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plan, sensory integration toys, special needs students, toy adaptation
