Posted on September 23rd, 2019 by ASEE
In this lesson, students in grades 2 – 7 use simple materials to design and make model sailboats that must stay upright and sail straight in a testing tank. They will learn the basic components of a ship and how design represents a tradeoff between speed, stability, and ease of handling.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | 1 Comment »
Tags: buoyancy, Class Activities, Lesson Plan, Ocean, sailboat, wind power
Posted on August 31st, 2019 by Mary Lord
Middle school students take on the role of marine biologists to investigate how sharks move in three-dimensional space (3-D). Understanding the mathematics behind shark movement will inform the design of a prototype joystick for a robotic exploration shark used to collect oceanic data.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Move Like a Shark
Tags: 3-D motion, Aeronautics, Cartesian coordinates, Class Activities, drag, forces, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plan, programming, shark movement, speed, x, y, z axes
Posted on July 22nd, 2019 by Mary Lord
Middle and high school students nationwide create apps for desktop PCs, mobile devices, or other platforms in this annual Congressional initiative aimed at engaging America’s youth in computer science and STEM.
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Filed under: Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features | Comments Off on Congressional App Challenge
Tags: coding, Competitions for Students, Computer Science, Congressional app challenge, Contest, U.S. Congress
Posted on July 8th, 2019 by Mary Lord
Students in grades 6 to 8 use water balloons and string to understand how the force of gravity between two objects and the velocity of a spacecraft can balance to form an orbit. They see that when the velocity becomes too great for gravity to hold the spacecraft in orbit, the object escapes the orbit and travels further away from the planet.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on The Great Gravity Escape
Tags: aeronautical engineering, Class Activities, forces and motion, Grades 6-8, Gravity, orbit, Physics, spacecraft, teachengineering, velocity, water balloons
Posted on May 20th, 2019 by Mary Lord
Students in grades 4 to 9 learn about projectile motion by designing, building, and testing a machine that can kick a Ping-Pong ball into a cup lying on its side 12 inches away.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Build a Kicking Machine
Tags: ball, Class Activities, Engineering Design, forces and motion, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Kicking Machine, kinetic energy, Lesson Plan, PBS Design Squad, Physics, projectile motion, simple machines, soccer
Posted on May 20th, 2019 by Mary Lord
Pre-service and in-service middle school science teachers are sought for a graduate research project aimed at developing an assessment instrument to improve the teaching of engineering practices and incorporation of design in science classrooms, as outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards and other state science-education reforms.
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Filed under: For Teachers, Grades 6-8, K-12 Education News, K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features | Comments Off on MS STEM Teachers Needed for NGSS Study
Tags: assessment instrument, NGSS, Professional Development, research on K-12 engineering education, Research on Learning, research on STEM teaching, Teacher Training
Posted on May 9th, 2019 by Mary Lord
Students in grades 6 to 8 apply their knowledge about mountains and rocks to transportation engineering to develop a model mountain tunnel from that simulates the principles behind real-life engineering design. Teams design and create model tunnels through a clay mountain, working within design constraints and testing for success; the tunnels must meet specific design requirements and withstand a certain load.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Tunnel Through!
Tags: civil and environmental engineering, Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plan, railroad, Transportation, tunnel
Posted on May 3rd, 2019 by Mary Lord
Students in grades 4 to 8 or higher learn the basics of electricity and sound by designing and building a working telegraph system using batteries, wire, and other simple parts. They then use their telegraphs – one of history’s most important inventions – to send and receive messages.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Build a Telegraph Tapper
Tags: Class Activities, electricity, Energy, Golden spike transcontinental railroad, History, Lesson Plan, Morse code, sound, telecommunications, telegraph, train
Posted on February 23rd, 2019 by Mary Lord
Middle school students explore how fertilizers and other solids affect water quality by building and using sensors to measure the electrical conductivity of water samples. They then create data tables and investigate possible sources of pollutants using digital visualization tools.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, K-12 Outreach Programs, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Measuring Water Quality to Assess Human Impact
Tags: arduino, Class Activities, data analysis, electrical circuits, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Excel, Grades 6-8, HackingSTEM Microsoft, hydrology, Lesson Plan, Pollution, sensors, water quality