Students in grades 3 to 5 learn about their heart rate and different ways it can be measured by constructing and using a simple device to measure their heart rate under different circumstances, such as sitting, standing, and jumping. They make predictions and record data on a worksheet.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on The Beat Goes On

Tags: Biomedical Engineering, Class Activities, Grades K-5, Health, heart, Lesson Plan, NGSS aligned, pulse, stethoscope, teachengineering

Middle school students learn about mineral properties and calculate the costs, benefits, and densities in this engineering-driven earth science unit based on the real-world design challenge of salvaging cargo following a train derailment. Students also will strengthen communication skills by creating a presentation to explain their process and justify their decisions to a “client.”

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Filed under: Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, K-12 Outreach Programs, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Lesson: Mineral Mayhem

Tags: Class Activities, Common Core mathematics, Earth Science, Engineering Design, entrepreneurship, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Industrial engineering, Lesson Plan, Mathematics, mineral, NGSS, Purdue University engineering education outreach, scatterplot, STEM integration

Students in grades 3 to 5 work in groups to design a structure that will withstand and protect people from tornadoes. Each group then creates a poster with the name of their engineering firm and a picture of their structure. Finally, each group presents their posters to the class.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades K-5, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Build it Better!

Tags: Civil Engineering, Design, Disaster, Earth Science, National Severe Storms Laboratory, NOAA, poster, STEAM, Structural Engineering, Tornadoes, Weather

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

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

Want to get youngsters excited about computers and engineering? The Secret Code Menace, an adventure story for preteens by electrical and computer engineering professor Pamela Cosman, got 4.99 out of 5 stars from eGFI’s fourth-grade reviewer. Your STEM students will love it, too! (The author’s instructional guide includes problems and answers.)

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Filed under: Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, K-12 Education News, K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features | Comments Off on Kid Picks: The Secret Code Menace

Tags: book review, coding, Computer Engineering, Curriculum, Electrical Engineering, forensic, Pam Cosman, Resources for Teachers, software engineering, STEM books, STEM education, The Secret Code Menace, Women in Engineering

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

Can you muffle the sound of a jingle bell using a variety of Christmas-themed items? Explore your sense of hearing – and learn about the 1965 astronauts who played Jingle Bells in space – in this simple activity designed for preK-5 students.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades K-5, Grades K-5, Special Features | Comments Off on Jingle Bell Silencer Challenge

Tags: astronauts, Class Activities, design challenge, Grades K-5, jingle bells, Tom Stafford, Wally Schirra