Middle school students act as Mars exploratory rover engineers. They evaluate equipment options, determine what parts fit in a NASA-provided budget, and, given a parts list, use these constraints to design, build, and display their edible rover at a concluding design review. Includes link to high-school version of this activity.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Edible Rovers

Tags: Aerospace Engineering, Class Activities, Engineering Design, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, InSight lander, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lesson Plan, Mars rover, NASA, Space

Have a poster contest, host a science cafe, or stage a 100 billion nanometer race… Check out these eGFI activities and other ideas for celebrating National Nanotechnology Day on October 9. (The date refers to the nanometer scale of 10 to the –9, or one billionth of a meter.)

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Filed under: K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features, Web Resources | Comments Off on National Nanotechnology Day

Tags: Class Activities, Events, gecko, McREL, nanoengineering, National Nanotechnology Day, Resources for Teachers, Teacher Resources, TryNano, Videos, Web Resources

Every day, Americans waste enough food to fill a football stadium. To mark National STEM/STEAM Day on November 8, the STEMconnector’s National Day of Design contest is challenging students of all grade levels to design solutions for eliminating food waste in their school’s cafeteria. Meanwhile the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency are hosting food waste and recovery challenges.

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Filed under: K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features | Comments Off on Take a Bite Out of Food Waste

Tags: Competitions for Students, Contest, Design, Engineering Design, food recovery, food waste, hunger, National Design Day, National STEM/STEAM Day, school cafeteria, STEMconnector, USDA

Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow contest, which awards $2 million in classroom technology and resources, aims to promote STEM learning, leadership, and community service in students in grades 6 to 12 through authentic, hands-on problem solving. Register by Oct. 30, 2018.

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Filed under: For Teachers, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features | Comments Off on Samsung Solve for Tomorrow

Tags: Classroom Technology, Competitions for Students, Contest, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Problem Solving, Project Based Learning, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, service learning

A five-year effort spearheaded by ASEE’s engineering deans to create a nationally recognized precollege engineering course just got a major boost from the National Science Foundation. The three-year, $4 million pilot is expected to involve 1,400 students in 40 U.S. high schools and includes teacher professional development.

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Filed under: Grades 9-12, K-12 Education News | Comments Off on H.S. Engineering Pilot Course

Tags: Advanced Placement, American Society for Engineering Education Prism magazine, Curriculum, design thinking, Education Policy, Engineering, Engineering Design, Grades 9-12, high school engineering course, National Science Foundation, Professional Development, STEM education, University of Maryland A. James Clark School of Engineering

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

Crazy about cars – or driven mad by traffic? Iowa State University’s Institute for Transportation offers an engaging set of resources, including Go! Magazine, a free e-zine in English and Spanish, for students and teachers to learn about transportation research and careers.

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Tags: autonomous vehicles, Civil Engineering, Engineering, Go! Magazine, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, highway, Iowa State University Institute for Transportation, Resources for Teachers, roads, shipping, traffic engineering, Transportation, Web Resources

eCYBERMISSION, a free, web-based STEM fair sponsored for students in grades 6 to 9, offers real-world opportunities to apply classroom learning and solve community problems, with winners receiving up to $9,000 in U.S. Savings Bonds. Teams must register by December 19, 2018 and submit projects by February 27, 2019. Register by November 21 to receive a free STEM kit.

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Filed under: Grades 6-8, K-12 Outreach Programs | Comments Off on eCYBERMISSION 2019

Tags: Competitions for Students, Contest, eCYBERMISSION, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Programs for Students, virtual science fair