Preventing Potholes
Acting as civil engineers, students in grades 9-12 research how to best use piezoelectric materials to detect road damage, setting up model roads, creating their own experiment procedures, and analyzing voltage changes caused by the vibrations of simulated vehicles. They then write up their research and conclusions as if presenting evidence to federal transportation officials about how piezo elements can be used to indicate road damage and help determine when roads need maintenance.
Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Preventing Potholes
Tags: asphalt, highway construction, NGSS aligned activity, pavement, piezoelectric materials, pothole repair, road repair, Sparkfun, TeachEngineering activity, transportation engineering, Vernier
Students in grades 5 to 7 learn about how muscles work and follow the engineering design process to create their own biomedical device to aid in the recovery of a strained bicep. They discover the importance of rest to muscle recovery and that muscles (just like engineers!) work together to achieve a common goal.
Students in grades 6-8 use their knowledge about how healthy heart valves function to design, construct, and implant prototype replacement mitral valves for hypothetical patients’ hearts. In the process, they discover the pros and cons of different types of artificial heart valves based on materials, surgery requirements, and lifespan.
Like NASA engineering teams, students learn about and then follow the steps of the engineering design process to design and build original model devices to help astronauts eat in a microgravity environment—their own creative devices for food storage and meal preparation. 
Built for engineering and science discovery, the International Space Station’s cupola also delivers awe and inspiration. Get a glimpse of the engineering behind this iconic addition to the ISS along with classroom activities and resource links as we celebrate 20 years of human habitation in space.
High school students explore the many ways that engineers provide natural lighting to interior spaces by analyzing various methods of daylighting and then constructing model houses from foam core board based on their observations and calculations of the optimal use of available “sunlight.”
In this open-ended design activity, students in grades 3 to 5 use everyday materials such as water bottles and straws to build small-scale transportation devices that incorporate two simple machines: a wheel and axle, and a lever. They race their vehicles, measuring distance, time and weight; and then calculate speed. 
With schools closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, ASEE members and other engineering and technology educators are posting daily design challenges, hosting teacher meetups, and creating ways to engage students in STEM learning at home.
Middle school students measure how much dust, pollen, and other particulate matter is present in the air around them by placing “pollution detectors” in various locations and then examining the captured air particles to determine which places have more or fewer airborne particles. In a companion activity, they engineer methods of removing contaminants.
