Activity: Solving Real Challenges with Engineering
Posted on January 2nd, 2011 by Jaimie Schock
In a multipart activity, students in grades 5-9 discover different engineering disciplines and brainstorm how different engineering skills can be applied to local or world problems. This eGFI original class activity is based on the winning submission to eGFI’s innovative teaching idea contest.
Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5 | 1 Comment »
Tags: Civil Engineering, Class Activities, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Grand Challenges
In this lesson, students in grades 4-12 learn about the history of catapults and how they work. They assemble their own catapult model, making adjustments to improve its performance. Students gain engineering experience while learning principles of physics and working with the scientific processes of experimentation and trial and error.
This lesson teaches students in grades 5-8 about projectile motion through a hands-on activity, an online video from “Science of NFL Football,” and a computer simulation project.
Students in grades 6-12 are challenged to build a drinking straw tower that can withstand simulated earthquake vibrations and increasing weight and pressure. Doing so, they learn basic principles of design and earthquake engineering while practicing team skills.
eGFI has come out with packs of 16 colorful cards explaining the engineering disciplines, complete with a teacher guide with ways to use them in classrooms. We think you can come up with even more great ideas. Best one wins a $50 Amazon Gift Card. The contest is OVER, and the winner has been posted (see inside)!
This fun — but gooey — experiment with cornstarch has students in grades 3-8 creating, then testing, a batch of cornstarch ooze. They learn about the unusual properties of this and other non-Newtonian fluids.
The NASA Quest Website offers a range of online resources for teachers, students, parents, and others, so that the public can share the excitement of NASA’s authentic scientific and engineering pursuits, like flying in the Shuttle and the International Space Station, exploring distant planets with spacecraft, and building the aircraft of the future.
Students in grades 5-12 try to build the tallest structure they can using only two sheets of newspaper. As they do so, they learn about building design.
What kinds of foods are easiest to ferment for fuel? Ethanol is made from a variety of plant substances – corn, sugar cane, even some kinds of wood. In this activity, students test different substances to see what they can learn about fermentation.
