Students in grades 7 to 9 build model roller coasters using pipe insulation and marbles, then analyze them using physics principles, including conversions between kinetic and potential energy and frictional effects. A class competition using various marbles to represent different passenger loads determines the most innovative and successful designs.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Building Roller Coasters

Tags: Class Activities, forces and motion, friction, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Gravity, Lesson Plan, NASA education, Physics, rides, roller coasters, theme park

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

Students in grades 9 and 10 are introduced to the biomechanical characteristics of helmets and challenged to incorporate them into helmet designs. They come to understand the role of engineering associated with safety products – in this case protecting the brain and neck of a bicyclist in the event of a crash, with the design dependent on the user’s needs and specifications.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Build a Bike Helmet

Tags: bicycle, bicycle helmet, Class Activities, EcoHelmet, Engineering Design Process, force and motion, Grades 9-12, Lesson Plan, Materials Engineering, NHTSA, Physics, Safety engineering, Sports, video

Students in grades 6 to 8 explore food production problems related to population growth and then engineer a model vertical farm as a potential solution in a fictional community, Greentown, culminating with a presentation to the imaginary city’s “legislators.”

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, K-12 Outreach Programs, Lesson Plans, Web Resources | Comments Off on Engineer a Vertical Farm

Tags: agriculture, Class Activities, crops, EiE, Engineering Design Process, engineering grand challenges, Engineering is Elementary, Engineering is Everywhere, Environmental Engineering, Environmental science, food supply, Grades 6-8, greenhouse, plant science, school gardens, STEM education, vertical farming, Web Resources

Students learn about the Great Pacific garbage patch, research the extent and impact of plastics pollution on oceans, and present that information as a short, eye-catching newsletter suitable to hand out to fast-food restaurant customers. 

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Ahoy! Plastic in the Ocean

Tags: Class Activities, Common Core State Standards, data analysis, ecosystem, Environmental Engineering, environmental stewardship, GIS, Grades 6-8, graphic design, great ocean garbage dump, Lesson Plan, literacy, Mapping, Marine Science, Pollution, Research, STEAM, Videos, water cycle, writing

Couldn’t make it to ASEE’s Engineering Day at the 2017 National Science Teachers Association regional conferences or annual STEM Forum? Check out these hands-on highlights – and join us at the NSTA STEM Forum in Philadelphia July 11-13, 2018!

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Filed under: K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features, Web Resources | Comments Off on ASEE Engineering Day Highlights

Tags: American Society for Engineering Education K-12, ASEE, assessment design, Class Activities, Design, Energy, force and motion, Harpeth Hall School, Liesl Hotaling, NGSS, NSTA, penguins, polar ice, polar research, Resources for Teachers, sensors, STEM education, STEM NOLA, Web Resources

Working in pairs, students in grades 6 to 8 follow the engineering design process to create the strongest truss bridge using a fixed amount of plastic drinking straws and tape. Let the competition begin!

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

Tags: bridge, Bridge Design, Class Activities, Engineering Design Process, forces, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plan, truss

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

Children’s literature is full of memorable wildlife adventure stories, but Deborah Lee Rose and Jane Veltkamp’s Beauty and the Beak may be the first to feature engineers and their role in outfitting an injured eagle with a 3-D printed prosthetic beak. A free education guide with standards-based STEM, STEAM, and literacy lessons accompanies the book, winner of the 2018 AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books.

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Filed under: Class Activities, For Teachers, Special Features, Web Resources | Comments Off on Injured Eagle Lands New Beak

Tags: 3-D printing, AAAS/Suburu best science books, bald eagle rescue, Beauty and the Beak, biologyy, Birds of Prey Northwest, children's literature, Class Activities, Deborah Lee Rose, eagle, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental science, Internet Resources, Jane Veltkamp, Prosthetics, raptor, Resources for Teachers, STEM education, wildlife, wildlife engineering, wildlife rescue