Elementary students act as civil engineers to design and build a house that the big, bad wolf cannot blow down. If time allows, they can redesign and test their structures.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades K-5 | Comments Off on Three Little Pigs Design Challenge

Tags: Civil Engineering, Class Activities, Design, design challenge, ELA, Engineering Design Process, forces, Grades K-5, literacy, materials, NGSS, structures, three little pigs, wind

Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other destructive events offer timely “teachable moments” about the role of engineers in improving weather forecasts and reducing the toll from natural disasters. eGFI Teachers’s collection of activities, feature articles, and other resources can help you integrate engineering into your classes – and inspire the next generation of “crisis” engineers.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans, Special Features | Comments Off on Disaster Engineering

Tags: Army Corps of Engineers, build, building, Class Activities, data, Disaster relief, drought, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, erosion, forces, hurricane, Hurricane Maria, measure, Mining, motion, National Guard, natural disasters, Physics, rescue, storm, Structural Engineering, Teacher Resources, Technology, tornado, Weather, Web Resources

In this engineering design challenge about building in hurricane-prone regions, students learn that a solid base helps stabilize a structure by constructing, testing, and redesigning a tower that can support a tennis ball at least 18 inches off the ground while withstanding the wind from a fan.
Note: While suitable for all ages, this activity works best with upper elementary students and older.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5 | Comments Off on Building for Hurricanes

Tags: build, Civil Engineering, Class Activities, Engineering Design, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, hurricane, skyscraper

Working in groups of 8, middle school students use their senses to describe and predict the weather, then act as state park engineers and design/build “backyard weather stations” to gather data to make actual weather forecasts.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Backyard Weather Station

Tags: air mass, Class Activities, clouds, cold front, data, Design, Earth Science, Environmental science, forecast, Grades 6-8, hurricane, Lesson Plan, measurement, Meteorology, NGSS, thermometer, Weather, weather station

Turn an empty cereal box into a pinhole projector or choose another DIY project for safely viewing the solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. Don’t forget to look around, too, as your shadow sharpens, the horizon colors with sunset hues, and birds roost!

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features, Web Resources | Comments Off on Build a Cereal Box Eclipse Viewer

Tags: Astronomy, camera obscura, cereal box, Class Activities, eclipse, informal science education, Lesson Plans, NASA, pinhole projector, STEM education, sun, viewer, Web Resources

Middle school students learn about the Earth’s geometrical relation to the sun by calculating where the sun will be in the sky for any date or time given a particular location on Earth, such as their school. The three-activity module was developed by lighting engineer Tony Esposito, Ph.D., during his graduate studies at Pennsylvania State University and made available to eGFI Teachers.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans, Special Features | Comments Off on Solar Geometry

Tags: angle, calendar, Class Activities, day, earth sciences, eclipse, Environmental Engineering, Environmental science, Geometry, globe, Grades 6-8, latitude, Lesson Plans, light engineering, longitude, map, Mathematics, NASA, Project CANDLE, season, Solar Geometry, sun, Tony Esposito Jr.

TeachEngineering, a searchable online library of more than 1,400 teacher-tested activities and lessons developed for use in STEM classrooms, just got a makeover. Improvements include videos, Maker challenges, alignment with Common Core math and Next Generation science standards, and “Sprinkles” – abbreviated versions of popular activities designed for use in after-school programs.

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Filed under: Web Resources | Comments Off on TeachEngineering Adds Video, Maker Challenges

Tags: afterschool activities, Class Activities, Common Core mathematics, Design, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, hands-on activities, Internet Resources, Lesson Plan, maker challenges, Next Generation Science Standards, Resources for Teachers, searchable STEM library, standards, teachengineering, Videos, Web Resources

Stitched circuits and musical instruments made from marshmallows are among the latest offerings in the 2017 Maker Camp, a virtual DIY summer camp sponsored by Make magazine. Many activities could work well as classroom projects, too!

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, K-12 Outreach Programs, Web Resources | Comments Off on Virtual Maker Camp

Tags: Class Activities, DIY, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, Internet Resources, Make magazine, Maker camp, STEAM, Summer Camps & Programs (Students), virtual field trips, Web Resources

Working in groups of three, middle school students learn about types of forces, the relationship between form and function, and the structure of the hand by working as biomedical engineers to design, build, and test their own hand “gripper” prototypes that can grasp and lift a 200 ml cup of sand.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Lend A Hand: Teaching Forces

Tags: adaptive device, anatomy, assistive technology, Biomedical Engineering, Class Activities, Design, disability, forces, Grades 6-8, hand, Lesson Plan, prosthetic