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Contest: 3D Printing Challenge

extreme redesignThe Extreme Redesign 3D Printing Challenge invites middle school, high school, and college-level students worldwide to send the Stratasys 3D printing company their best redesigns. Along with cash prizes, the top 10 entries for each category will be printed on a Stratasys 3D Printer. Deadline: Feb. 6, 2013.

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Contest: AbilityOne Design Challenge

abilityone design challengeThe AbilityOne® Design Challenge encourages students to develop assistive technologies that empower people with disabilities to overcome barriers to employment. The design challenge is a service learning opportunity for students in grades 9-12 in the High School Program. Deadline: Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, 12:00 p.m.

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Lesson: Tennis, Anyone?

tennisIn this lesson, students in grades 3 to 12 explore how engineers incorporate the latest materials and manufacturing techniques to improve the performance of sports equipment by constructing a functional racquet out of everyday materials that can volley against another team’s racquet at least six times.

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New Science Standards Debut

lab and standardsThe much-anticipated first draft of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) was released for public comment May 11, a day after a federal report showed slim gains in science proficiency among the nation’s 8th graders. The standards, which include engineering and design, represent a profound shift in what students will be expected to know and be able to do. Want to weigh in? You have until June 1.

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Lesson: Can-Do Canoe

canoeIn this activity, teams of students in grades 3-12 explore the engineering design process by building model canoes from everyday materials and testing their design in a basin. The canoes must be able to float for three minutes and, for older students, support a load. Students then evaluate the effectiveness of their canoes and those of other teams, and present their findings to the class.

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The Engineering Design Process

design processSafer highways. Cool phone apps. Green buildings. Thrilling roller coasters. What do all these things have in common? All bear the stamp of engineering design – a process of brainstorming, building, testing, and refining to create a product, service, or system within time or resource limits.

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Feature: Solar Decathlon Powers Up

New Zealand TeamWhat does it take to build a solar village, where homes not only are designed to create more energy than they use but are comfortable and cool to look at, too? For some 19 collegiate teams from the U.S. and aborad installing their entries to the 2011 Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C., this past weekend, the answer is: lots of hands-on work involving hammers, wrenches, plumbing, and construction cranes.

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Student Invents ‘Walking Chair’

Walking ChairA British product-design student has invented a wheel-chair alternative whose legs can lift up and step over obstacles. Martin Harris, 21, hopes his invention will give people with mobility issues more freedom. He also believes his design, which was inspired by the kinetic sculpture of Dutch engineer-artist Theo Jansen, has potential uses in agricultural machinery or military vehicles.

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Lesson: Design a Sturdy Paper Table

Paper TableIn this lesson, students in grades 4-7 explore the engineering design process by building a table out of tubes of newspaper that is strong enough to hold a heavy book. They learn to brainstorm, test, evaluate, and redesign their tables to support more weight and figure out how to keep the table legs from buckling.

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