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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: Dance Pad Mania

dance pad revolutionIn this lesson, pairs of students in grades 4 to 7 will learn about the engineering design process and electrical circuits by building a dance pad that sounds a buzzer or flashes a light when stepped on.

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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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Lesson: A Design Squad Sampler

Design Squad logo

eGFI teachers’ newsletters have featured activities and lesson plans developed by PBS’s Design Squad Nation, with video links and suggested modifications for different age groups. Here’s a sampler:

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Lesson: Pop Fly!

baseballIn this lesson, students in grades 3 – 12 will explore the engineering design process by building a device that can launch a ping-pong ball high enough for them to catch it.

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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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Activity: Paper Cup Challenge

Paper CupsIn this lesson, students in grades 5 through 8 are challenged to redesign the classic paper cup so that no tape, glue, or staples are necessary, reducing production costs and the cost of individual paper cups. Each pair of students will be given a stack of paper to design a new paper container that can hold water for a short period of time.

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Lesson: Construct a Road Sign Support

Overhead Road SignIn this lesson, students in grades 6-12 use simple materials to design, build, and test a model of a free-standing structure used to support overhead road signs. They begin by learning about the engineering design process and researching about support structures. They then work in groups to design and build their own sign supports. The final designs are tested to see how they stand up to two different types of loads.

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