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Solar Sails: The Future of Space Travel

LightSail solar sail spacecraftTeams of students in grades 7 to 9 follow the engineering design process to create, construct, test, and improve model solar sails made of aluminum foil to move cardboard tube satellites through “space” on a string. During the process, they learn about Newton’s laws of motion and the transfer of energy from wave energy to mechanical energy. 

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Intro to Engineering through the Olympics

Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony dronesStudents in grades 3 to 5 learn about basic principles of engineering through a series of 12 hands-on activities and lessons related to the Olympics and sports, including designing venues and protective gear.

Photo by Rede do Esporte, CC BY 3.0 br, Link

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Engineering Better Bikes

Liv Cycling bike designFrom better mountain-bike suspension systems to frames designed for women, there’s a lot of engineering that goes into today’s high-performance bicycles. Meet some of the engineers whose research is improving your ride!

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Activity: Catapult Marshmallow Launch

MashmallowsThis simple catapult activity for students in grades 4 – 8 teaches them how energy is transferred when a plastic spoon is pulled back, then released, rocketing its payload — a single marshmallow.

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The Great Gravity Escape

water balloonsStudents in grades 6 to 8 use water balloons and string to understand how the force of gravity between two objects and the velocity of a spacecraft can balance to form an orbit. They see that when the velocity becomes too great for gravity to hold the spacecraft in orbit, the object escapes the orbit and travels further away from the planet.

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Build a Kicking Machine

PBS Design Squad Kicking Machine iconStudents in grades 4 to 9 learn about projectile motion by designing, building, and testing a machine that can kick a Ping-Pong ball into a cup lying on its side 12 inches away.

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Building Roller Coasters

marble roller coaster in classroomStudents 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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Bobsled Blitz

Australia men's bobsleigh team training in PyeongchangStudents 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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Engineering the National Pastime

baseball and batBaseball traditions may not have changed much, but engineering has helped improve performance, safety, and equipment – including perfecting the swing. Baseball also offers a great context for teaching math and science, and eGFI has compiled some helpful sites.

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