Students in grades 3 to 5 learn about their heart rate and different ways it can be measured by constructing and using a simple device to measure their heart rate under different circumstances, such as sitting, standing, and jumping. They make predictions and record data on a worksheet.

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on The Beat Goes On

Tags: Biomedical Engineering, Class Activities, Grades K-5, Health, heart, Lesson Plan, NGSS aligned, pulse, stethoscope, teachengineering

“It started out as a beautiful day, but in a disaster, anything can happen at any time…” So begins Extreme Event, a free, hour-long role-playing game from the National Academy of Sciences’ Marian Koshland Science Museum. The game is latest addition to teacher resources designed to help students and communities use science to address climate change, health, and other problems.

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Filed under: K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features, Web Resources | Comments Off on Extreme Event: Free STEM Games

Tags: chlimate change, Class Activities, Environmental Engineering, Environmental science, game, Health, Internet Resources, Koshland Science Museum, National Academies of Sciences, natural disasters, Public Policy, Resources for Teachers, role playing, Web Resources

Middle and high school students follow the engineering design process to create wearable devices to monitor the health of humans, animals, or both in this competition sponsored by North Carolina State University’s Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Advanced Self-Powered Systems of Integrated Sensors and Technologies (ASSIST). The program includes teacher training and lesson plans to help implement the design challenge. Register teams by Feb. 15, 2018.

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Filed under: Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, K-12 Outreach Programs | Comments Off on Wearable Device Challenge

Tags: Biomedical Engineering, Competitions for Students, Contest, Electrical Engineering, Engineering Design Process, environment, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Health, Lesson Plans, sensors, Teacher Training, wearable technology

In many poor, rural areas of the world, scourges like malaria, HIV/AIDS, and malnutrition are endemic. Blood tests for anemia are a quick way to diagnose them, but it can take days to get results back from hospitals many miles away. Last year, a multidisciplinary team of Rice University undergraduates devised a clever solution: It’s a centrifuge fashioned from a common salad spinner.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Feature: Low Cost, High Impact

Tags: Clean Water, Disease, Engineers Without Borders, Health, Healthcare, University outreach, Water management

This annual Spirit of Innovation Challenge from the Conrad Foundation invites high school student teams to use STEM skills to develop the products of tomorrow. Along the way, coaches, world-renowned scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs act as mentors to help turn their ideas into a reality.

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Filed under: Grades 9-12, K-12 Outreach Programs | Comments Off on Contest: Spirit of Innovation Challenge

Tags: Aerospace, Aerospace Engineering, Alternative Energy, Competitions for Students, Contest, Contests, Energy, Essay Competition, Essay Contest, food processing, Food safety, food-safety engineering, Green Technology, Health, Science Contest

Many American children engage in no physical activity outside of school, and slashed state budgets mean even fewer phys-ed classes in some districts. But new studies indicate that aerobic exercise can strengthen minds, as well as bodies.

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Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Exercise Strengthens Brainpower

Tags: Education Policy, Health, Public Policy, Research, Research on Learning, Sports