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Find engaging engineering lesson plans for your pre-university students that will make engineering fun.
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| Category | Description | Ages |
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In this lesson, students build spinning tops out of everyday materials. Their challenge is to design a spinning top that can spin for at least 10 seconds within a circle 30 centimeters in diameter. |
8 - 18 |
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Toxic Popcorn Design Challenge This lesson introduces students to the engineering design process (EDP)- the process engineers use to solve design challenges. Students work in teams to solve the challenge by designing both a product and process to safely remove "toxic" popcorn and save the city. |
8 - 18 |
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This lesson focuses on trebuchet design. Teams of students construct trebuchets from everyday materials. They then test their trebuchets to determine the farthest distance they can hit a target with a marshmallow projectile. |
12 - 18 |
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Lesson focuses on two simple activities younger students can do to gain an appreciation of nanotechnology. First, students measure their hands in nanometers; second, students learn about liquid crystals, their applications, and nanotechnology connections, and test how the heat of their hands changes the color of the crystals. They observe what they see, present their findings to the class, and reflect on the experience. |
8 - 11 |
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Demonstrate how two switches interact in an electrical circuit such as that used to sound a buzzer. Note: This lesson plan is designed for classroom use only, with supervision by a teacher familiar with electrical and electronic concepts. |
8 - 14 |
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Using Ohm's Law to Build a Voltage Divider Students will design, build, and characterize one of the basic circuits of electrical engineering, the voltage divider. These circuits produce a wide range of output voltages and are building blocks for more complex circuits. Circuit design will emphasize the concepts of Ohm's Law and students will explore mathematical relationships of parallel and series resistors. Students will demonstrate their design efforts by building prototype circuits and using test measurement tools to confirm their predictions. |
8 - 18 |
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This lesson demonstrates how a hydraulic pump works. Students work in teams to design and build a unique water fountain that employs a hydraulic pump. |
10 - 18 |
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Lesson focuses on aerospace engineering and how space flight has been achieved from an engineering vantage point. Student teams build and launch a rocket made out of a soda bottle and powered with an air pump and consider the forces on a rocket, Newton's Laws, and other principles and challenges of actual space vehicle launch. Teams design their structure on paper, learn about aerospace engineering, launch their rocket, and share observations with their class. |
8 - 18 |
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Lesson focuses on water storage and how engineering helps communities preserve and supply water to populations. Students work in teams to design and build a water tower out of everyday materials that can "supply" and "shut off" water as needed. The system will need to deliver water in a controlled manner to a paper cup that is about 36 inches or 90 centimeters away in a controlled manner. They design their tower, build and test their system, evaluate their results, and share observations with their class. |
8 - 18 |
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Lesson focuses on how structural engineers have improved the designs of building -- specifically roofing -- over the years to improve the quality of homes and life. Teams of students work together using simple materials to design a roof that will keep the contents of a box dry during a water test. Students determine both the shape of the roof and materials used for construction, test their designs, and present their findings to the class. |
8 - 18 |
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