This lesson is an exciting conclusion to the airplanes unit that encourages students to think creatively. After a review of the concepts learned, students will design their own flying machine based on their knowledge of the forces involved in flight, the properties of available materials, and the ways in which their flying machine could benefit society. Students will also learn how the brainstorming process helps in creative thinking and inventing and that scientists and engineers use this technique to come up with new products or modify and improve exiting products.

 Students extend their knowledge of the skeletal system to biomedical engineering design, specifically the concept of artificial limbs and joints. Students relate the skeleton as a structural system, focusing on the hand as structural necessity. They learn about the design considerations involved in the creation of artificial limbs, including materials. This lesson plan was developed for emergent bilingual students who are intermediate or advanced in their English language development skills. This lesson is adapted from the following resources, "Engineering Bones" and "Prosthetic Party," on the TeachEngineering Digital Library: https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_biomed_lesson01, https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/cub_biomed_lesson01_activity1

Students learn about water poverty and how water engineers can develop appropriate solutions to a problem that is plaguing nearly a sixth of the world's population. Students follow the engineering design process to design a gravity-fed water system. They choose between different system parameters such as pipe sizes, elevation differentials between entry and exit pipes, pipe lengths and tube locations to find a design that provides the maximum flow and minimum water turbidity (cloudiness) at the point of use. In this activity, students play the role of water engineers by designing and building model gravity-fed water systems, learning the key elements necessary for viable projects that help improve the lives people in developing communities.

This is a debate-style learning activity in which student teams learn about energy sources and are then assigned to represent the different energy sources. Working cooperatively, students develop arguments on the pros and cons of their source over the others.

In conjunction with a synchronous presentation, this course supports middle school educators in developing lessons for incorporating green chemistry and sustainable design into their classroom teaching.  The course explores a variety of topics and resources, providing many links to freely available curriculum and resources. 

Students are introduced to innovative stormwater management strategies that are being used to restore the hydrology and water quality of urbanized areas to pre-development conditions. Collectively called green infrastructure (GI) and low-impact development (LID) technologies, they include green roofs and vegetative walls, bioretention or rain gardens, bioswales, planter boxes, permeable pavement, urban tree canopy, rainwater harvesting, downspout disconnection, green streets and alleys, and green parking. These approaches differ from the traditional centralized stormwater collection system with the idea of handling stormwater at its sources, resulting in many environmental, economic and societal benefits. A PowerPoint® presentation provides photographic examples, and a companion file gives students the opportunity to sketch in their ideas for using the technologies to make improvements to 10 real-world design scenarios.

Students form expert engineering teams working for the (fictional) alternative energy consulting firm, Greenewables, Inc. Each team specializes in a form of renewable energy used to generate electrical power: passive solar, solar photovoltaic, wind power, low-impact hydropower, biomass, geothermal and (for more advanced students) hydrogen fuel cells. Teams produce poster presentations making a case for their technology and produce an accompanying PDF document using Adobe Acrobat that summarizes the presentation. This activity is geared towards fifth-grade and older students, and Internet research capabilities are required. Some portions of this activity may be appropriate with younger students.

Build your own miniature "greenhouse" out of a plastic container and plastic wrap, and fill it with different things such as dirt and sand to observe the effect this has on temperature. Monitor the temperature using temperature probes and digitally plot the data on the graphs provided in the activity.

Student teams locate a contaminant spill in a hypothetical site by measuring the pH of soil samples. Then they predict the direction of groundwater flow using mathematical modeling. They also use the engineering design process to come up with alternative treatments for the contaminated water.

Students discover how tiny microscopic plants can remove nutrients from polluted water. They also learn how to engineer a system to remove pollutants faster and faster by changing the environment for the algae.

Students are presented with a guide to rain garden construction in an activity that culminates the unit and pulls together what they have learned and prepared in materials during the three previous associated activities. They learn about the four vertical zones that make up a typical rain garden with the purpose to cultivate natural infiltration of stormwater. Student groups create personal rain gardens planted with native species that can be installed on the school campus, within the surrounding community, or at students' homes to provide a green infrastructure and low-impact development technology solution for areas with poor drainage that often flood during storm events.

Students engage in the second design challenge of the unit, which is an extension of the maze challenge they solved in the first lesson/activity of this unit. Students extend the ideas learned in the maze challenge with a focus more on the robot design. Gears are a very important part of any machine, particularly when it has a power source such as engine or motor. Specifically, students learn how to design the gear train from the LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT servomotor to the wheel to make the LEGO taskbot go faster or slower. A PowerPoint® presentation, pre/post quizzes and a worksheet are provided.

Discover how electricity can be converted into other forms of energy such as light and heat. Connect resistors and holiday light bulbs to simple circuits and monitor the temperature over time. Investigate the differences in temperature between the circuit with the resistor and the circuit using the bulb.

Students further their understanding of the engineering design process while combining mechanical engineering and bioengineering to create an automated medical device. During the activity, students are given a fictional client statement and are required to follow the steps of the design process to create medical devices that help reduce the workload for hospital workers and increase the quality of patient care.

In this unit designed for an integrated middle school science classroom, students investigate why athletes ice injuries. This leads students to wonder why actual bags of ice are used instead of the instant ice packs found in first aid kits. Students then investigate the chemical reaction occurring within an instant ice pack and work to develop a better design.

Anchoring Phenomenon: First aid care for musculoskeletal injuries using bags of ice instead of instant ice packs containing an endothermic chemical reaction.

NGSS PEs Addressed: MS-PS1-1; MS-PS1-2; MS-PS1-5; MS-PS1-6; MS-PS3-3; MS-LS1-8; MS-ETS1-1

Cover Image Source: https://www.stack.com/a/cryotherapy

Do you have coffee filters, masking tape, and some bendy straws handy? Grab those and a few more supplies from your kitchen and you're ready to start thinking like an engineer.

Throughout this problem-based learning module students will address real world skills. Students will be asked to brainstorm ideas and think innovatively both independently and collaboratively in addressing a real-world problem that is relevant to their daily lives and surroundings.  Students/teams will be encouraged to use the internet for research purposes in their design phase. What components should be included for a modern, updated classroom? Students will utilize various online platforms to design an ideal, modern, contemporary “dream classroom”.  Students will incorporate components that would meet the needs of all learners and a classroom that would be able to integrate technology. These classrooms can be shared with relevant individuals in the community and others in the school building.

How can we use solar energy to improve the lives of people living “off-the-grid” in Kenya? This unit explores the NGSS Middle School bundle for Engineering Design (MS-ETS1-1, MS-ETS1-2, MS-ETS1-3, MS-ETS1-4) by engaging students in a Project-Based engineering task where students develop and apply their understanding of solar energy to create a solar device which can generate electricity for people who have lost power due to a natural disaster.

This resource provides guidance on site selection for the GLOBE Atmosphere data collection protocols. Instructions for building an instrument shelter, a snowboard, an ozone measurement station, and a wind direction instrument are included.

Acting as if they are biomedical engineers, students design and print 3D prototypes of pressure sensors that measure the pressure of the eyes of people diagnosed with glaucoma. After completing the tasks within the associated lesson, students conduct research on pressure gauges, apply their understanding of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology and its components, iterate their designs to make improvements, and use 3D software to design and print 3D prototypes. After successful 3D printing, teams present their models to their peers. If a 3D printer is not available, use alternate fabrication materials such as modeling clay, or end the activity once the designs are complete.