Student pairs experience the iterative engineering design process as they design, build, test and improve catching devices to prevent a "naked" egg from breaking when dropped from increasing heights. To support their design work, they learn about materials properties, energy types and conservation of energy. Acting as engineering teams, during the activity and competition they are responsible for design and construction planning within project constraints, including making engineering modifications for improvement. They carefully consider material choices to balance potentially competing requirements (such as impact-absorbing and low-cost) in the design of their prototypes. They also experience a real-world transfer of energy as the elevated egg's gravitational potential energy turns into kinetic energy as it falls and further dissipates into other forms upon impact. Pre- and post-activity assessments and a scoring rubric are provided. The activity scales up to district or regional egg drop competition scale. As an alternative to a ladder, detailed instructions are provided for creating a 10-foot-tall egg dropper rig.

The original Native American story component lesson was developed as part of an Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and Washington State Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER) project funded through an EPA Region 10 grant. The stories were told by Roger Fernandes of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe. Mr. Fernandes has been given permission by the tribes to tell these stories.As these lessons and stories were shared prior to the adoption of the Washington State Science Learning Standards in 2013, there was a need to align these stories with the current science standards. This resource provides a current alignment and possible lesson suggestions on how these stories can be incorporated into the classroom. This alignment work has been funded by the NGSS & Climate Science Proviso of the Washington State Legislature as a part of North Central Educational Service District's award.

Using new knowledge acquired in the associated lesson, students program LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robots to go through a maze using movement blocks. The maze is created on the classroom floor with cardboard boxes as its walls. Student pairs follow the steps of the engineering design process to brainstorm, design and test programs to success. Through this activity, students understand how to create and test a basic program. A PowerPoint® presentation, pre/post quizzes and worksheet are provided.

Solar energy in the form of light is available to organisms on Earth in abundance. Natural systems and other organisms have structures that function in ways to manage the interaction with and use of this energy. In this storyline, students compare resources used for energy and their effect on the atmosphere. Students will explore how light energy interacts with materials and how light energy can be transformed into energy for heating and cooling.

While food waste is not typically seen as contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, it is a major contributor. Reducing food waste is the 3rd most beneficial drawdown solution. Wasted food, and the resources to produce that food, are responsible for approximately 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. When individuals and groups reduce food waste, it has a huge impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Food waste awareness is applicable to every person and community. In this storyline, students conduct a “food waste audit”. Each participating class of students collects, sorts and measures their food waste for one day at lunch. Students discuss the local and global causes and effects of food waste in the environment. Students will also learn the cultural connections around food waste from experts or elders from the local Indian tribe and inquire how different agencies in the community deal with food waste (e.g, grocery store, food bank, city). Suggestion for how students can present their findings and create an action plan are also included. 

Mientras que el desperdicio de comida no es típicamente visto como un contribuyente de emisiones de gas de efecto invernadero, es un contribuyente mayor. Reducir el desperdicio de comida es la 3era solución más beneficiosa para la reducción de dichos gases. La comida desperdiciada y los recursos para producirla, son responsables del aproximadamente 8% de las emisiones globales de gases de efecto invernadero. Cuando los individuos y grupos reducen el desperdicio de comida, esto tiene un gran impacto en la reducción de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. La conciencia del desperdicio de comida es aplicable a cada persona y comunidad. En este caso, los estudiantes van a conducir una “auditoría de desperdicio de comida”. Cada clase de estudiantes participantes recolecta, clasifica y mide su desperdicio de comida por un día durante el almuerzo. Los estudiantes discuten las causas locales y globales y los efectos del desperdicio de comida en el ambiente. Los estudiantes también aprenden las conexiones culturales alrededor del desperdicio de comida de los expertos o gente mayor de las tribus locales, e indagan cómo las diferentes agencias en la comunidad lidian con el desperdicio de comida (e.g. tiendas de abarrotes, bancos de comida, la ciudad). Los estudiantes presentan sus resultados y crean un plan de acción.

After a brief history of plastics, students look more closely as some examples from the abundant types of plastics found in our day-to-day lives. They are introduced to the mechanical properties of plastics, including their stress-strain relationships, which determine their suitability for different industrial and product applications. These physical properties enable plastics to be fabricated into a wide range of products. Students learn about the different roles that plastics play in our lives, Young's modulus, and the effects that plastics have on our environment. Then students act as industrial engineers, conducting tests to compare different plastics and performing a cost-benefit analysis to determine which are the most cost-effective for a given application, based on their costs and measured physical properties.

In this activity, students act as power engineers by specifying the power plants to build for a community. They are given a budget, an expected power demand from the community, and different power plant options with corresponding environmental effects. They can work through this scenario as a class or on their own.

Students apply what they have learned about the engineering design process to a real-life problem that affects them and/or their school. They chose a problem as a group, and then follow the engineering design process to come up with and test their design solution. This activity teaches students how to use the engineering design process while improving something in the school environment that matters to them. By performing each step of the design process, students can experience what it is like to be an engineer.

In this hands-on inquiry-based activity, students face an engineering challenge based on real-world applications. They are tasked with developing a tool they can use to measure the amount of rain that falls each day. This is more of a mini unit than a stand alone activity.

Students consider the ways their climate affects their region, by identifying a type of food unique to the region and selecting (and possibly cooking) a recipe that features that ingredient. Optional activities to make the food are also provided.

Students learn about material reuse by designing and building the strongest and tallest towers they can, using only recycled materials. They follow design constraints and build their towers to withstand earthquake and high wind simulations.

Building on what they learned about wired and wireless electrical connections in the associated lesson, students use Android phones to take advantage of Bluetooth wireless connections to remotely guide LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robots through a maze. They compare this wireless remote control navigation to their previous experiences navigating LEGO robots via programming. A PowerPoint® presentation and pre/post quizzes are provided.

In this eight-lesson unit, students explore cultural connections with the sun, learn about light and discover how light interacts with other materials through hands-on activities, literacy integration, and engineering.

Students experience the engineering design process as they design and build accurate and precise catapults using common materials. They use their catapults to participate in a game in which they launch Ping-Pong balls to attempt to hit various targets.

Warming oceans and melting landlocked ice caused by global climate change may result in rising sea levels. This rise in sea level combined with increased intensity and frequency of storms will produce storm surges that flood subways, highways, homes, and more. In this activity, visitors design and test adaptations to prepare for flooding caused by sea level rise.

Through the two lessons and five activities in this unit, students' knowledge of sensors and motors is integrated with programming logic as they perform complex tasks using LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robots and software. First, students are introduced to the discipline of engineering and "design" in general terms. Then in five challenge activities, student teams program LEGO robots to travel a maze, go as fast/slow as possible, push another robot, follow a line, and play soccer with other robots. This fifth unit in the series builds on the previous units and reinforces the theme of the human body as a system with sensors performing useful functions, not unlike robots. Through these design challenges, students become familiar with the steps of the engineering design process and come to understand how science, math and engineering including computer programming are used to tackle design challenges and help people solve real problems. PowerPoint® presentations, quizzes and worksheets are provided throughout the unit.

Students learn how two LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT intelligent bricks can be programmed so that one can remotely control the other. They learn about the components and functionality in the (provided) controller and receiver programs. When its buttons are pressed, the NXT brick assigned as the remote control device uses the controller program to send Bluetooth® messages. When the NXT taskbot/brick assigned as the receiver receives certain Bluetooth messages, it moves, as specified by the receiver program. Students examine how the programs and devices work in tandem, gaining skills as they play "robot soccer." As the concluding activity in this unit, this activity provides a deeper dimension of understanding programming logic compared to previous activities in this unit and introduces the relatively new and growing concept of wireless communication. A PowerPoint® presentation, pre/post quizzes and a worksheet are provided.

Students learn how and why engineers design satellites to benefit life on Earth, as well as explore motion, rockets and rocket motion. Through six lessons and 10 associated hands-on activities, students discover that the motion of all objects everything from the flight of a rocket to the movement of a canoe is governed by Newton's three laws of motion. This unit introduces students to the challenges of getting into space for the purpose of exploration. The ideas of thrust, weight and control are explored, helping students to fully understand what goes into the design of rockets and the value of understanding these scientific concepts. After learning how and why the experts make specific engineering choices, students also learn about the iterative engineering design process as they design and construct their own model rockets. Then students explore triangulation, a concept that is fundamental to the navigation of satellites and global positioning systems designed by engineers; by investigating these technologies, they learn how people can determine their positions and the locations of others.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to the importance of sleep and its effects on the body. Students will complete a pre-test activity, which tests their prior knowledge of sleep. A class discussion on sleep allows the teacher to identify and clarify any misconceptions that students may have before beginning the sleep exploration. While the sleep journal activity is in progress, students should view the Scientastic- Are You Sleeping video. In addition to the sleep journal, students will be recording their relative sleepiness levels on three different days during the exploration. Students will maintain their sleep journals for 10 days, after which they will use the data collected to calculate their average sleep times. Afterwards, students will compare their results with to their classmates. This will be used to generate a "How Tired Are You Today?" graph. This activity can be used to show students how their sleepiness levels can change throughout the day and how they may not be consistent everyday of the week.