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Elementary Science

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Plumbing the Deep - Using Sound Waves to See
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Educational Use
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In this lesson, students learn about echolocation: what it is and how engineers use it to "see" things in the dark, or deep underwater. Also, they learn how animals use echolocation to catch their dinner and travel the ocean waters and skies without running into things.

Subject:
Applied Science
Engineering
Physical Science
Physics
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Lesson Plan
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Abigail Watrous
Brian Kay
Frank Burkholder
Janet Yowell
Teresa Ellis
Date Added:
09/18/2014
Polarized Sunglasses
Conditional Remix & Share Permitted
CC BY-NC-SA
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In this activity, learners explore how polarizing sunglasses can help diminish road glare. By rotating a pair of polarizing sunglass lenses or other polarizing materials, learners will discover that some angles are better at reducing glare than others. Learners observe light from the sky, reflected from a mirror, or reflected from the surface of a pond. Use this activity to introduce learners to principles of light and polarization.

Subject:
Physical Science
Physics
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
Exploratorium
Provider Set:
Science Snacks
Date Added:
11/06/2010
Polluted Air = Polluted Lungs
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Educational Use
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To gain a better understanding of the roles and functions of components of the human respiratory system and our need for clean air, students construct model lungs that include a diaphragm and chest cavity. They see how air moving in and out of the lungs coincides with diaphragm movement. Then student teams design and build a prototype face mask pollution filter. They use their model lungs to evaluate their prototypes to design requirements.

Subject:
Anatomy/Physiology
Applied Science
Engineering
Life Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Denise W. Carlson
Jay Shah
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Date Added:
10/14/2015
Pollution Solutions
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Educational Use
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To develop an understanding of modern industrial technologies that clean up and prevent air pollution, students build and observe a variety of simple models of engineering pollutant recovery methods: scrubber, electrostatic precipitator, cyclone and baghouse. In an associated literacy activity, students become more aware of global environmental problems and play a part in their solution by writing environmental action campaign letters.

Subject:
Applied Science
Atmospheric Science
Engineering
Physical Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Lesson Plan
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Amy Kolenbrander
Benjamin S. Terry
Denise W. Carlson
Janet Yowell
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Natalie Mach
Date Added:
09/18/2014
Pop Rockets
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Educational Use
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Students design and build paper rockets around film canisters, which serve as engines. An antacid tablet and water are put into each canister, reacting to form carbon dioxide gas, and acting as the pop rocket's propellant. With the lid snapped on, the continuous creation of gas causes pressure to build up until the lid pops off, sending the rocket into the air. The pop rockets demonstrate Newton's third law of motion: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Subject:
Applied Science
Engineering
Physical Science
Physics
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Brian Argrow
Janet Yowell
Jay Shah
Jeff White
Luke Simmons
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Date Added:
10/14/2015
Population Density: How Much Space Do You Have?
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Educational Use
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Students learn about population density within environments and ecosystems. They determine the density of a population and think about why population density and distribution information is useful to engineers for city planning and design as well as for resource allocation.

Subject:
Applied Science
Architecture and Design
Engineering
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Christopher Valenti
Denise Carlson
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Date Added:
10/14/2015
Potato Power
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Educational Use
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Students use potatoes to light an LED clock (or light bulb) as they learn how a battery works in a simple circuit and how chemical energy changes to electrical energy. As they learn more about electrical energy, they better understand the concepts of voltage, current and resistance.

Subject:
Applied Science
Career and Technical Education
Electronic Technology
Engineering
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Denise W. Carlson
Janet Yowell
Jeff Lyng
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Sharon D. Perez-Suarez
Date Added:
10/14/2015
Powerful Pulleys
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Students continue to explore the story of building a pyramid, learning about the simple machine called a pulley. They learn how a pulley can be used to change the direction of applied forces and move/lift extremely heavy objects, and the powerful mechanical advantages of using a multiple-pulley system. Students perform a simple demonstration to see the mechanical advantage of using a pulley, and they identify modern day engineering applications of pulleys. In a hands-on activity, they see how a pulley can change the direction of a force, the difference between fixed and movable pulleys, and the mechanical advantage gained with multiple / combined pulleys. They also learn the many ways engineers use pulleys for everyday purposes.

Subject:
Applied Science
Architecture and Design
Engineering
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Lesson Plan
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Denise Carlson
Jacquelyn Sullivan
Justin Fritts
Lawrence E. Carlson
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Date Added:
09/18/2014
Powering Smallsburg
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Educational Use
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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.

Subject:
Applied Science
Engineering
Environmental Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Frank Burkholder
Janet Yowell
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Date Added:
10/14/2015
Powering the U.S.
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Educational Use
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This lesson provides students with an overview of the electric power industry in the United States. Students also become familiar with the environmental impacts associated with a variety of energy sources.

Subject:
Applied Science
Engineering
Environmental Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Lesson Plan
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Frank Burkholder
Janet Yowell
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Date Added:
09/18/2014
The Power of Mechanical Advantage
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Students learn about the mechanical advantage offered by pulleys in an interactive and game-like manner. By virtue of the activity's mechatronic presentation, they learn to study a mechanical system not as a static image, but rather as a dynamic system that is under their control. Using a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robotics platform and common hardware items, students build a mechanized elevator system. The ability to control different parameters (such as motor power, testing load and pulley arrangement) enables the teacher, as well as the students, to emphasize and reinforce particular aspects/effects of mechanical advantage.

Subject:
Applied Science
Engineering
Physical Science
Physics
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Carlo Yuvienco
Janet Yowell
Date Added:
09/18/2014
Power to the People
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Educational Use
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Students read and evaluate descriptions of how people live "off the grid" using solar power and come to understand better the degree to which that lifestyle is or is not truly independent of technological, economic and cultural infrastructure and resources. In the process, students develop a deeper appreciation of the meaning of "community" and the need for human connection. This activity is geared towards fifth-grade and older students and Internet research capabilities are required. Portions of this activity may be appropriate with younger students.

Subject:
Applied Science
Engineering
Environmental Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Denise Carlson
Jane Evenson
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Date Added:
10/14/2015
Problem Solve Your School
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Educational Use
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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.

Subject:
Applied Science
Engineering
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Denise W. Carlson
Jackie Sullivan
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Megan Podlogar
Date Added:
10/14/2015
Prodigious Printing Possibilities
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This activity is designed to give students an understanding of one aspect of what an engineer does and the ability to experience various steps in the engineering design process as it relates to a 3D printing task. Students transform into engineers as they work in teams to carry out a 3D printing task by using a blunt-tip needle syringe to print a line using a variety of colored liquid materials (shampoo, conditioner, aloe, and hand sanitizer) into a small plastic box filled with a gel base. Approximating the work of engineers, the teams observe the interactions between the printed material and the gel base at intervals of 10 minutes and iterate, or change, the ink base as necessary to achieve a goal. Using the dye to color the ink allows students to determine which material will permeate or diffuse throughout the base more effectively. Teams share their results to compare with their classmates. A real-world application for this investigation would be when engineers conduct research to develop new medicines, the goal is for the medicine to make its way through the body in the most effective way so that the body can heal.

Subject:
Applied Science
Biology
Engineering
Life Science
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
Activities
Author:
Amanda Spotz
Date Added:
07/03/2019
Prosthetic Party
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Educational Use
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Student teams investigate biomedical engineering and the technology of prosthetics. Students create a model prosthetic lower leg using various materials. Each team demonstrate its prosthesis' strength and consider its pros and cons, giving insight into the characteristics and materials biomedical engineers consider in designing artificial limbs.

Subject:
Applied Science
Engineering
Health, Medicine and Nursing
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Denise W. Carlson
Malinda Schaefer Zarske
Megan Podlogar
Date Added:
09/18/2014
The Puck Stops Here
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Educational Use
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After learning about the concept of transfer of energy, specifically the loss of kinetic energy to friction, students get a chance to test friction. Student groups are each given a wooden block and different fabrics and weights and challenged to design the "best" puck. First the class defines what makes the "best" puck. They come to realize that the most desirable puck is the one that travels the farthest, thus the puck with the least amount of friction. In the context of hockey, the "best" puck is the one that travels farthest and loses the least kinetic energy to friction. Students then apply their knowledge of friction the energy transfer from kinetic to heat energy to design new, optimal pucks for the National Hockey League.

Subject:
Applied Science
Engineering
Physical Science
Physics
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
TeachEngineering
Author:
Anne Vanderschueren
Greg Larkin
Date Added:
10/14/2015
¿Puedes Recoger El Agua? (Para Aprendizaje Informal)
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El área total desde donde comienza el agua de un arroyo o un río hasta donde finalmente termina se llama cuenca hidrográfica (también llamada cuenca del río o cuenca del agua). Cuencas hidrográficas y líneas divisorias de las aguasson importantes para la mayoría de los seres vivos, ya que la corriente, dirección y localización del agua son vitales para disponer de agua en la vida diaria. Los ingenieros medio ambientales, químicos y civiles, junto a geólogos e hidrólogos, están todos interesados en las cuencas hidrográficas, en cómo cambian y en cómo fluye el agua a través de ellas. Recientemente, en la cronología geológica de la Tierra, estamos viendo cambios en las cuencas hidrográficas en respuesta a las actividades humanas de desvio y recogida de aguas. Comprender cómo tecnologías creadas por el hombre afectan a los recursos aquíferos, la calidad del agua y las líneas divisorias de las aguas es de suma importancia para proteger a la población, a las industrias y a la flora y fauna que dependen para sobrevivir de un sistema básico de agua limpia.

Subject:
Applied Science
Engineering
Material Type:
Activity/Lab
Provider:
TeachEngineering
Provider Set:
Sprinkles
Date Added:
01/01/2015