Group items tagged

Student create a product for a bicep strain that provides assistance to the muscle so that it does less work to bend the arm. The students are divided into groups to created their product, using the steps of the engineering design process: ask, imagine, plan, create, improve.

Earth Friendly Birdhouse: Design Process - choosing specific materials for the design in mind and function. You have also been talking about resources and know that conserving resources by recycling, reusing, and reducing waste is important. Now you will have a chance to put what you know to use. Design Challenge:Design and build a birdhouse that will attract a bird in your neighborhood. The bird you plan the house for should be about the size of a tennis ball. Criteria:Your birdhouse must have a door that is big enough for a golf ball to fit through. Have a perch inside. Have a perch outside the door. Be able to hang from a tree or other support for 5 minutes with a golf ball inside. Keep birds safe from rain and wind. Be squirrel and cat proof.

Multiple grade levels can do this project, but differentiation would be required for skill and developmental level. Younger grades would require more help and modeling of project.

Students design and build four boats from squares of aluminum foil. Each team decides which one of their four boats holds the highest number of dice. Each team should record their findings and observations, as well as ways to improve their designs.

This is a familiar activity!  This fun activity teaches students about harnessing potential and kinetic energy!  Very good for students who need to learn or like to work in teams!  Also would be fun on a family night.

This activity is unique because it combines science with a practical application that provides a solution to a problem. In this activity, students will be put a small bowl of hot oatmeal into a plastic baggie, test the temperature, and seal it.  Then students will place three sheets of aluminum foil or three sheets of newspaper over the baggie.  After 15 minutes the students will re-test the temperature using a thermometer and discover which material saved heat!

Students will be able to benefit from making the helicopters by observing  the design process. Observing the motion of the object, and learning what contributes to its flight/spinning motion is the main basis of the activity. 2 standards are included in this lesson and noted on the sticky note.

Good activity that children alway seem to enjoy.

In this project, you will learn how to measure the work done on an object. You will determine the effect that a simple machine has on work. You will also determine the effect of the direction of the force on work.

Have students look up a prototype online that mimics a human musculoskeletal system.  Have them share with the class the purpose and prototype. Next, as a class students will create a model hand using simple materials such as string, paper, and a pen or pencil.  Have the students create this hand and see how the "tendons" mimic the musculoskeletal system in a real human hand.

Simple demonstration on how gears work and can create great conversation on how they work and what they have meant to society. 

state standard: 2.1.6 This game is another way to make connections with something that they have done and probably enjoy doing. An extension of this activity would be fro the kids to graph their times on a big class graph you could use different sizes of string to see what affect that might have on the swing times.

This is a great activity to talk bout simple machines and what they are. Everybody in the primary grades we enjoys the see-saw, so having an activity using a see-saw for a differentis attention getting. We can focus on key terms of this simple mahine and also use the see-saw as a weighing machine.

Excellent activity for grades five and up.  "Students work as teams in mission control and aboard a spacecraft as they test their decision making skills and solve problems during this innovative, inquiry based, space-themed science and math simulation." This activity could meet MANY science standards and math standards including the Design Process, The Nature of Science, and Reading for Literacy in Science.  For the purpose of this assignment, I am assigning it to: 6.2.4  With regard to their size, composition, distance from the sun, surface features and ability to support life, compare and contrast the planets of the solar system with one another and with asteroids and comets.  6-8.RS.1:  Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science texts.   6-8 RS.3:  Follow precisely a multi-step procedure when carrying out experiments or taking measurements.

Roughly every other year, the Challenger Center in Brownsburg gets a grant and invites us to visit for free. Unfortunately for your cohort, we went last year, but I'll invite you back next year if they get another grant. We usually go on a Saturday morning and IT IS AWESOME! I love being in Indianapolis with these fabulous resources available.

This is an excellent lesson that can be modified a number of ways.  I find that it fits well with Science and Technology Standards 2.4.1 and 2.4.2.   2.4.1:  Identify parts of the human body that can be used as tools. 2.4.2:  Identify technologies developed by humans to meet human needs.  Investigate the limitations of technologies and how they have improved quality of life. Students could identify how teeth can be considered a tool.  They could discuss the toothbrush (and its evolution to items like Sonicare.)  The experiments will help them understand the limitations of the toothbrush, and how their choices affect their teeth.

In this activity, a metal rod can be made to roll back to you automatically when pushed away. This activity deals with stored energy. The students can construct their own metal rods.

Mystery Canisters: Lab and worksheet to record observations. Students maniuplate three film canisters to make them sink, float and hover in the water. This is an exploration of Mass.