Look Up! Educator Network

"As winter approaches, it's easy to forget that parts of the planet rarely rise above the freezing mark. These icy outposts often hold vast deposits of oil, gas, and minerals. They also present challenges for cold-region engineers, such as the effect of low temperatures on construction materials or how to keep pipelines flowing. Your designers will warm up to cryogenics with this month's activity. See if any need mittens! "

"Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School (MTMS) focuses on intuitive, exploratory investigations that use informal reasoning to help students develop a strong conceptual basis that leads to greater mathematical abstraction. "

MIT 2007: A Design for Success - a 36 minute documentary about the famous mechanical engineering design contest follows the trials and tribulatoins of a group of students participants - from day one through the exciting 1998 contest Finals. "

"additive manufacturing as a means to bring social benefits to the developing world. The students designed Big Red, a 3-D printer that takes shredded plastic waste, melts it, and uses it as its "ink" to print composting toilets and parts for rainwater collection systems"

"WOOF's winning project will enable waste plastic to be used as filament for 3D printing machines, to create new products. The winning team, Bethany Weeks, Matthew Rogge and Brandon Bowman, plan to work with US based NGO, Water for Humans (WFH), to address local issues in water and sanitation in Oaxaca, Mexico."

"Access4Kids with the aim of opening up entertainment, educational benefits and social media available on tablets to children with fine motor impairments. The wireless input device uses a sensor system to translate physical movements into fine-motor gestures to control a tablet."

"Here are some links you may find useful. Wherever possible, we've linked directly to student sections of the websites."

"The Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics hopes its online radio series featuring stories of fascinating women scientists, engineers, and educators will inspire girls-including those with disabilities-to pursue STEM careers."

"experience civil and environmental engineering by planning a housing development while also protecting the native species that live there. They conduct research, draw plans, make brochures, and give presentations"

"how engineers can use biomimicry to enhance their designs. They learn how careful observation of nature - in this case, reverse engineering a flower to glean design ideas - can lead to new innovations and products. "

"Student teams gain a better understanding of heat transfer and engineering by designing and building solar water-heating devices that mimic those used in residences. Once the model devices are constructed, students perform efficiency calculations and compare designs."

"Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics ON THE AIR! Listen to stories about fascinating women working and learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields; and learn about programs and practices throughout the U.S. designed to broaden the participation of women in STEM."

"Phase Diagrams - Why does the egg go from uncooked to cook as we increase the temperature? What is it about the material that this happens?"

Gever Tulley uses engaging photos and footage to demonstrate the valuable lessons kids learn at his Tinkering School. When given tools, materials and guidance, these young imaginations run wild and creative problem-solving takes over to build unique boats, bridges and even a roller coaster!

"We've put some of these projects into our Top 10 Construction Projects for Kids. Enjoy both the science and bragging rights in bringing these projects to life!"

"The engineering design process is a series of steps that engineering teams use to guide them as they solve problems. Anyone can do it! To determine how to build something (skyscraper, amusement park ride, bicycle, music player), engineers gather information and conduct research to understand the needs of the challenge to be addressed. Then they brainstorm many imaginative possible solutions. They select the most promising idea and embark upon a design that includes drawings, and analytical decisions on the materials and construction, manufacturing and fabrication technologies to use. They create and test many prototypes, making improvements until the product design is good enough to meet their needs. "

"Classroom Activity Pages Looking for extra-credit projects? These pages have activities, discussion questions, and quizzes based on select stories. "