Youngsters love to write on their hands, and in this fabulous activity they are actually asked to. Using numbers written on the tips of their fingers, they will learn how the binary number system works. This hands-on instructional...

Experiment with chocolate coating on cookies! What a delightful way to learn about food processing and chemical engineering. Throughout this activity, groups collect measurements and make calculations. They conclude by writing...

How tall is your marshmallow structure? Using only limited supplies (including uncooked spaghetti noodles, masking tape, and one marshmallow), teams endeavor to support the marshmallow atop the tallest spaghetti structure they can build....

Design and construct buildings with rooftop gardens. Junior engineers work in groups to build two buildings and then perform experiments to determine whether or not a garden affects the building temperatures. They graph and interpret...

Have your middle and high schoolers analyze instances of celebrities using racial slurs or making prejudiced comments in public. After reading an article, they consider the roots and effects of prejudice and bias. As a class, they...

Design your own video game, engineer accident-proof highways, or even develop a new phone app! The Engineering Design Model can be used with all ages and in all subject areas to create a product, system or service. The resource explains...

Although preparation-intensive, this would be an unforgettable experience in materials engineering. Stimulate learners' curiosity with a slide show and then introduce them to the components of concrete. Small groups mix and pour concrete...

Attractive and logical instructions are provided for constructing a balloon-powered car. Young physical scientists measure the distance their car travels and record it on a pre-printed data sheet. The make alterations to improve the...

A well-laid-out lesson plan, this can be used in an engineering, STEM, or physical science course. Laboratory groups design a structure using pasta and marshmallows, measure its height and weight, and then discover the load that it can...

Now, this lesson would be a blast! When your engineering or physics class is examining the reduction of friction or fluid dynamics, you can have them make these hovercraft racers. Using a balloon, a bottle cap, and a compact disc, middle...

Groups of young oceanographers get to use action figures to experiment with the property of buoyancy! This memorable lesson plan provides detailed background information, a link to the laboratory worksheet, and thorough instruction...

Your advanced physics class will appreciate this lesson in which they use magnetic field sensors to determine the relationship between the number of turns per meter of a solenoid and the magnetic field produced. The materials for this...

Students investigate how rocket liftoff demonstrates Newton's Laws of Motion. They participate in a class discussion, and construct a rocket powered by the pressure generated from an antacid tablet reacting with water.

Plan a Parts of a Book scavenger hunt. Begin by giving your young adventurers a book, and asking them to find the title, author, illustrator, and table of contents. After a discussion of the purpose of each of these items, class members...

Make sure your house is warm in the winter. Pupils analyze graphs of heating costs for two similar houses and make hypotheses for why the costs differ. They then build models of houses with appropriate insulation to reduce heating costs.

Class members examine a variety of snack foods, noting the packaging that they come in. They work in groups to design a heat-proof and waterproof package that will safely transport a s'more snack. They test to see if it prevents the...

Collaborative groups work together with a variety of materials to design an eight-inch canoe that floats for at least three minutes. There is no direct instruction involved in this plan, just a list of materials and a procedure for...

Hold a competition in your science or engineering class to find out which group can design the most effective new style of paper cup from a single sheet of paper. Each group will be challenged by this activity and will have fun at the...

Discuss nanotechnology with your science scholars. In particular, its application to sunblock products. Give them samples of nano and non-nano sunblocks to compare. This interesting topic can be taught in a technology unit.

This activity will lift spirits in your class, but there is little scientific explanation for what makes a hot air balloon rise. As you are teaching middle school scientists about density and convection, you can incorporate this...

Students complete a scavenger hunt which highlights events on the journey by Lewis and Clark. Using the internet and journals, they identify events on the journey and places them on a timeline. They complete a worksheet as well to end...

Young scholars complete experiments to determine how rocket fuel is affected by surface area and temperature. They compare the reaction rates of antacid tablets. They discuss their results to complete the lesson.

Second graders review measurements in inches and practice measuring different objects. As a class, they estimate various objects in their classroom and compare their estimation to the actual measurement. To end the lesson plan, they...

Students estimate the altitude of a rocket during several flights. They create their own altitude tracking devise. They examine and discuss their results at the end of the activity.