For this second of three activities, energy engineers plan and create a hydropower dam as they learn how hydroelectric power plants generate electricity. A hydropower puzzle is also included, which can be worked on by teams that finish...

Operating a vehicle remotely can be difficult, especially when the vehicle is on another planet. Young engineers get a feel for some of the real-world challenges as they work to program their rovers (blindfolded group members)...

Students learn along with Ms. Frizzle's class. In this Magic School Bus lesson plan, students make a personal heart profile of an important member of their own hardworking team.

Teach young engineers that all machines, no matter how complicated or complex, are made up of just six simple devices with this hands-on physical science lesson. Using the included templates, students first create paper models of...

What is that out in the water on the horizon? Teams work together to study the coastline using maps to determine the best and worst locations to place an offshore wind farm. The teams then build a scale model wind farm to see what it...

Did the image I drew match the image you saw? By simulating a satellite and a ground station, teams of two transmit data in the form of pixels in order to recreate an image. They use four different levels of brightness, creating slightly...

Students study the basics of soil science. They research and gather data through readings, videos, and performance of laboratory investigations. As a team they generate oral and written recommendations for the amendment of soil.

Youngsters develop an understanding of how smog is produced, and how exhaust from automobiles is one of the major sources of smog. They explore the roles that engineers play in developing technologies that reduce smog, then work in teams...

How high did the ball go? Engineering teams build a working pneumatic system that launches a ball into the air. The teams vary the amount of pressure and determine the accompanying height of the ball. An extension of building a device to...

Middle schoolers debate one another. In this pollution lesson plan, pupils work in teams to debate which is more serious, air or water pollution. They research their topic to come up with valid points to justify their side of the debate.

Trying to understand the vastness of outer space can be quite a challenge for young scientists. Help put things in perspective with this cross-curricular activity as students work in pairs creating scaled models of...

Students, working in small groups construct scale models of the planets and solar system. They examine images of Mars and discuss what might have caused the features. They record facts about their planetary research in their journals and...

Engineering design projects serve as great opportunities for collaborative problem solving. In this case, students work in small groups designing, building, and eventually testing a structure that meets a teacher-specified objective. It...

Motivate young scientists to stand up and take action with this environmental science lesson. To begin, the class works in small groups brainstorming actions that support the conservation of the earth before creating and implementing an...

Teams of electrical engineers work together to develop plans for increasing electricity to a fictitious, but growing community. They consider different sources of electricity, both renewable and nonrenewable, the cost of building and...

Elementary schoolers identify the three methods of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. The lesson is mostly lecture-based. When the teacher has finished the presentation, groups of pupils get into teams and they must...

Third graders role-play various organisms from a food chain to illustrate how a food chain works. In relay style, 3rd graders fill their cups (stomachs) and, in turn, fill a larger organism's cup (stomach) to visualize the importance of...

Students work in pairs or small groups to gather data about a tree. Each group might gather data about a different tree; all groups might collect data about the same tree; or two teams might gather data about each tree and compare their...

Students investigate the concept of how nature needs to be conserved. They examine how man has had a positive and negative impact. Students work in teams to make up scenarios with problems and then propose environmental solutions.

Most of this lesson plan is spent working on the "Bathymetry Worksheet." It includes a graph of the changes in sea level over the past 150,000 years and a bathymetric map of changes in an imaginary coastline over time. Participants...

Students identify and analyze how levers work by raising a brick with a shish kebab skewer. Students present their work, explaining what did and did not work, including illustrations of the lever lift from different angles. Students...

Students consider the goals of a treatment plan for persons who have had the way they think, feel, or behave changed because of mental illness. PET images are utilized to support the evidence of changes in the activity and functioning of...

Students produce a 5 minute internet news cast about an active volcano

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...