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Boomerang
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Learners trace, cut out and fly a boomerang, outdoors or in a large indoor space.

Shrinking Polymers
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In this activity, learners discover that some plastics will shrink when you get them hot. Learners bake polystyrene in a regular oven and discover what happens.

Hang Time
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Learn how to make and fly a paper helicopter! This simple activity includes a template (for the copter "blades") and instructions for folding, flying, and testing designs.

Simple Pop-Up Mechanisms
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In this activity, learners construct three quick and simple mechanisms to start building a pop-up book. Learners fold, cut, and glue paper to make a bird beak, parallelogram, and V-fold.

Set It Straight
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In this activity, learners build a simple tabletop seesaw to test how different variables (the position of the fulcrum, distance, weight) affect its balance under increasing weight loads.

Action Figure
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In this project, students explore how levers work, by making a puppet with moving limbs.

Canine House of Cards
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This simple construction activity teaches the importance of architectural structure. Learners build and test designs for a paper "doghouse" strong enough to hold the weight of a jumbo dog biscuit.

Pinhole Viewer
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In this activity, learners discuss and investigate how cameras, telescopes, and their own eyes use light in similar ways.

Box Ecology
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This great "re-use it" activity will demonstrate how to transform a greeting card into a box. Once constructed, the box can have many uses like holding special notes or keepsakes.

Building a 3-D Space Maze: Escher Staircase
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In this activity (page 95 of the PDF), learners create Escher Staircase models similar to those that were used by Neurolab's Spatial Orientation Team to investigate the processing of information about

Soggy Science, Shaken Beans
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Learners explore soybeans, soak them in water to remove their coat, and then split them open to look inside. They also make a musical shaker out of paper cups, a cardboard tube, and soybeans.

Building an Army
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In this activity, learners explore the potential of interchangeable standard parts to create a large number of unique creations in different combinations.

Tessellations
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In this activity, learners will engineer a new shape and use it to create a new pattern with no wasted space.

Nature Journals
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In this activity, learners construct a home-made journal with simple, everyday materials.

Mini Zoetrope
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In this activity (posted on March 27, 2011), learners follow the steps to construct a mini zoetrope, a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures.

Getting There!: Navigation and Trajectory
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In this two-part activity, learners map a navigation plan to get from Earth to Mars and back. In activity one, learners represent the orbital paths of Earth through dance and dramatic movement.
Magnus Glider
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A design challenge that takes paper airplanes into an entirely different direction: a magnus glider uses cups and and rubber bands to create a glider that uses the same forces that a curveball (from b

Gumdrop Chains and Shrinky Necklaces
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In this activity, learners thread gumdrops together to make a model of a polymer.

Designer Ears: Make “better” ears!
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Find out what it would be like to have ears shaped differently from your own! Design and make different animal ears then try them out.

Marshmallow Models
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No glue is needed for learners of any age to become marshmallow architects or engineers.