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Racing with the Sun: Creating a Solar Car
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Learners use engineering design principles to construct and test a fully solar-powered car. Solar car kits usually include a photovoltaic cell and motor; some include a chassis as well.

Building Tetrahedral Kites
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Working in teams of four, learners build tetrahedral kites following specific instructions and using specific materials.

Engineering Ups and Downs
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In this activity, learners explore the engineering and principles behind working elevators.

Engineered Sports
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In this activity, learners explore the concept of how aerospace engineering has impacted sports, specifically exploring the design of golf balls.

Tennis Anyone?
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In this activity, learners explore sports engineering and advanced materials development.

Bouncing Balloons
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In this sports-themed engineering activity, learners create super bouncy balls out of balloons. Learners brainstorm, test their designs, and share results.

Crank It Up
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In this engineering activity, learners explore simple machines and then build cardboard automata using cams.

Rubber Band Racers
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In this activity, learners explore the design of rubber band powered cars. Learners work in teams of "engineers" to design and build their own rubber band cars out of everyday items.

Tinkering with Tops
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In this activity, learners explore the history, design and motion of spinning tops. Learners work in teams of "engineers" to design and build their own tops out of everyday items.

Paper Drop Design Competition
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Using paper, paper clips, an index card, and tape, teams of learners design flying devices to (1) stay in the air as long as possible and (2) land as close as possible to a given target.

Roving on the Moon
Add to list DetailsIn this design challenge activity, learners build a rubber band-powered rover that can scramble across the room.

Balls and Ramps
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In this activity, learners use simple, everyday materials to experiment with balls and ramps.

Make and Fly a Helicopter
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Learners follow the template to build and fly a paper helicopter.

Balancing Sculptures
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In this activity, learners will use a variety of household and/or natural objects to design a sculpture that balances from a single point.

Parachute Parade
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In this engineering activity, learners design parachutes to give toy figures safe landings. This activity is great for practicing an important STEM skill--changing only one variable at a time.

Hanging Around
Learners investigate weight by building a spring scale. They observe and record how it responds to objects with different masses.

Skateboard Disaster
Learners examine collisions between two skateboards carrying different masses. They learn about conservation of momentum in collisions.

Super Spinners
Learners build at least two different spinners (tops) to investigate how mass distribution, size, and shape affect the length of time the spinner spins.

Stomp Rockets
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In this activity, learners will build a stomp-powered launcher to blast off paper rockets they design. Materials can be found at a local hardware store or you may already have them at home.

Design a Microexpression Zoetrope
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In this engineering design challenge, learners animate a facial expression and make a machine (zoetrope) that plays the animation back.