Search Results
Showing results 1 to 20 of 77

Design Your Own Rube Goldberg Machine
Source Institutions
Engineer and cartoonist Rube Goldberg is famous for his crazy machines that accomplish everyday tasks in overly complicated ways.

The Squeeze is On
Source Institutions
Each group of learners uses everyday materials, such as paper, toothpicks, and tape to design and construct a structure intended to support the weight of a cinder block for 30 seconds.

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

Oil Spill Cleanup
This hands-on experiment will provide learners with an understanding of the issues that surround environmental cleanup.

Breaking Beams
Learners investigate stress and strain by designing, building, and testing beams made from polymer clay.

Dinosaur Breath
Through discussion and hands-on experimentation, learners examine the geological (ancient) carbon cycle.

Pop Can "Hero Engine"
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners build water-propelled engines from soft drink cans.

Move That Lighthouse!
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners explore how engineers work in a team to solve problems.

Popsicle Bridge
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners explore how engineering has impacted the development of bridges over time, including innovative designs and the challenge of creating bridges that become landmarks for a cit

Curious Contraptions
Source Institutions
In this engineering design activity, learners will design, test, and build a “haunting machine” to solve a Sherlockian mystery.

Hot Cans and Cold Cans
Source Institutions
Learners apply their knowledge of heat transfer to design two cans - one that will retain heat and one that will cool down quickly.

Wet Pennies
Source Institutions
Learners initially test to see how many drops of liquid (water, rubbing alcohol, and vegetable oil) can fit on a penny.

Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor?
Source Institutions
Each learner chews a piece of gum until it loses its flavor, and then leaves the gum to dry for several days.

Energetic Musical Instruments
Source Institutions
Learners design and create musical instruments from common objects; their challenge is to create an instrument that can make three different tones.

Critical Load
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners explore the concepts of structural engineering and how to measure the critical load, or the maximum weight a structure can bear.

Tall Tower Challenge
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners explore the design of tall structures such as skyscrapers and telecommunication towers.

Spaghetti Bridge
Source Institutions
Learners explore the field of civil engineering by making a bridge using spaghetti as their primary building material.

Gumdrop Dome
Source Institutions
In this activity (located on pages 23-24 of the PDF), learners are introduced to structural engineering and encouraged to practice goal-oriented building.

Engineer an Aeolipile
Source Institutions
In this engineering design challenge, learners build an air-powered spinning machine.

Vectoring: Steering a Plane
Source Institutions
In this two part activity, learners work in pairs or individually to discover how vectoring the thrust from a jet engine affects movement of an airplane.