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Blow-and-Go Parachute
Learners make a skydiver and parachute contraption and launch it. They see that the drag created by air resistance slows the descent of skydivers as they travel back to Earth.

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

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

Whirling Windmills
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In this activity, learners are challenged to design and construct a windmill to harness the power of wind.

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.
Shadow Puppets
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If you have lights, cardboard, scissors, and some brass fasteners, you can make shadow puppets! Create a story-telling and design challenge for your learners with this simple and creative activity.

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.
Happy City
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Make a model city happier with LEDs, circuits, motors, and batteries! Groups can think, discuss, design, and build what would make a community happy. Kids can work as part of a team or on their own.

How Far?
To learn how friction affects motion, learners build a measurement tool from a rubber band and other simple materials.

Hovercraft Racers!
Learners build a simple hovercraft using air from a balloon to levitate a craft made from a compact disc (CD).

Action-Reaction Rocket!
Learners construct a rocket from a balloon propelled along a guide string.

Leaning Tower of Pasta
Learners build structures from spaghetti and marshmallows to determine which structures are able to handle the greatest load.

Swing in Time
Learners build and investigate pendulums of different lengths. They discover that the longer the string of the pendulum, the longer the time it takes to swing.

How Do Things Fall?
Learners engage in close observation of falling objects. They determine it is the amount of air resistance, not the weight of an object, which determines how quickly an object falls.

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.

Shimmering Lenses
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In this activity, learners use Jell-O to explore lenses. Learners cut Jell-O into convex and concave lens shapes and examine how light exits each lens in a darkened room.
Dive into Design
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Based of the The Tech Challenge 2015, learners will engage in two mini-design challenges related to seismic engineering.

Cupcake Delivery
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In this design challenge, learners will create wind-powered contraptions to transport a load, such as a cupcake or another small object, and test to see if they work.

Space Origami: Make Your Own Starshade
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In this activity, learners cut out and fold their own collapsible origami starshade, an invention that shields a telescope's camera lens from the light of a distant star so that NASA scientists can ex