Search Results
Showing results 1 to 20 of 45
Blast Off!
Source Institutions
Students design and create their own air-powered rockets, in this hands-on activity.
Sled Kite
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners build a sled kite that models a type of airfoil called a parawing.
Be a Plumber
Source Institutions
In this activity (located on page 6 of the PDF), learners explore the ways people access water in their homes.
What Gives?
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners design, build and test a model suspension bridge for sturdiness and strength.
Float My Boat
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners use tinfoil to build and test their own boats - which designs will float, and which will sink?
Finding the Right Crater
Source Institutions
This quick demonstration (on page 11 of PDF) allows learners to understand why scientists think water ice could remain frozen in always-dark craters at the poles of the Moon.
Hot Air Balloon
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners build a hot air balloon using just a few sheets of tissue paper and a hair dryer.
Hand Spin Helicopter
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners build helicopters and launchers using wooden dowels and scrap paper. Use this activity to explore rotational motion and kinetic and potential energy.
Eye Spy
Source Institutions
This fun activity uses simple materials such as milk cartons and mirrors to introduce the ideas of optics and visual perception.
Action Figure
Source Institutions
In this project, students explore how levers work, by making a puppet with moving limbs.
As Straight as a Pole
Source Institutions
In this engineering activity (page 3 of PDF), young learners investigate how a pole can be made stable by “planting” its base in the ground or adding supports to the base.
Designing a Wall
Source Institutions
In this engineering activity (page 5 of PDF), young learners investigate how materials and design contribute to the strength of a structure, particularly walls.
Exploring the Solar System: Stomp Rockets
Source Institutions
In "Exploring the Solar System: Stomp Rockets," participants learn about how some rockets carry science tools—not scientists—into space, and how a special kind of rocket called "sounding rockets" can
Supporting Structures
Source Institutions
In this activity about living things and gravity (page 5 of PDF), learners design and build an exoskeleton or an endoskeleton for an animal of their own invention.
Paper Bridges
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners build bridges using paper and explore how much weight each bridge design can support.
Straws and Pins
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners build bridges and cantilevers in a series of "building out" challenges with straws and pins.
Full of Hot Air: Hot Air Balloon Building
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners create a model of a hot air balloon using tissue paper and a hairdryer. Educators can use this activity to introduce learners to density and its role in why things float.
Straws and Airplanes
Source Institutions
Create airplanes from straws and geometric shapes. Test them out to see how far they can fly, or how accurately they can be aimed.
Cook Up a Comet
Source Institutions
In this activity (on page 5 of PDF), learners use dry ice and household materials to make scientifically accurate models of comets.
Clay Bridges
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners make bridges using an oil-based modeling clay (plasticene). The instructions include discussion questions for both before and after bridge building.