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Don't Crack Humpty
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Groups of learners are provided with a generic car base and an egg. Their mission: design a device/enclosure to protect the egg on or in the car as it rolls down a ramp with increasing slopes.

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.

The Pull of the Planets
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In this activity, learners model the gravitational fields of planets on a flexible surface.

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.

What Gives?
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In this activity, learners design, build and test a model suspension bridge for sturdiness and strength.

Spaghetti Bridge
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Play with your food while learning about engineering! Build a spaghetti bridge, then test its strength by piling on the marshmallows, raw spaghetti, raw linguine and coins.

Deep Sea Diver
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In this ocean engineering activity, learners explore buoyancy and water displacement. Then, learners design models of deep sea divers that are neutrally buoyant.

Geometry and Algebra: The Future Flight Equation
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In this activity, learners discover how NASA engineers develop experimental aircraft.

Strengthen a Paper Bridge
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In this quick activity (page 1 of the PDF under SciGirls Activity: Tug O' War), learners will test how many pennies a flat paper index card bridging the gap between two stacks of books is able to supp

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.

Build A Treetop Walkway
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Build and test a scale model of a rainforest canopy walkway.

Clay Bridges
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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.

Clay Beams and Columns
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In this activity, learners make or use pre-made clay beams to scale and proportion. Specifically, they discover that when you scale up proportionally (i.e.

Bridge the Gap
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Learners work in groups to construct bridges using stale marshmallows and toothpicks.
Build a Bridge
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In this activity, learners use recycled materials to build a bridge that holds as many potatoes as possible. They investigate weight, height, strength, and measurement as they seek design solutions.
Build a Borneo Glider
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In this inquiry-based activity, learners investigate the basic forces of flight as they construct their own paper glider that represents a rainforest creature from Borneo (large, tropical island in So

Watercraft
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In this design challenge activity, learners build a boat that can hold 25 pennies (or 15 one inch metal washers) for at least ten seconds before sinking.

Moving Model Glacier
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In this goopy activity (page 2 of PDF under GPS: Glaciers Activity), learners will model glacial movement with “gak,” a white glue and liquid starch mixture.

Stack 'Em Up
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In this simple and fun activity, learners build a tower of cups to explore distribution of weight. Learners make predictions about their towers and test their designs.

Sticky Structures
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In this engineering/design/arts and crafts activity, learners design and build "platforms" or "bridges" that can hold weight, and test which glue makes the strongest structure.