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Linkages
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This design challenge is an open-ended exploration of linkages, a group of parts connected by hinges, and the types of motion they can create.
Build Your Own Wind Turbine
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Learners construct an electricity-generating wind turbine out of a plastic bottle.
Heavy Lifting: Design Squad
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In this engineering challenge, learners design and build a crane out of cardboard to see how heavy a load it can lift.
Hull Engineering
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In this activity, learners explore how the hull shape impacts a ship's performance and stability.
Fan Cart
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If a sailboat is stranded because there is no wind, is it possible to set up a fan on deck and blow wind into the sail to make the boat move?
Pulleys
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In this activity, learners build inexpensive pulley assemblies from pulley wheels used for sliding screen door replacement or from clothesline spreaders.
Laser Lissajous: PVC Version
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In this activity, learners use a laser pointer and two small rotating mirrors to create a variety of fascinating patterns, which can be easily and dramatically projected on a wall or screen.
Toxic Popcorn Design Challenge
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In this activity, learners explore the engineering design process (EDP)—the process engineers use to solve design challenges.
Dunking the Planets
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In this demonstration, learners compare the relative sizes and masses of scale models of the planets as represented by fruits and other foods.
The Electric Squeeze
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In this activity/demo about piezoelectricity, learners discover how some crystals produce electricity when squeezed.
Four Corners
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In this design challenge activity, learners build a machine out of cardboard that runs smoothly and dependably. Learners must be precise to make sure their component works properly.
Exploring Structures
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This event guide features three related explorations in which learners investigate the following science concepts: how you design and build a structure helps determine how strong it will be; different
In the Toilet
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This activity explores the basic workings of a siphon, which is the core technology that makes toilets work.
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.
Action Figure
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In this project, students explore how levers work, by making a puppet with moving limbs.
Capturing Homemade Microgravity
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This activity (page 2 of the PDF under SciGirls Activity: Microgravity) is a full inquiry investigation into how ordinary things behave in microgravity, similar to what astronauts experience.
Exploring the Ocean with Robots
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In this activity, learners are introduced to robotic submarines called gliders. Learners make “gliders” from plastic syringes and compare these to Cartesian bottles and plastic bubbles.
Construction Technologies: Construct the Strongest Bridge
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Learners work in pairs to create three simple types of bridges, a beam bridge, an arch bridge, and a suspension bridge.
Supporting Structures
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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.
Above Water: Buoyancy & Displacement
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In an investigation called "Shape It!" learners craft tiny boats out of clay, set them afloat on water and then add weight loads to them, in order to explore: how objects stay afloat in water; what th