Engineering
14 Fun Engineering Video: What is an Engineer? - (K - 5) Takes a problem solving approach to explain engineering.
Dream Big Engineering Our World Although created as a companion to an iMax film, Look at the explore, education and videos (scroll past trailers) pages for lessons and challenges. In the videos section, you can view the iMax film in short segments.
Five-step Engineering Design Process developed by the Museum of Science in Boston to guide most STEM lessons and activities
Engineering Starter Kit collection of resources for getting started with STEM
Dollar Store Engineering Supplies List
Ready, Set, Design is a quick group activity. It uses simple, inexpensive materials and is an effective tool for problem solving, creative thinking and team building. Ready, Set, Design is not just for designers but can be used by any audience as a way to engage in design thinking.
Engineering is Elementary The mission of Engineering is Elementary (EiE) is to foster engineering and technological literacy among ALL elementary-aged children. EiE's 20 units present fun, engaging engineering challenges that allow students to apply science knowledge. Engineering Adventures gr. 1-5 free and paid resources. Engineering is Elementary offers “How-To Videos”—short segments you can stream from our website. Each video walks you through some lesson prep for the unit you’ll be teaching.
Children's Engineering, A Teacher Resource Guide for Design and Technology in Grades K-5 includes 24 ready-to-use activities, four at each grade level.
Try Engineering is a site that hosts lesson plans and games designed to get students interested in engineering. The lesson plans, more than 100 of them, are arranged according age and engineering topic. The lesson plans can be downloaded as PDFs.
my.SketchUp is the web version of the popular desktop application SketchUp. my.SketchUp is an excellent tool students can use to create anything they want in 3D.
DiscoverE Engineering and science activities categorized by grades Videos accompany the lessons. Most of the lessons are challenge activities.
Veritasium is a channel of science and engineering videos featuring experiments, expert interviews, cool demos, and discussions with the public about everything science.’
Vsauce YouTube channel featuring a wide variety of educational video content. It has playlists on knowledge, physics, human behaviour, space, earth and many more.
Engineering Like Ancient Greeks gr. 3 - 6
Engineering Games Web-based gr. 1-4
14 Fun Engineering Projects for Kids
Family Science programs offer opportunities for parents and children to work and learn together. Hands-on activities that use easy-to-find, inexpensive materials let families explore the ways in which science and engineering plays a role in daily life.
Simple Activities for Little Engineers
Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom
Get Caught Engineering
35 Engineering Projects K - 6
4 Engineering Challenges for Kids K - 4
12 Engineering Projects K - 5
Newspaper Structures K - 5
Newspaper Engineering Challenges
Paper Engineering Challenges
Paper Toys and Video Creation
Five engineering challenges for kids – with wooden clothespins, binder clips, and craft sticks!
Paper Building Blocks
Build With Straws and Paper Towel Rolls
Building With Paper Engineering Challenge
Homemade Cardboard Construction Kit
Gumdrop Engineering Challenge
K’nex Building Set
Keva Structures Set
Learning Engineering is a nice website offering dozens of short video lessons about machines, materials, and energy. The site is organized into three primary sections; electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and civil engineering. Within each category you will find sub-categories and topics for further exploration. Each topic is explained with a video along with a set of diagrams and text explanations.
A Year of the Best Engineering Projects for Kids
Create a Prosthetic Limb Challenge
Introduce a Girl to Engineering K - 6 video
Engineering is Elementary The mission of Engineering is Elementary (EiE) is to foster engineering and technological literacy among ALL elementary-aged children. EiE's 20 units present fun, engaging engineering challenges that allow students to apply science knowledge. Engineering Adventures gr. 1-5 free
How strong is a piece of paper? K - 3
Paper Engineering Challenges
Engineering curriculum and lessons K - 12
Fidgit Factory Games
Invention at Play
SciGirls is changing how girls think about science, technology, engineering, and math! Each episode of SciGirls highlights the processes of science and engineering, following a different group of middle school girls who work with mentors to design their own inquiry-based investigations on a variety of topics. Explore the Collection
Lend a Hand! Middle school students learn about types of forces, the relationship between form and function, and the structure of the hand by working as biomedical engineers to design, build, and test their own hand "gripper" prototypes that can grasp and lift a 200 ml cup of sand.
RELATED LESSONS
8 Science and Engineering Practices Every Kid Should Learn
Top 10 Summer Engineering Projects for Kids
Water Slide Challenge
Engineering the Perfect Egg Drop Project
Build a Peeps Catapult
Create DIY Soda Rockets
Building with Jelly Beans
Build a DIY Rocket Station
Travel-Sized Cup Stacking
Building Igloos with Marshmallows
Peeps Stacking Engineering Challenge for Kids
Building with Playdough
Building with Straws
Design Challenge Learning? It’s a combination of project-based learning, design thinking and the engineering design process that develops the innovator’s mindset through iteration.
The lessons on this page, developed over the years by educators at The Tech, will help teachers lead their students through science and engineering challenges. They also make fun and effective team-building activities for groups of teachers.
Novel Engineering ( gr. 5 - 12) initiative, in which engineering challenges are plucked from the plots of assigned books. The goal of Novel Engineering is to bolster reading comprehension through hands-on projects while teaching students the engineering process and linking it to the human problems it helps to solve. They have also stocked an online repository with sample projects and a list of books, by grade level, which have mixed well with engineering in the past, including Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach.
Mosa Mack provides students with a variety of short animated mysteries that they have to solve using knowledge gleaned from videos they watch. Mosa Mack adopts an inquiry-based approach to science learning. Mosa Mack arranges its science content into units each of which is comprised of three lessons that ‘progress upwards on Blooms Taxonomy and the the Depth of Knowledge (DOK) chart.’ The units include:
Lesson 1 The Solve: An animated science mystery and vocabulary manipulative
Lesson 2 The Make: A hands-on lab
Lesson 3 The Engineer: An engineering challenge that allows students to apply what they’ve learned to solve real world scenarios.’
Engineering Interact is a great site to introduce engineering concepts and processes to 9-11 year olds. The site has 5 different games based on different science topics that give students a chance to learn while playing. The games teach students about the concepts. The concepts are: Light, Sound, Forces and Motion, Earth and Beyond, Electricity. There are also links to other resources about science and engineering.
This is a great resource for younger students, but the games can be used with older students also. DiscoverE promotes engineering education to K-12 students and the general public. From 10 Reasons to Love Engineering (starting with "Love your work, and live your life too!") to information about education and career opportunities, DiscoverE is a treasure trove of hands-on activities, videos, games, and advice.
Curiosity Machine ( 2 - 12) Visit Website: https://www.curiositymachine.org
Kids build, share, receive pro feedback with engineering site
Novel Engineering, in which engineering challenges are plucked from the plots of assigned books. The goal of Novel Engineering is to bolster reading comprehension through hands-on projects while teaching students the engineering process and linking it to the human problems it helps to solve. They have also stocked an online repository with sample projects and a list of books, by grade level, which have mixed well with engineering in the past, including Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach. In addition, the website presents examples of books that some Novel Engineering classrooms have used. Click the cover image to view the problems identified by students in those classrooms and the solutions they designed and built.
Click Here to Visit Website
Click Here to Access Examples of Books
Imagination Playground 3D Builder, children can build, stack, channel and connect blue building blocks. Build endlessly in the Quick Builder mode, and then flip on the Gravity button to watch your blocks take on physical properties. Imagination Playground 3D Builder encourages open ended, unstructured free play. The benefits of this kind of play include creativity, self-expression, communication, collaboration, problem solving, motor-skills development.
Engineering Is... | QUEST | Grades 6-12
Find out how scientists and engineers are working together across disciplines to investigate issues, make discoveries, and develop solutions. View Collection
Design Squad Nation | Grades 3-8
Use the resources in this collection to help students gain a stronger understanding of the design process, and a better sense for the role of engineering in everyday life. View Collection
Generating Ideas Lesson Plan | NOVA | Grades 6-12
In this lesson plan, students learn to generate ideas for innovation using two different approaches. All ideas generated by this lesson contribute to the design thinking process for creating innovative solutions to complex problems in today's world. View Lesson Plan
Inventioneers is a physics engineering game iPad, iPhone, and Android devices. Using given tools and helpers, students design, test, and revise fun, crazy inventions that will meet challenges and help special characters achieve success. A “Create” mode allows students to create and share their inventions with others. A free version of the app includes only the first chapter with 14 inventions and 40 different objects to use in creating the inventions. The full version, at a cost of $2.99, includes eight chapters with a total of 112 inventions and 100-plus objects that students can use.
Teach Engineering – This is a comprehensive collaborative project between faculty, students, and teachers associated with five founding partner universities, with NSF National Science Foundation funding. This real world collection continues to grow and evolve with new additions submitted from more than 50 additional contributors, a cadre of volunteer teacher and engineer reviewers, and feedback from teachers who use the curricula in their classrooms.
eGFI Dream Up The Future – Be ready to discover a variety of tools to boost your students’ math and science skills, enliven the classroom with engineering projects, expand your own professional horizons and stay informed. There is also an amazing free newsletter with updated features that will arrive in your in-box every month. This is a site that is a must visit for any STEM teacher.
The Lemlinson Center -Take a moment to visit this center that showcases the study of invention and innovation. It is part of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, the center documents, interprets, and disseminates information about invention and innovation; encourages inventive creativity in young people; and fosters an appreciation for the central role that invention and innovation play in the history of the United States.
Cooper Hewitt Lesson Plans - Take a look at the design possibilities covering all subject areas and grade levels.
The Engineering Place - This might be the right place to get the idea you need. There are lesson plans for K-8 student
NASA at Home and City is a great site from NASA that shows examples of how technologies developed for space exploration are used and applied on Earth.
The site is graphic based, easy to use, and very informative. It's a great resource to share with students to show them how developments for one thing can apply to another.
PreK-12 Engineering is a site with free resources for educators to integrate engineering concepts and activities into preK through 12th grade classrooms. The activities are linked to the Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework.
The activities are really well thought out and developed and I have used many of them.
Things are sorted by grade level for easy searching.
For more resources on engineering: http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2009/10/engineering-resources.html
American Society for Engineering Education - great resource with information about all types of engineering, educator resources, and more.
Engineering Games Here is a collection of games categorized as Engineering Games, Logic Games, Robot Games and Electricity Games. You'll find yourself building a wind turbine, flying an airplane, learning about electrical circuits, or putting simple machines to work.
Engineering - Go For It! - this site is produced by the ASEE (see above) and is completely devoted to promoting engineering. It has resources for educators and students, as well as lessons and career exploration resources.
Crossing a Chasm Challenge gr. 4-8
Design Squad Nation Highly interactive resources drive home the skills and processes of engineering and design. There is an app also, but the flash-based projects cannot be used on it.
American Society of Engineering Education Lessons K-12 catergorized by grade levels promoting and enhancing efforts to improve K-12 STEM and engineering education.
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics - has resources for aerospace engineering careers. Educators can join for free and get even more resources.
Society of Automotive Engineers - has resources about engineers dealing with the automotive industry.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer - resources about engineers in the electronics and electrical engineering.
Engineering Challenges - this site lists and explores the greatest challenges facing engineers in regards to world issues. This is a great site to use as a starting point for your own classroom projects.
Discover Engineering - another great site that explores engineering as a career.
Tech Museum of Innovation - Check out these challenges available from an amazing museum. While you are at the site check out all the other possible resources that might just work for your classroom.
Tech Rockets - Students ages 10 to 18 can create a Tech Rocket account and gain access to amazing tech courses. These include Python, iOS, Java, Minecraft, 3D printing. Each course contains lessons, support materials, and interactive challenges. Students can even gain points and badges along the way.
NASA Kids Club - Students take part in technology based missions as they engage in various missions. This is a place where students learn and enjoy as they possibly even blaze through space.
CT Business and Industry Association - CBIA has an education section. They have a great resource about Engineering. The site also has videos you can show to your students.
Next Generation Manufacturing Center - this is a cooperative group of manufacturers, CBIA and CT's Community Colleges. They work to get more students interested in engineering and manufacturing. There are some great videos on the site, too. They have a lot of great programs, including the Engineering Challenge. They also sponsor summer externships for teachers. These externships pay teachers to spend the summer at a local manufacturing company learning about their industry and coming up with ways to get more students involved in engineering and manufacturing. I was able to participate two years ago and found it to be a great experience.
Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom provides both the background and a path for educators to create engaging learning opportunities to help students not only develop skills and strategies that will prepare them for a complex world, but empower them to use their creativity to solve problems, ask questions and continually learn.
Engineer Your Life – This engaging website is the centerpiece of a national campaign, and is meant for high school girls and the adults in their lives (parents, counselors, teachers, and other educators) who want to learn more about what life and work are like for engineers. It is a great place to explore outstanding engineering possibilities.
Design Squad Nation ( gr 2-4) is a PBS Kids site that teaches kids about science and engineering through fun games and activities. It's free and there are no ads.
Discover Engineering - Let your students discover engineering in some very exciting and engaging ways. From skateboards to roller coasters the activities and videos will bring you back for more.
Roller coasters out of straws gr. K - 5
Marble Run
STEAM and Straws
100 Awesome Engineering Projects for Kids offers ways to make engineering, physics and design fun as well as challenging for students. The projects engage students in constructing, playing, learning and growing, all while they are studying the fundamentals of engineering. The projects focus on the basics (motion, force and other essentials of physics) and on light and energy, structures and materials as well as travel and movement, harnessing nature, the environment, understanding the everyday and more.
Five engineering challenges for kids – with wooden clothespins, binder clips, and craft sticks!
FIVE BEST STEM CHALLENGES according to a teacher includes mystery build, pipeline, and rescue devices
Teach Engineering – This is a comprehensive collaborative project between faculty, students and teachers associated with five founding partner universities, with NSF National Science Foundation funding. This real world collection continues to grow and evolve with new additions submitted from more than 50 additional contributors, a cadre of volunteer teacher and engineer reviewers, and feedback from teachers who use the curricula in their classrooms.
Rocket Science 101 You don't have to be a rocket scientist to launch a NASA spacecraft with NASA's Rocket Science 101 (RS101)! Select your favorite NASA mission and build a rocket to send the spacecraft into orbit. As you take the RS101 challenge, you can learn more about thrilling missions and the various components of the launch vehicles, how they are configured and how they work together to successfully launch a NASA spacecraft. NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) does the same things for real rockets and exciting spacecraft missions every day - now it's your turn!
Making Stuff
Grades 6-12 | Collection | Materials Science
Join technology columnist David Pogue as he delves hands-first into the field of materials science. Find out which materials he thinks will play a role in shaping the future.
Create an Engineering Mystery Bag Challenge for Kids
The Engineering Place provides tools and information to help students explore how engineering is, and can be, a part of their lives. The site includes activity lesson plans for bringing engineering to life for students in elemen-tary and middle school. Most of the lesson plans were developed or used in The Engineering Place’s Engineering Teaching Fellows program. The detailed interactive lessons cover earth science, electricity and magnetism, engineering, human body, insects, mathematics, matter, plants, and weather and climate. Favorite activities involve students in constructing roller coasters (grades 3–7) and pipe-cleaner towers (grades 6 and above).Web: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/theengineeringplace/educators/index.php
Trace Professional Paths in Engineering Created by the American Society for Engineering Education, Engineering, Go For It (eGFI) aims to foster educational and pre-professional interest in engineering and other STEM subjects from kindergarten through high school. In addition to information on the myriad branches of the engineering field—from biomedical to computer to mechanical and beyond—the site features descriptions of professional paths for each, including profiles of real people at work in the field.
Click Here to Visit Website
Plus: Developed by the Boston Museum of Science’s Engineering is Elementary program, the Engineering Design Process is a series of steps for developing a new product or system. Engineers use this process again and again to create a new design or improve an existing one. Educators are encouraged to explain this five-step process to students, as well as display it in their classrooms. A poster describing the five steps in the Engineering Design Process may be downloaded, at no charge, from The Engineering Place website.Web: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/theengineeringplace/educators/#process
Engineering Adventures gr 1 - 5(EA) is an engaging, hands-on design curriculum created by the Engineering is Elementary team at Museum of Science, Boston for use in out-of-school-time settings, such as after-school and camp programs. EA challenges children to solve design problems using creativity, teamwork, science and engineering. EA is arranged as a series of thematic units, each focusing on a field of engineering.Hop to It: Safe Removal of Invasive Species is a mechanical engineering unit that introduces students to the problems the invasive cane toads have created in Australia. In the culminating project, students design a machine to humanely trap the cane toad. Bubble Bonanza: Engineering Bubble Wands is a materials engineering unit that gives students the chance to explore how bubbles behave and investigate properties of materials they can use to create bubble wands.
Rescue Challenge build a contraption to rescue a toy character
Balloon Car
Balloon Car II
Engineering Interact is a site for elementary school students designed by the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Engineering Interact offers five games designed to teach students physics concepts. The games address concepts related to light, sound, motion, electricity, and space travel. Each of the five games presents students with a scenario in which they have to "help" someone solve a problem. The games require students to learn and analyze the information presented to them.
Float My Boat is just one of the hands-on activities from PBS KIDS GO! for students aged 6–11. This activity is science, engineering, problem solving and fun all rolled into one. Students’ challenge is to build tinfoil boats and test different designs to see how many pennies can be loaded without sinking the boat. The activity has step-by-step instructions and age-appropriate explanations of the main ideas. Teachers can download a free activity guide and view the related video episode from the PBS KIDS GO! TV program Fetch!Web: http://www.pbs.org/parents/fetch/activities/act/act-floatmyboat.html
Fun-Engineering is an educational blog with suggestions for stories and activities that teach different aspects of engineering appropriate for students aged 10–14. Teachers will find such resources as an aeronautical engineering drama entitled Just Let Me Fly; a free ebook about symmetry; a demonstrator that reflects the disciplines of civil and structural engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and electronic engineering; and an online story about the principles behind the steam engine. Web: http://fun-engineering.net/
National Engineer Week: Future City – Great Project Based Learning Activity incorporating STEAM along with Language Arts and Social Studies. Engage students with Sim City Software, model building, and a new curriculum designed to integrate disciplines.
14 Fun Engineering Video: What is an Engineer? - (K - 5) Takes a problem solving approach to explain engineering.
Dream Big Engineering Our World Although created as a companion to an iMax film, Look at the explore, education and videos (scroll past trailers) pages for lessons and challenges. In the videos section, you can view the iMax film in short segments.
Five-step Engineering Design Process developed by the Museum of Science in Boston to guide most STEM lessons and activities
Engineering Starter Kit collection of resources for getting started with STEM
Dollar Store Engineering Supplies List
Ready, Set, Design is a quick group activity. It uses simple, inexpensive materials and is an effective tool for problem solving, creative thinking and team building. Ready, Set, Design is not just for designers but can be used by any audience as a way to engage in design thinking.
Engineering is Elementary The mission of Engineering is Elementary (EiE) is to foster engineering and technological literacy among ALL elementary-aged children. EiE's 20 units present fun, engaging engineering challenges that allow students to apply science knowledge. Engineering Adventures gr. 1-5 free and paid resources. Engineering is Elementary offers “How-To Videos”—short segments you can stream from our website. Each video walks you through some lesson prep for the unit you’ll be teaching.
Children's Engineering, A Teacher Resource Guide for Design and Technology in Grades K-5 includes 24 ready-to-use activities, four at each grade level.
Try Engineering is a site that hosts lesson plans and games designed to get students interested in engineering. The lesson plans, more than 100 of them, are arranged according age and engineering topic. The lesson plans can be downloaded as PDFs.
my.SketchUp is the web version of the popular desktop application SketchUp. my.SketchUp is an excellent tool students can use to create anything they want in 3D.
DiscoverE Engineering and science activities categorized by grades Videos accompany the lessons. Most of the lessons are challenge activities.
Veritasium is a channel of science and engineering videos featuring experiments, expert interviews, cool demos, and discussions with the public about everything science.’
Vsauce YouTube channel featuring a wide variety of educational video content. It has playlists on knowledge, physics, human behaviour, space, earth and many more.
Engineering Like Ancient Greeks gr. 3 - 6
Engineering Games Web-based gr. 1-4
14 Fun Engineering Projects for Kids
Family Science programs offer opportunities for parents and children to work and learn together. Hands-on activities that use easy-to-find, inexpensive materials let families explore the ways in which science and engineering plays a role in daily life.
Simple Activities for Little Engineers
Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom
Get Caught Engineering
35 Engineering Projects K - 6
4 Engineering Challenges for Kids K - 4
12 Engineering Projects K - 5
Newspaper Structures K - 5
Newspaper Engineering Challenges
Paper Engineering Challenges
Paper Toys and Video Creation
Five engineering challenges for kids – with wooden clothespins, binder clips, and craft sticks!
Paper Building Blocks
Build With Straws and Paper Towel Rolls
Building With Paper Engineering Challenge
Homemade Cardboard Construction Kit
Gumdrop Engineering Challenge
K’nex Building Set
Keva Structures Set
Learning Engineering is a nice website offering dozens of short video lessons about machines, materials, and energy. The site is organized into three primary sections; electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and civil engineering. Within each category you will find sub-categories and topics for further exploration. Each topic is explained with a video along with a set of diagrams and text explanations.
A Year of the Best Engineering Projects for Kids
Create a Prosthetic Limb Challenge
Introduce a Girl to Engineering K - 6 video
Engineering is Elementary The mission of Engineering is Elementary (EiE) is to foster engineering and technological literacy among ALL elementary-aged children. EiE's 20 units present fun, engaging engineering challenges that allow students to apply science knowledge. Engineering Adventures gr. 1-5 free
- EiE's Engineering Adventures and Engineering Everywhere, with a focus on protecting our planet! Lesson plans are FREE to download
How strong is a piece of paper? K - 3
Paper Engineering Challenges
Engineering curriculum and lessons K - 12
Fidgit Factory Games
Invention at Play
SciGirls is changing how girls think about science, technology, engineering, and math! Each episode of SciGirls highlights the processes of science and engineering, following a different group of middle school girls who work with mentors to design their own inquiry-based investigations on a variety of topics. Explore the Collection
Lend a Hand! Middle school students learn about types of forces, the relationship between form and function, and the structure of the hand by working as biomedical engineers to design, build, and test their own hand "gripper" prototypes that can grasp and lift a 200 ml cup of sand.
RELATED LESSONS
- Build A Prosthetic Device (Grades 4-7)
- A Different Lens (Grades 6-9)
- Build a Robotic Arm (Grades 3-12)
- 1,2 Robo-Hand, Please Tie My Shoe (Grades K-12)
8 Science and Engineering Practices Every Kid Should Learn
Top 10 Summer Engineering Projects for Kids
Water Slide Challenge
Engineering the Perfect Egg Drop Project
Build a Peeps Catapult
Create DIY Soda Rockets
Building with Jelly Beans
Build a DIY Rocket Station
Travel-Sized Cup Stacking
Building Igloos with Marshmallows
Peeps Stacking Engineering Challenge for Kids
Building with Playdough
Building with Straws
Design Challenge Learning? It’s a combination of project-based learning, design thinking and the engineering design process that develops the innovator’s mindset through iteration.
The lessons on this page, developed over the years by educators at The Tech, will help teachers lead their students through science and engineering challenges. They also make fun and effective team-building activities for groups of teachers.
Novel Engineering ( gr. 5 - 12) initiative, in which engineering challenges are plucked from the plots of assigned books. The goal of Novel Engineering is to bolster reading comprehension through hands-on projects while teaching students the engineering process and linking it to the human problems it helps to solve. They have also stocked an online repository with sample projects and a list of books, by grade level, which have mixed well with engineering in the past, including Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach.
Mosa Mack provides students with a variety of short animated mysteries that they have to solve using knowledge gleaned from videos they watch. Mosa Mack adopts an inquiry-based approach to science learning. Mosa Mack arranges its science content into units each of which is comprised of three lessons that ‘progress upwards on Blooms Taxonomy and the the Depth of Knowledge (DOK) chart.’ The units include:
Lesson 1 The Solve: An animated science mystery and vocabulary manipulative
Lesson 2 The Make: A hands-on lab
Lesson 3 The Engineer: An engineering challenge that allows students to apply what they’ve learned to solve real world scenarios.’
Engineering Interact is a great site to introduce engineering concepts and processes to 9-11 year olds. The site has 5 different games based on different science topics that give students a chance to learn while playing. The games teach students about the concepts. The concepts are: Light, Sound, Forces and Motion, Earth and Beyond, Electricity. There are also links to other resources about science and engineering.
This is a great resource for younger students, but the games can be used with older students also. DiscoverE promotes engineering education to K-12 students and the general public. From 10 Reasons to Love Engineering (starting with "Love your work, and live your life too!") to information about education and career opportunities, DiscoverE is a treasure trove of hands-on activities, videos, games, and advice.
Curiosity Machine ( 2 - 12) Visit Website: https://www.curiositymachine.org
Kids build, share, receive pro feedback with engineering site
Novel Engineering, in which engineering challenges are plucked from the plots of assigned books. The goal of Novel Engineering is to bolster reading comprehension through hands-on projects while teaching students the engineering process and linking it to the human problems it helps to solve. They have also stocked an online repository with sample projects and a list of books, by grade level, which have mixed well with engineering in the past, including Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach. In addition, the website presents examples of books that some Novel Engineering classrooms have used. Click the cover image to view the problems identified by students in those classrooms and the solutions they designed and built.
Click Here to Visit Website
Click Here to Access Examples of Books
Imagination Playground 3D Builder, children can build, stack, channel and connect blue building blocks. Build endlessly in the Quick Builder mode, and then flip on the Gravity button to watch your blocks take on physical properties. Imagination Playground 3D Builder encourages open ended, unstructured free play. The benefits of this kind of play include creativity, self-expression, communication, collaboration, problem solving, motor-skills development.
Engineering Is... | QUEST | Grades 6-12
Find out how scientists and engineers are working together across disciplines to investigate issues, make discoveries, and develop solutions. View Collection
Design Squad Nation | Grades 3-8
Use the resources in this collection to help students gain a stronger understanding of the design process, and a better sense for the role of engineering in everyday life. View Collection
Generating Ideas Lesson Plan | NOVA | Grades 6-12
In this lesson plan, students learn to generate ideas for innovation using two different approaches. All ideas generated by this lesson contribute to the design thinking process for creating innovative solutions to complex problems in today's world. View Lesson Plan
Inventioneers is a physics engineering game iPad, iPhone, and Android devices. Using given tools and helpers, students design, test, and revise fun, crazy inventions that will meet challenges and help special characters achieve success. A “Create” mode allows students to create and share their inventions with others. A free version of the app includes only the first chapter with 14 inventions and 40 different objects to use in creating the inventions. The full version, at a cost of $2.99, includes eight chapters with a total of 112 inventions and 100-plus objects that students can use.
Teach Engineering – This is a comprehensive collaborative project between faculty, students, and teachers associated with five founding partner universities, with NSF National Science Foundation funding. This real world collection continues to grow and evolve with new additions submitted from more than 50 additional contributors, a cadre of volunteer teacher and engineer reviewers, and feedback from teachers who use the curricula in their classrooms.
eGFI Dream Up The Future – Be ready to discover a variety of tools to boost your students’ math and science skills, enliven the classroom with engineering projects, expand your own professional horizons and stay informed. There is also an amazing free newsletter with updated features that will arrive in your in-box every month. This is a site that is a must visit for any STEM teacher.
The Lemlinson Center -Take a moment to visit this center that showcases the study of invention and innovation. It is part of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, the center documents, interprets, and disseminates information about invention and innovation; encourages inventive creativity in young people; and fosters an appreciation for the central role that invention and innovation play in the history of the United States.
Cooper Hewitt Lesson Plans - Take a look at the design possibilities covering all subject areas and grade levels.
The Engineering Place - This might be the right place to get the idea you need. There are lesson plans for K-8 student
NASA at Home and City is a great site from NASA that shows examples of how technologies developed for space exploration are used and applied on Earth.
The site is graphic based, easy to use, and very informative. It's a great resource to share with students to show them how developments for one thing can apply to another.
PreK-12 Engineering is a site with free resources for educators to integrate engineering concepts and activities into preK through 12th grade classrooms. The activities are linked to the Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework.
The activities are really well thought out and developed and I have used many of them.
Things are sorted by grade level for easy searching.
For more resources on engineering: http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2009/10/engineering-resources.html
American Society for Engineering Education - great resource with information about all types of engineering, educator resources, and more.
Engineering Games Here is a collection of games categorized as Engineering Games, Logic Games, Robot Games and Electricity Games. You'll find yourself building a wind turbine, flying an airplane, learning about electrical circuits, or putting simple machines to work.
Engineering - Go For It! - this site is produced by the ASEE (see above) and is completely devoted to promoting engineering. It has resources for educators and students, as well as lessons and career exploration resources.
Crossing a Chasm Challenge gr. 4-8
Design Squad Nation Highly interactive resources drive home the skills and processes of engineering and design. There is an app also, but the flash-based projects cannot be used on it.
American Society of Engineering Education Lessons K-12 catergorized by grade levels promoting and enhancing efforts to improve K-12 STEM and engineering education.
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics - has resources for aerospace engineering careers. Educators can join for free and get even more resources.
Society of Automotive Engineers - has resources about engineers dealing with the automotive industry.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer - resources about engineers in the electronics and electrical engineering.
Engineering Challenges - this site lists and explores the greatest challenges facing engineers in regards to world issues. This is a great site to use as a starting point for your own classroom projects.
Discover Engineering - another great site that explores engineering as a career.
Tech Museum of Innovation - Check out these challenges available from an amazing museum. While you are at the site check out all the other possible resources that might just work for your classroom.
Tech Rockets - Students ages 10 to 18 can create a Tech Rocket account and gain access to amazing tech courses. These include Python, iOS, Java, Minecraft, 3D printing. Each course contains lessons, support materials, and interactive challenges. Students can even gain points and badges along the way.
NASA Kids Club - Students take part in technology based missions as they engage in various missions. This is a place where students learn and enjoy as they possibly even blaze through space.
CT Business and Industry Association - CBIA has an education section. They have a great resource about Engineering. The site also has videos you can show to your students.
Next Generation Manufacturing Center - this is a cooperative group of manufacturers, CBIA and CT's Community Colleges. They work to get more students interested in engineering and manufacturing. There are some great videos on the site, too. They have a lot of great programs, including the Engineering Challenge. They also sponsor summer externships for teachers. These externships pay teachers to spend the summer at a local manufacturing company learning about their industry and coming up with ways to get more students involved in engineering and manufacturing. I was able to participate two years ago and found it to be a great experience.
Invent To Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom provides both the background and a path for educators to create engaging learning opportunities to help students not only develop skills and strategies that will prepare them for a complex world, but empower them to use their creativity to solve problems, ask questions and continually learn.
Engineer Your Life – This engaging website is the centerpiece of a national campaign, and is meant for high school girls and the adults in their lives (parents, counselors, teachers, and other educators) who want to learn more about what life and work are like for engineers. It is a great place to explore outstanding engineering possibilities.
Design Squad Nation ( gr 2-4) is a PBS Kids site that teaches kids about science and engineering through fun games and activities. It's free and there are no ads.
Discover Engineering - Let your students discover engineering in some very exciting and engaging ways. From skateboards to roller coasters the activities and videos will bring you back for more.
Roller coasters out of straws gr. K - 5
Marble Run
STEAM and Straws
100 Awesome Engineering Projects for Kids offers ways to make engineering, physics and design fun as well as challenging for students. The projects engage students in constructing, playing, learning and growing, all while they are studying the fundamentals of engineering. The projects focus on the basics (motion, force and other essentials of physics) and on light and energy, structures and materials as well as travel and movement, harnessing nature, the environment, understanding the everyday and more.
Five engineering challenges for kids – with wooden clothespins, binder clips, and craft sticks!
FIVE BEST STEM CHALLENGES according to a teacher includes mystery build, pipeline, and rescue devices
Teach Engineering – This is a comprehensive collaborative project between faculty, students and teachers associated with five founding partner universities, with NSF National Science Foundation funding. This real world collection continues to grow and evolve with new additions submitted from more than 50 additional contributors, a cadre of volunteer teacher and engineer reviewers, and feedback from teachers who use the curricula in their classrooms.
Rocket Science 101 You don't have to be a rocket scientist to launch a NASA spacecraft with NASA's Rocket Science 101 (RS101)! Select your favorite NASA mission and build a rocket to send the spacecraft into orbit. As you take the RS101 challenge, you can learn more about thrilling missions and the various components of the launch vehicles, how they are configured and how they work together to successfully launch a NASA spacecraft. NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) does the same things for real rockets and exciting spacecraft missions every day - now it's your turn!
Making Stuff
Grades 6-12 | Collection | Materials Science
Join technology columnist David Pogue as he delves hands-first into the field of materials science. Find out which materials he thinks will play a role in shaping the future.
Create an Engineering Mystery Bag Challenge for Kids
The Engineering Place provides tools and information to help students explore how engineering is, and can be, a part of their lives. The site includes activity lesson plans for bringing engineering to life for students in elemen-tary and middle school. Most of the lesson plans were developed or used in The Engineering Place’s Engineering Teaching Fellows program. The detailed interactive lessons cover earth science, electricity and magnetism, engineering, human body, insects, mathematics, matter, plants, and weather and climate. Favorite activities involve students in constructing roller coasters (grades 3–7) and pipe-cleaner towers (grades 6 and above).Web: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/theengineeringplace/educators/index.php
Trace Professional Paths in Engineering Created by the American Society for Engineering Education, Engineering, Go For It (eGFI) aims to foster educational and pre-professional interest in engineering and other STEM subjects from kindergarten through high school. In addition to information on the myriad branches of the engineering field—from biomedical to computer to mechanical and beyond—the site features descriptions of professional paths for each, including profiles of real people at work in the field.
Click Here to Visit Website
Plus: Developed by the Boston Museum of Science’s Engineering is Elementary program, the Engineering Design Process is a series of steps for developing a new product or system. Engineers use this process again and again to create a new design or improve an existing one. Educators are encouraged to explain this five-step process to students, as well as display it in their classrooms. A poster describing the five steps in the Engineering Design Process may be downloaded, at no charge, from The Engineering Place website.Web: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/theengineeringplace/educators/#process
Engineering Adventures gr 1 - 5(EA) is an engaging, hands-on design curriculum created by the Engineering is Elementary team at Museum of Science, Boston for use in out-of-school-time settings, such as after-school and camp programs. EA challenges children to solve design problems using creativity, teamwork, science and engineering. EA is arranged as a series of thematic units, each focusing on a field of engineering.Hop to It: Safe Removal of Invasive Species is a mechanical engineering unit that introduces students to the problems the invasive cane toads have created in Australia. In the culminating project, students design a machine to humanely trap the cane toad. Bubble Bonanza: Engineering Bubble Wands is a materials engineering unit that gives students the chance to explore how bubbles behave and investigate properties of materials they can use to create bubble wands.
- A Slippery Slope gr 3-5 Jacob and India are in Peru exploring the Andes Mountains when they learn a town is in danger from a potential avalanche. Kids use what they learn from designing barriers and catches to engineer an avalanche protection system.
Rescue Challenge build a contraption to rescue a toy character
Balloon Car
Balloon Car II
Engineering Interact is a site for elementary school students designed by the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Engineering Interact offers five games designed to teach students physics concepts. The games address concepts related to light, sound, motion, electricity, and space travel. Each of the five games presents students with a scenario in which they have to "help" someone solve a problem. The games require students to learn and analyze the information presented to them.
Float My Boat is just one of the hands-on activities from PBS KIDS GO! for students aged 6–11. This activity is science, engineering, problem solving and fun all rolled into one. Students’ challenge is to build tinfoil boats and test different designs to see how many pennies can be loaded without sinking the boat. The activity has step-by-step instructions and age-appropriate explanations of the main ideas. Teachers can download a free activity guide and view the related video episode from the PBS KIDS GO! TV program Fetch!Web: http://www.pbs.org/parents/fetch/activities/act/act-floatmyboat.html
Fun-Engineering is an educational blog with suggestions for stories and activities that teach different aspects of engineering appropriate for students aged 10–14. Teachers will find such resources as an aeronautical engineering drama entitled Just Let Me Fly; a free ebook about symmetry; a demonstrator that reflects the disciplines of civil and structural engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and electronic engineering; and an online story about the principles behind the steam engine. Web: http://fun-engineering.net/
National Engineer Week: Future City – Great Project Based Learning Activity incorporating STEAM along with Language Arts and Social Studies. Engage students with Sim City Software, model building, and a new curriculum designed to integrate disciplines.