Intro to Engineering

Students are introduced to the basic principles behind engineering and the types of engineering while learning about a popular topic - the Olympics. The involvement of engineering in modern sports is amazing and pervasive. Students learn about the techniques of engineering problem solving, including brainstorming and the engineering design process. The importance of thinking out of the box is stressed through a discussion of the engineering required to build grand, often complex, Olympic event centers. Students review what they know about kinetic and potential energy as they investigate the design of energy-absorbing materials, relating this to the design of lighter, faster and stronger sporting equipment to improve athletic performance and protect athletes. Students consider states of matter and material properties as they see the role of chemical engineering in the Olympics. Students also learn about transportation and the environment, the relationship between architecture and environment, and the relationship between architecture and engineering.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Engineering in Sports

Imagining themselves arriving at the Olympic gold medal soccer game in Beijing, students begin to think about how engineering is involved in sports. After a discussion of kinetic and potential energy, an associated hands-on activity gives students an opportunity to explore energy absorbing materials as they try to protect an egg from being crushed.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Authors: Abigail Watrous, Connor Lowrey, Denali Lander, Janet Yowell, Katherine Beggs, Melissa Straten

Design Step 4: Engineering Analysis

Engineering analysis distinguishes true engineering design from "tinkering." In this activity, students are guided through an example engineering analysis scenario for a scooter. Then they perform a similar analysis on the design solutions they brainstormed in the previous activity in this unit. At activity conclusion, students should be able to defend one most-promising possible solution to their design challenge. (Note: Conduct this activity in the context of a design project that students are working on; this activity is Step 4 in a series of six that guide students through the engineering design loop.)

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Denise W. Carlson, Lauren Cooper, Malinda Schaefer Zarske

Engineers Love Pizza, Too!

In this service-learning engineering project, students follow the steps of the engineering design process to design an assistive eating device for a client. More specifically, they design a prototype device to help a young girl who has a medical condition that restricts the motion of her joints. Her wish is to eat her favorite food, pizza, without getting her nose wet. Students learn about arthrogryposis and how it affects the human body as they act as engineers to find a solution to this open-ended design challenge and build a working prototype. This project works even better if you arrange for a client in your own community.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Brandi Briggs, Eszter Horanyi, Jonathan MacNeil, Malinda Zarske, M. Travis O'Hair, Stephanie Rivale

Extinction Prevention via Engineering

Species extinction is happening at an alarming rate according to scientists. In this lesson, students are asked to consider why extinction is a problem that we should concern us. They are taught that destruction of habitat is the main reason many species are threatened. The lesson explores ways that engineers can help save endangered species.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Authors: Janet Yowell, Karen King, Michael J. Bendewald

1.NBT Roll & Build

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: Materials For each pair: * 2 ten-sided dice with the numbers 0 to 9 or two spinners with the numbers 0 to 9 * Base-10 blocks, linking cubes, or bundled...

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Illustrative Mathematics

Grade 5 Module 3: Addition and Subtraction of Fractions

In Module 3, students' understanding of addition and subtraction of fractions extends from earlier work with fraction equivalence and decimals. This module marks a significant shift away from the elementary grades' centrality of base ten units to the study and use of the full set of fractional units from Grade 5 forward, especially as applied to algebra.

Material Type: Module

Interpreting the Graph

The purpose of this task is to help students learn to read information about a function from its graph, by asking them to show the part of the graph that exhibits a certain property of the function. The task could be used to further instruction on understanding functions, or as an assessment tool with the caveat that it requires some amount of creativity to decide how to best illustrate some of the statements.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Illustrative Mathematics

Do Two Points Always Determine a Linear Function II?

This task is designed as a follow-up to the task F-LE Do Two Points Always Determine a Linear Function? Linear equations and linear functions are closely related, and there advantages and disadvantages to viewing a given problem through each of these points of view. This task is intended to show the depth of the standard F-LE.2 and its relationship to other important concepts of the middle school and high school curriculum, including ratio, algebra, and geometry.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Illustrative Mathematics

CK-12 Middle School Math Concepts - Grade 7

CK-12 Middle School Math Concepts for seventh grade provides a complete textbook. It presents topics including algebraic thinking, patterns, decimals, decimal operations, fractions, fraction operations, integers, integer operations, ratios, rates, proportions, percents, percent applications, equations, solving equations, inequalities, functions, graphing functions, geometry, plane geometry, solid geometry, area, perimeter, surface area, volume, statistics including mean, median, mode and range, graphing and types of graphs, and probability.

Material Type: Textbook

Author: Jen Kershaw

Why Does Climate Change Matter?

In this video segment adapted from United Tribes Technical College, listen as six Native American students share their concerns, hopes, and knowledge about climate change.

Material Type: Lesson

Authors: NASA, WGBH Educational Foundation

The Hospital of the Future: Engineering through Robotics and Automated Patient Care

Students further their understanding of the engineering design process while combining mechanical engineering and bioengineering to create an automated medical device. During the activity, students are given a fictional client statement and are required to follow the steps of the design process to create medical devices that help reduce the workload for hospital workers and increase the quality of patient care.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Jared R. Quinn, Jeanne Hubelbank, Kristen Billiar, Terri Camesano

Renewable Energy Living Lab: The Bright Idea

Students use real-world data to evaluate the feasibility of solar energy and other renewable energy sources in different U.S. locations. Working in small groups, students act as engineers evaluating the suitability of installing solar panels at four company locations. They access data from the online Renewable Energy Living Lab from which they make calculations and analyze how successful solar energy generation would be, as well as the potential for other power sources at those locations. Then they summarize their results, analysis and recommendations in the form of feasibility plans prepared for a CEO.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Jessica Noffsinger, Jonathan Knudtsen, Karen Johnson, Mike Mooney, Minal Parekh, Scott Schankweiler

DNA Forensics and Color Pigments

Students perform DNA forensics using food coloring to enhance their understanding of DNA fingerprinting, restriction enzymes, genotyping and DNA gel electrophoresis. They place small drops of different food coloring ("water-based paint") on strips of filter paper and then place one paper strip end in water. As water travels along the paper strips, students observe the pigments that compose the paint decompose into their color components. This is an example of the chromatography concept applied to DNA forensics, with the pigments in the paint that define the color being analogous to DNA fragments of different lengths.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Mircea Ionescu, Myla Van Duyn

The Day the Mesozoic Died

This three-act film tells the story of the detective work that solved the mystery of what caused the disappearance of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period. Shot on location in Italy, Spain, Texas, Colorado, and North Dakota, the film traces the uncovering of key clues that led to the discovery that an asteroid struck the Earth 66 million years ago, triggering a mass extinction of animals, plants, and microorganisms. Science practices in geology, physics, biology, chemistry and paleontology all contributed to the solution to this compelling mystery. Lesson plans are included that have students identify evidence and construct an explanation to tie it together. Summary questions are included at the end and a class discussion is recommended. (This activity will be the only one evaluated in this review.) Another resource is “Finding the Crater” where students “visit” different K-T boundary sites. There are also lessons where students analyze various characteristics of the asteroid such as its size and energy, chemical data about the asteroid, and the iridium fallout from an asteroid impact. A hands-on activity where students study the differences in foraminifera fossils below and above the K-T boundary is also included as well as an article that outlines more details about each of the discoveries covered in the film. You can view the film on the website or HHMI will send you a free DVD. Lesson plans including teacher notes and a student handout can be found at http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/following-trail-evidence.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: Mary Colvard

Physical Science

CK-12 Physical Science for Middle School FlexBook® covers core physical science concepts and includes SIMs, PLIX, real world examples, and videos.

Material Type: Textbook

Planning Your Future Career in Advanced Technology

In this media-rich, self-paced lesson, students explore the industries that produce and rely on advanced technology and assess how their goals and interests may make them well suited for a career in this cutting-edge sector.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: National Science Foundation, WGBH Educational Foundation

Instructional Design Tips for Computer-Based E-Learning

Single lecture presentation containing tips for using technology to enhance teaching. Uses proven multimedia design principles to enhance learning.

Material Type: Lecture

Author: Cary Engleberg

CS Discoveries 2019-2020: Data and Society Lesson 5.12: Making Decisions with Data

In this lesson students get practice making decisions with data based on some problems designed to be familiar to middle school students. Students work in groups discussing how they would use the data presented to make a decision before the class discusses their final choices. Not all questions have right answers and in some cases students can and should decide that they should collect more data. The lesson concludes with a discussion of how different people could draw different conclusions from the same data, or how collecting different data might have affected the decisions they made.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Hour of Code 1.3: Make a Flappy game

In this lesson, learners get an introductory experience with computer science and create a game using basic block code.This lesson has been designed for learners in the middle grades, ages 10-16, but can be adapted for younger or older learners using the differentiation suggestions provided.

Material Type: Lesson Plan