Students apply the mechanical advantages and problem-solving capabilities of six types of simple machines (wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley) as they discuss modern structures in the spirit of the engineers and builders of the great pyramids. While learning the steps of the engineering design process, students practice teamwork, creativity and problem solving.

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By tracing the movement of radiation released during an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, students see how air pollution, like particulate matter, can become a global issue.

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Music: Blue Macaw

Students are asked to design methods to filter water using ordinary materials, while also considering their designs' material and cost efficiencies. They learn about the importance of water and its role in our everyday lives. They come to understand what must occur each day so that they can have clean water.

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Student teams investigate the properties of electromagnets. They create their own small electromagnets and experiment with ways to change their strength to pick up more paperclips. Students learn about ways that engineers use electromagnets in everyday applications.

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Music: Hyperfun - Kevin MacLeod

Hyperfun by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/r....oyalty-free/index.ht
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

In the ongoing "Lost in the Amazon" scenario, students are provided with a list of supplies that survived their plane's crash in the Amazon jungle. They organize the supplies to classify which items are useful for surviving in the Amazon. They use estimation and basic math skills to determine how much they can carry and decide which items to bring with them to survive in the jungle until they reach their destination.
This engineering curriculum aligns to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

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Music: Straighty Baby

What is engineering? What does it take to be an engineer? Do you need to be a math whiz? Aspiring engineers tackle these questions and help demystify their chosen profession.

This video was created by the National Science Foundation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAJGx3zP-Eo

Working as engineering teams, students design and create model beam bridges using plastic drinking straws and tape as their construction materials. Their goal is to build the strongest bridge with a truss pattern of their own design, while meeting the design criteria and constraints. They experiment with different geometric shapes and determine how shapes affect the strength of materials. Let the competition begin!

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Music: Above and Beyond - Silent Partner

For this maker challenge, students move through the engineering design process. They investigate Python and Jupyter Notebook to analyze real astronomical images in order to calculate the interstellar distance to a star cluster across the Milky Way from our own Solar System. They learn how to write Python code that runs in a Jupyter Notebook so they can determine the brightness of stars in an astronomical image. Next, students complete the functions in the project to determine how far away a single star in the cluster is from Earth. This is a chance to try hands-on astronomical research techniques in the field of aperture photometry. The real astronomical image data will be directly manipulated and analyzed by code the students create. Groups compare their final images and results to answer questions about the astronomy of stars and stellar distances within the Milky Way. Students experience their discoveries the same way Harvard scientist Harlow Shapley first learned the true size and shape of the Milky Way.

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https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/makerchallenges/v

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Music: Aimless Amos

In this activity, students learn about the engineering design process and use it to solve a design problem involving detergent and dirty clothes. The problem presented is a spot on a favorite shirt while on a camping trip. Students move through the engineering design process, as they design, build, and test a prototype of a portable washing machine

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Music: Fig Leaf Rag - Kevin MacLeod

Students see how potential energy (stored energy) can be converted into kinetic energy (motion). Acting as if they were engineers designing vehicles, they use rubber bands, pencils and spools to explore how elastic potential energy from twisted rubber bands can roll the spools. They brainstorm, prototype, modify, test and redesign variations to the basic spool racer design in order to meet different design criteria, ultimately facing off in a race competition. These simple-to-make devices store potential energy in twisted rubber bands and then convert the potential energy to kinetic energy upon release.

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Music: Double Agent - Everet Almond

Students are introduced to the structure, function and purpose of locks and dams, which involves an introduction to Pascal's law, water pressure and gravity.

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Students apply several methods developed to identify and interpret patterns to the identification of fingerprints. They look at their classmates' fingerprints, snowflakes, and "spectral fingerprints" of elements. They learn to identify each image as unique, yet part of a group containing recognizable similarities.

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Audio: campfire_song

Students are tasked with designing a special type of hockey stick for a sled hockey team—a sport designed for individuals with physical disabilities to play ice hockey. Using the engineering design process, students act as material engineers to create durable hockey sticks using a variety of materials. The stick designs will contain different interior structures that can hold up during flexure (or bending) tests. Following flexure testing, the students can use their results to iterate upon their design and create a second stick.
This engineering curriculum aligns to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

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Music: Cold Funk Funkorama

Students work as materials and chemical engineers to develop a bouncy ball using a select number of materials. They move through the engineering design process. They first develop a plan of what materials they might need to design their product. Then, the students create and test their bouncy ball. Based on their tests, students then determine how to re-design and retest their creations to create the bounciest ball possible!

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https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/makerchallenges/v

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Music: Milos

A main concern of shoe engineers is creating shoes that provide the right amount of arch support to prevent (or fix) common gait misalignments that lead to injury. During this activity, students look at their own footprints and determine whether they have either of the two most prominent gait misalignments: overpronation (collapsing arches) or supination (high arches). Knowing the shape of a person's foot, and their natural arch movement is necessary to design shoes to fix these gain alignments.

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Music: Bicycle Reunited

In the continuing (hypothetical) storyline of the Lost in the Amazon unit, students apply the concepts they learned regarding mass, volume and density in the previous activities to design boats to get them out of the jungle.

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Music: EDM Detection Mode - Kevin MacLeod

To better understand electricity, students investigate the properties of materials based on their ability to dispel static electricity. They complete a lab worksheet, collect experimental data, and draw conclusions based on their observations and understanding of electricity. The activity provides hands-on learning experience to safely explore the concept of static electricity, learning what static electricity is and which materials best hold static charge. Students learn to identify materials that hold static charge as insulators and materials that dispel charge as conductors. The class applies the results from their material tests to real-world engineering by identifying the best of the given materials for moving current in a solar panel.

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Music: Dragonfly - Quincas Moreira

What are waves? How do engineers engage with the different types of waves to design and build new products? TeachEngineering delves into the real world phenomena of waves and how they show up in our world today!

Music: Cycles

Students learn about providing healthcare in a global setting and the importance of wearing protective equipment when treating patients with infectious diseases like Ebola. They learn about biohazard suits, heat transfer through conduction and convection and the engineering design cycle. Student teams design, create and test (and improve) their own Ebola biohazard suit prototypes that cover one arm and hand, including a ventilation system to cool the inside of the suit.

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Music: Trancer - Gunnar Olsen

Building upon their understanding of forces and Newton's laws of motion, students learn about the force of friction, specifically with respect to cars. They explore the friction between tires and the road to learn how it affects the movement of cars while driving. In an associated literacy activity, students explore the theme of conflict in literature, and the difference between internal and external conflict, and various types of conflicts. Stories are used to discuss methods of managing and resolving conflict and interpersonal friction.

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