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Tallest Paper Tower Challenge for Grades 3-5
Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th
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10 reviews
Teach your students about the engineering design process with this fun lesson plan. They will design and build the tallest possible tower using nothing but paper and tape, but there's an additional twist on this classic activity. The tower must support a heavy weight at the top without collapsing! Teachers, note that middle school and high school versions of this lesson plan are also available. The 2021 Engineering Challenge is over, but you can still try this fun lesson with your students,… Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • 3-5-ETS1-3. Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.
Teaching the Scientific Method with Paper Rockets
Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th
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28 reviews
This lesson will introduce your students to the scientific method using a fun, hands-on activity. A middle school version of this lesson plan is also available. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • 3-5—Science Practices.
Vibrobots— Tiny Robots from Scratch
Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th
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7 reviews
Vibrobots are tiny robots powered by a vibrating motor, like the type found in cell phones. In this lesson plan, your students will learn about engineering design as they build their own vibrobots from craft materials. No previous experience with robots is required! Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • 3-5-ETS1-2. Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
What Factors Affect the Strength of an Electromagnet?
Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th
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3 reviews
Making an electromagnet from a battery, nail, and wire is a classic science demonstration. But instead of just demonstrating this for your students, let them explore it themselves! In this lesson they will discover how different variables affect the strength of an electromagnet. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • MS-PS2-3. Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.
Apple Science: Comparing Apples and Onions
Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th
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7 reviews
Students will explore heredity concepts by comparing observable traits of apples and onions, collecting data on the traits of different apple varieties, and learning about apple production. Additional activities include hands-on methods for testing apple ripeness. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • 3-LS3-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms.
Build a Recycling-Sorting Machine
Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th
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14 reviews
In this lesson plan, your students will build their own recycling sorting machines that use various methods, like magnets or puffs of air, to separate shreds of paper from paper clips. This lesson is inspired by the real-world engineering challenge of separating various materials, like paper, plastic, and metals, that get combined in single-stream recycling programs. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • MS-PS2-3. Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces.
  • MS-PS2-5. Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.
  • MS-ETS1-2. Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
Chemical Reactions: What is Plastic Made From?
Video Lesson Grade: 6th-8th
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13 reviews
Chemical reactions can result in interesting products! In this lesson, students learn how plastics are made by conducting a polymerization reaction in a simple milk-to-plastic transforming experiment. During their experiments, students will be able to compare the physical properties of their reactants (milk and vinegar) and their resulting organic casein polymer. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • MS-PS1-2. Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.
  • MS-PS1-3. Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.
Engineering Car Crash Safety with Newton's Third Law
Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th
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6 reviews
Combine Newton's third law of motion with engineering design in one fun lesson! Your students will learn about equal and opposite reaction forces as they design and build a bumper to protect a toy car during a crash. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • MS-PS2-1. Apply Newton's Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.
  • MS-ETS1-4. Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.
Make a Miniature Habitat
Lesson Plan Grade: Kindergarten-2nd
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9 reviews
Get creative with your students in this hands-on lesson plan! Students will use mostly natural materials to build a shoebox habitat that mimics a real-life habitat for an animal of their choice. As they present their miniature habitats to each other, students realize that not all habitats are suitable for all animals. Each animal species needs the resources of a specific habitat to survive. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • K-ESS-3-1. Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live.
  • 2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.>/li>
Make a Model of the Solar System
Lesson Plan Grade: 6th-8th
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6 reviews
This hands-on science lesson will help your students get a more accurate view of the solar system by making a scale model. They will do the calculations, make model planets, and find out where to place them so their model reflects reality. Seeing the relative size of the eight planets and their distance from the Sun displayed before them will allow your students to grasp the structure and vastness of the solar system. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • MS-ESS1-3. Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.
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