Students gain a basic understanding of electrical circuits. They build wire circuits and pass paperclips through the mazes, trying not to touch the wires. Touching a wire with a paperclip causes the circuit to close, which activates an indicator.

This series of questions before instruction, in-class peer instruction, and post-instruction allow students to iterate and improve their understanding of work incrementally.

This article provides ideas and resources for writing science-themed poetry in the elementary classroom. NCTE/IRA Standards alignments are included for each lesson.

This course packet seeks to develop the upper level engineering student’s sense of audience and purpose in a research-based context with workplace constraints. It requires the student to choose a technical topic of interest and research it to solve for a specific problem or to meet a typical industry need by way of several assignments: Unsolicited Research Proposal, Progress Report, Visual Aids, and Oral Presentation, all of which lead to the Formal Report. This approach readies students to write informatively and persuasively in the engineering workplace, providing excellent examples of each assignment contributed by former students whose Formal Reports have won first place in the annual Technical Writing Competition. Because users can rely on demonstrably excellent student examples to understand the concepts behind assignments that build on one another rather than on disparate textbook examples, they tend to write better and to be more confident producing documents and giving presentations. In short, they recognize they are among their own in a class that challenges many engineering students. Moreover, since all the Formal Reports have won awards, convincing students they are using good models with which to create their own documents is relatively easy. Finally, mining excellent student documents makes certain skill-sets clearer, according to former students. For instance, students can follow along as the writer does the following: identifies and proves a problem or need exists; creates the research objectives that lead to the method with which they will address the issue; and develops persuasive strategies for convincing both executive and engineering readers. Similarly, these student papers demonstrate how to discern among results, conclusions, and recommendations and show correct use of sources and visuals.

In this unit we will discuss and learn about how batteries work their relation to the field of robotics. We will study the different types of batteries, their differences and their uses. We will also briefly look at the history of batteries and a timeline of different events in the field of batteries. Students will set up and conduct experiments, which will span days to weeks. During this time other units and lessons can be taught. On the conclusion of the experiments the students will recap the lesson and conclude the unit. This unit will be tied into students’ Chemistry courses allowing a better understanding of the chemical reaction that goes into the operation of a battery. This will be tied into students’ math skills and digital media as they will be making small mathematical calculations and viewing video footage.

Students learn about trigonometry, geometry and measurements while participating in a hands-on interaction with LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT technology. First they review fundamental geometrical and trigonometric concepts. Then, they estimate the height of various objects by using simple trigonometry. Students measure the height of the objects using the LEGO robot kit, giving them an opportunity to see how sensors and technology can be used to measure things on a larger scale. Students discover that they can use this method to estimate the height of buildings, trees or other tall objects. Finally, students synthesize their knowledge by applying it to solve similar problems. By activity end, students have a better grasp of trigonometry and its everyday applications.

A park ranger needs to build a zipline to drop food supplies to her mentor park ranger at the bottom of a gorge. Unfortunately, she does not have the instructions to build the zipline according to the proper specifications. Without directions, she is unsure of the correct angles to attach her zipline to each tree. Additionally, she needs to figure out how to open the chute to drop the food supplies.  Challenge: Create a zip line that will release from her bucket (paper cup) the food supplies (represented by a marble) onto the target (placed 5/8 of the way down the zipline)  before the gear reaches the opposite end of the zip line.

The inquiryHub (iHub) Chemistry curriculum is a full-year high school Chemistry course anchored in phenomena and aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards.

Denver Public Schools teachers, working with a team of researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and Northwestern University, designed five units, which address common high school physical science performance expectations in the NGSS for high school Chemistry. The units are organized around coherent storylines, in which students ask and investigate questions related to an anchoring phenomenon or design challenge. Students use science and engineering practices to figure out Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI) and crosscutting concepts needed to make sense of and explain the phenomena or solve the problem presented in the challenge.

Test the pH of things like coffee, spit, and soap to determine whether each is acidic, basic, or neutral. Visualize the relative number of hydroxide ions and hydronium ions in solution. Switch between logarithmic and linear scales. Investigate whether changing the volume or diluting with water affects the pH. Or you can design your own liquid!