Students develop an app for an Android device that utilizes its built-in internal sensors, specifically the accelerometer. The goal of this activity is to teach programming design and skills using MIT's App Inventor software (free to download from the Internet) as the vehicle for learning. The activity should be exciting for students who are interested in applying what they learn to writing other applications for Android devices. Students learn the steps of the engineering design process as they identify the problem, develop solutions, select and implement a possible solution, test the solution and redesign, as needed, to accomplish the design requirements.

Explore some of the wonders of modern engineering in this video from the Sciencenter in Ithaca, New York. Hear a diverse selection of engineers explain how things work.

In this activity, students will explore how the Law of Conservation of Energy (the First Law of Thermodynamics) applies to atoms, as well as the implications of heating or cooling a system. This activity focuses on potential energy and kinetic energy as well as energy conservation. The goal is to apply what is learned to both our human scale world and the world of atoms and molecules.

Play with objects on a teeter totter to learn about balance. Test what you've learned by trying the Balance Challenge game.

Learn about the Chandra X-Ray Observatory's telescope system, science instruments, and spacecraft system in this interactive activity adapted from NASA.

This resource provides short lessons covering a range of topics from algorithmic thinking to computer processing, with the goal of providing essential computing education without the need for screens. We hope to equip younger children with computational skills, preparing them to tackle modern societal issues and contribute positively to the workforce of tomorrow. By providing an accessible curriculum focusing on topics in computer science, we hope to eliminate barriers preventing students from achieving their full potential in this field.  

This video from NASA describes the detailed computer modeling used to predict that colliding neutron stars can produce gamma-ray bursts similar to those associated with black holes.

Students learn about complex networks and how to represent them using graphs. They also learn that graph theory is a useful mathematical tool for studying complex networks in diverse applications of science and engineering, such as neural networks in the brain, biochemical reaction networks in cells, communication networks, such as the internet, and social networks. Topics covered include set theory, defining a graph, as well as defining the degree of a node and the degree distribution of a graph.

In this video, Jonathan examines the biology of coral reefs and their importance to the marine ecosystem. Please see the accompanying lesson plan that discusses pH and ocean acidification for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.

Students gain experience with the software/system design process, closely related to the engineering design process, to solve a problem. First, they learn about the Mars Curiosity rover and its mission, including the difficulties that engineers must consider and overcome to operate a rover remotely. Students observe a simulation of a robot being controlled remotely. These experiences guide discussion on how the design process is applied in these scenarios. The lesson culminates in a hands-on experience with the design process as students simulate the remote control of a rover. In the associated activity, students gain further experience with the design process by creating an Android application using App Inventor to control one aspect of a remotely controlled vehicle. (Note: The lesson requires a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education NXT base set.)

Cyberinfrastructure is a tightly integrated, planet-wide grid of computing, information, networking and sensor resources which will enable individual researchers to have the power of the world's highest-performance digital resources at their disposal. NSF has funded or is exploring cyberinfrastructure-related projects designed to lead the scientific and engineering community in the coordinated development and expansive use of cyberinfrastructure.

Students conduct Internet research to investigate the purpose and current functioning status of some of the largest dams throughout the world. They investigate the success or failure of eight dams and complete a worksheet. While researching the dams, they also gain an understanding of the scale of these structures by recording and comparing their reservoir capacities. Students come to understand that dams, like all engineered structures, have a finite lifespan and require ongoing maintenance and evaluation for their usefulness.

For most of human history, recording a star meant describing it with words or drawing a picture. The 19th-century invention of photography changed that—only to be revolutionized by digital imaging. This Moveable Museum article, available as a six-page printable PDF file, takes a look at the technology of digital imaging. It discusses how digital images are pictures stored as numbers and explains how computer manipulation can enhance images and reduce distortion. Some suggested resources are provided for further research.

Students explore the concept of optical character recognition (OCR) in a problem-solving environment. They research OCR and OCR techniques and then apply those methods to the design challenge by developing algorithms capable of correctly "reading" a number on a typical high school sports scoreboard. Students use the structure of the engineering design process to guide them to develop successful algorithms. In the associated activity, student groups implement, test and revise their algorithms. This software design lesson/activity set is designed to be part of a Java programming class.

Testing is critical to any design, whether the creation of new software or a bridge across a wide river. Despite risking the quality of the design, the testing stage is often hurried in order to get products to market. In this lesson, students focus on the testing phase of the software/systems design process. They start by exploring existing examples of program testing using the CodingBat website, which contains a series of problems and challenges that students solve using the Java programming language. Working in teams, students practice writing test cases for other groups' code, and then write test cases for a program before writing the program itself.

In this video from Science City, meet Eduardo Torres-Jara, a postdoctoral associate in electrical engineering and computer science at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab. He describes his work on innovative robots that use tactile feedback to locate and grasp objects.

Students are introduced to the concepts of digital organisms and digital evolution. They learn about the research that digital evolution software makes possible, and compare and contrast it with biological evolution.

Using the LEGO® NXT robotics kit, students construct and program robots to illustrate and explore the Fibonacci sequence. Within teams, students are assigned roles: group leader, chassis builder, arm builder, chief programmer, and Fibonacci verifier. By designing a robot that moves based on the Fibonacci sequence of numbers, they can better visualize how quickly the numbers in the sequence grow. To program the robot to move according to these numbers, students break down the sequence into simple algebraic equations so that the computer can understand the Fibonacci sequence.

Students design and create flow charts for the MIT App Inventor tutorials in this computer science activity about program analysis. In program analysis, which is based on determining the behavior of computer programs, flow charts are an important tool for tracing control flow. Control flow is a graphical representation of the logic present in a program and how the program works. Students work through tutorials, design and create flow charts about how the tutorials function, and present their findings to the class. In their final assessment, they create an additional flow chart for an advanced App Inventor tutorial. This activity prepares students with the knowledge and skills to use App Inventor in the future to design and create Android applications.

Explore the forces at work when you try to push a filing cabinet. Create an applied force and see the resulting friction force and total force acting on the cabinet. Charts show the forces, position, velocity, and acceleration vs. time. View a Free Body Diagram of all the forces (including gravitational and normal forces).