The Great Space Race Students will be able to show their knowledge of the standard by creating various design challenges that show mastery of the standard. The goal of the unit is for students to learn the cycles and patterns of motion between the Earth and the Sun, and how seasons result from these cycles…
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Who You Gonna Call? Mousebusters! Disruptive and harmful pests are a nuisance and becoming more of a problem as humans continue to develop land that was once their home. Exterminators and pest control professionals need to continue to develop new and humane ways to trap and relocate these critters. This unit’s focus is the design…
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Revamping Recycling Our schools throw away so much trash each day and some of it can be easily recycled. Exploring the subject of recycling is a necessary responsibility of our community and by having students delve into the subject, they will begin to become more cognizant of their own responsibility for recycling. The students will…
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Currently Adrift Student teams will investigate the effects of temperature on water density. Using this knowledge, students will then design a current to carry a raft to a nearby island. Using the video data collected during the design challenge, they will apply ratios and proportions to create a map of the raft’s movement. Teams will…
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Room Defender In this unit, students will be exploring electricity by creating a circuit that is capable of performing multiple functions independently and will market their created product. Electricity is an essential tool for modern living, and a basic understanding of circuits can empower your students. The study of electricity can lead to a better…
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(S.O.S.) Save Our Snowman Have you ever wanted to save a snowman and make it last forever? In this unit the question is posed, “Do you want to keep your snowman?” Students explore the physical properties of materials and how matter can change. More specifically, students explore how the physical properties of water change. When…
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Rockin’ Music Box As Beethoven once said, “Music can change the world.” In this unit, student design teams use the Engineering Design Process to design a musical instrument that can play Hot Cross Buns. This instrument and its associated design are made with the intent of providing access to music for underprivileged children in diverse…
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Droppin’ the Beat In this unit, students explore the ways to dampen, mask, or stop a sound wave from propagating into a system (or material) and the surrounding environment. Students research and explore how sound waves are propagated and transmitted through various media. In the engineering design challenge, students will use their acquired knowledge to…
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Stop Stomping on Me Student engineering teams assist a city that is building a new soccer field for the World Cup competition. To protect the city’s precious groundwater, the city requires a field that is as environmentally sustainable as possible but also meets the needs of professional players. Students are challenged to design the optimum…
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Science Rocks Student teams engineer a computer program that sorts rocks based on properties in order to identify a specific rock within a Rock Family. Teams identify properties of rocks, then utilize a dichotomous key to sort them by the properties. Students collaboratively engineer a PowerPoint with guiding questions to identify each rock type; thereby,…
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