Design a prototype of a solar oven given a cardboard box, ruler, pencil, scissors, aluminum foil, and plastic wrap. Test the oven to see if a s’more is able to cook inside of it.

Students work in groups of 3 or 4 to create a solar oven out of a pizza box. Students are trying to figure out the best way to make a solar oven in order to melt the chocolate and marshmallow in the S’more. Students will be given a group of objects and basic instructions on how to create a solar oven. The oven will need to be placed in direct sunlight for most of the day. This experiment works best on a very hot, sunny day.

After studying  agricultural products of North Carolina. Students will design a vehicle to transport their "goods" to market.  Student vehicles will be powered by Sphero Mini robots to transport a replicated agricultural “load” a predetermined distance to replicate a journey from farm to market.

We create too much waste, and upcycling is a fun way to reduce the amount of garbage we generate. In this project, students will work in pairs to create upcycled items to potentially sell as a product.

Students will be asked to build a water filtration system that will use some of the materials below to filter out an “oil spill”.

Using the provided supplies, students are challenged to design, create and test a marble run. The marble-man will drop from the marble run “water slide” into a water “pool”. Using a yardstick, measure how far from the front edge of the container “pool” the marbled landed and record. The goal is for the marble to go as far into the “pool” as possible.

Students will listen to a reading of Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs by Judi Barrett.  This book is accessible via NC Kids Digital Library. After the read aloud, students will have the opportunity to engage in The Engineering Design Process to design a prototype/model of a hat or clothing to show how people might adapt to the unusual weather conditions as depicted in the story.  Students will present their design/prototypes and explain how the designs help people adapt to weather conditions, per the NC Kindergarten Social Studies Standards.

Students will work collaboratively in small groups of 3-4 students for this engineering design unit that integrates literacy to explore properties of objects by selecting the best materials to make their boats and investigate floating and sinking.

Students will use recyclable materials to design and create a wearable flip flop that prevents heat transfer from the hot summer sun.