Students will be given a family (animal type such as bear, zebra, etc) and given traits from each member (family tree). Name and social traits listed will be given
and students will create their own list of the traits in a chart.

After completing the chart for their “family”, the students will create a “kid” and incorporate the hereditary and social traits.

Students will build a balloon powered car.

After reading the book, If I Built A Car, by Chris Van Dusen, https://youtu.be/t-uX-5DyULA students will build a balloon powered car. We will test each car to see which car travels the farthest,

Students will design a personal landing carrier to land on Planet X. The carrier will house an explorer (a raw egg) that can land successfully near a given target
from a set height with the following constraints:

The landing carrier must:
1. Hit a target area on the planet
2. Protect the explorer (egg) during landing.
3. Allow the explorer to exit the lander to
conduct scientific excursions. (15 seconds
or less).
4. Nothing can be used on the floor (to
cushion)

Using the materials- balloons, straws, string, tape, and weights students will design a rocket that will travel to a certain distance such as between 4 and 5 meters. Students will measure the distance of their attempts and record results. They will design a balloon rocket that will travel to the target area and not beyond by discovering the relationship between force and mass.

Students will use paper circuits to label various parts of the skeletal system.

Students will demonstrate knowledge of visible light interactions with different materials and through different mediums (air, solids, and water). Students will use Sphero Bolt to create a flashlight. The goal is to create the brightest light from the LED lights on the Sphero BOLT. Students will need to understand how light interacts with different substances to successfully create the brightest flashlight. They will also test their lights in water to see how waves change direction and speed in different mediums.  The Light intensity will be measured using the function in google science journal.

In this activity, students explore the effect of chemical erosion on statues and monuments. They use chalk to see what happens when limestone is placed in liquids with different pH values. They also learn several things that engineers are doing to reduce the effects of acid rain.

Students conduct a simple experiment to model and explore the harmful effects of acid rain (vinegar) on living (green leaf and eggshell) and non-living (paper clip) objects.

Students are introduced to the differences between acids and bases and how to use indicators, such as pH paper and red cabbage juice, to distinguish between them.

Students are introduced to measuring and identifying sources of air pollution, as well as how environmental engineers try to control and limit the amount of air pollution. In Part 1, students are introduced to nitrogen dioxide as an air pollutant and how it is quantified. Major sources are identified, using EPA bar graphs. Students identify major cities and determine their latitudes and longitudes. They estimate NO2 values from color maps showing monthly NO2 averages from two sources: a NASA satellite and the WSU forecast model AIRPACT. In Part 2, students continue to estimate NO2 values from color maps and use Excel to calculate differences and ratios to determine the model's performance. They gain experience working with very large numbers written in scientific notation, as well as spreadsheet application capabilities.

Commercial fishing nets often trap "unprofitable" animals in the process of catching target species. In this activity, students experience the difficulty that fishermen experience while trying to isolate a target species when a variety of sea animals are found in the area of interest. Then the class discusses the large magnitude of this problem. Students practice data acquisition and analysis skills by collecting data and processing it to deduce trends on target species distribution. They conclude by discussing how bycatch impacts their lives and whether or not it is an important environmental issue that needs attention. As an extension, students use their creativity and innovative skills to design nets or other methods, theoretically and/or through hands-on prototyping, that fisherman could use to help avoid bycatch.

Students learn that fats found in the foods we eat are not all the same; they discover that physical properties of materials are related to their chemical structures. Provided with several samples of commonly used fats with different chemical properties (olive oil, vegetable oil, shortening, animal fat and butter), student groups build and use simple LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robots with temperature and light sensors to determine the melting points of the fat samples. Because of their different chemical structures, these fats exhibit different physical properties, such as melting point and color. This activity uses the fact that fats are opaque when solid and translucent when liquid to determine the melting point of each sample upon being heated. Students heat the samples, and use the robot to determine when samples are melted. They analyze plots of their collected data to compare melting points of the oil samples to look for trends. Discrepancies are correlated to differences in the chemical structure and composition of the fats.

Students are introduced to the classification of animals and animal interactions. Students also learn why engineers need to know about animals and how they use that knowledge to design technologies that help other animals and/or humans. This lesson is part of a series of six lessons in which students use their growing understanding of various environments and the engineering design process, to design and create their own model biodome ecosystems.

In this lesson, students will design a packaging system to keep their apple slices as fresh as possible over 24 hours. They will use various materials as part of their package and will be able to place apples in different temperature environments for testing (in classroom, by a window, or outside, for example).

In this activity, students construct their own rocket-powered boat called an "aqua-thruster." These aqua-thrusters will be made from a film canister and will use carbon dioxide gas produced from a chemical reaction between an antacid tablet and water to propel it. Students observe the effect that surface area of this simulated solid rocket fuel has on thrust.

Architectural and Structural Engineering provides learning opportunities for students interested in preparing for careers in such areas as architecture, industrial design, and civil engineering.

Students create four-legged walking robots and measure how far they travel across different types of surfaces. They design and create "shoes" to add to the robots' feet and observe the effect of their modifications on the net distance traveled across the various surface types. This activity illustrates how the specialized locomotive features of different species help them to survive or thrive in their habitat environments. The activity is best as an enrichment tool that follows a lesson that introduces the concept of biological adaptation to students.

This lesson teaches the engineering method for testing wherein one variable is changed while the others are held constant. Students compare the performance of a single paper airplane design while changing the shape, size and position of flaps on the airplane. Students also learn about control surfaces on the tail and wings of an airplane.

Through this earth science curricular unit, student teams are presented with the scenario that an asteroid will impact the Earth. In response, their challenge is to design the location and size of underground caverns to shelter the people from an uninhabitable Earth for one year. Driven by this adventure scenario, student teams 1) explore general and geological maps of their fictional state called Alabraska, 2) determine the area of their classroom to help determine the necessary cavern size, 3) learn about map scales, 4) test rocks, 5) identify important and not-so-important rock properties for underground caverns, and 6) choose a final location and size.

Students will understand how energy can be transferred from one object to another by designing, building, and testing a wind-powered car to deliver a message across the classroom.