English for Construction Workers is intended as a free resource for those working in the construction industry. The activities have been designed for use in a classroom setting with a suitably qualified instructor.
Children in kindergarten through fifth grade and their families are invited to learn more about the field of engineering in this hour-long special program. Family Night: Engineering introduces children to cool careers within the field of engineering that range from building roller coasters to designing artificial heart pumps for children who need them. Children will also get a chance to participate in hands-on engineering activities during the program!
The best part? Everything they need to participate can be found right in your home.
Is the hydrogen car the answer to global warming? This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE looks at the pros and cons of this developing technology.
This lesson introduces the ways that engineers study and harness the wind. Students will learn about the different kinds of winds and how to measure wind direction. In addition, students will learn how air pressure creates winds and how engineers build and test wind turbines to harness energy from wind.
This lesson plan helps students understand the factors that affect water quality and the conditions that allow for different animals and plants to survive. Students will look at the effects of water quality on various water-related activities and describe water as an environmental, economic and social resource. The students will also learn how engineers use water quality information to make decisions about stream modifications.
Kindergarten students use various materials to build sight words and create a video to watch as a future review.
Waste disposal has been an ongoing problem since medieval times. Environmental engineers are employed to develop technologies to dispose of the enormous amount of trash produced in the United States. In this lesson, students will learn about the three methods of waste disposal in use by modern communities. They will also investigate how engineers design sanitary landfills to prevent leachate from polluting the underlining groundwater.
provides an overview of an exhibit which explains the historical role of transportation in visitors exploration of National Parks -- from the stagecoach to the automobile.
Four full-year digital course, built from the ground up and fully-aligned to the Common Core State Standards, for 7th grade Mathematics. Created using research-based approaches to teaching and learning, the Open Access Common Core Course for Mathematics is designed with student-centered learning in mind, including activities for students to develop valuable 21st century skills and academic mindset.
Zooming In On Figures
Unit Overview
Type of Unit: Concept; Project
Length of Unit: 18 days and 5 days for project
Prior Knowledge
Students should be able to:
Find the area of triangles and special quadrilaterals.
Use nets composed of triangles and rectangles in order to find the surface area of solids.
Find the volume of right rectangular prisms.
Solve proportions.
Lesson Flow
After an initial exploratory lesson that gets students thinking in general about geometry and its application in real-world contexts, the unit is divided into two concept development sections: the first focuses on two-dimensional (2-D) figures and measures, and the second looks at three-dimensional (3-D) figures and measures.
The first set of conceptual lessons looks at 2-D figures and area and length calculations. Students explore finding the area of polygons by deconstructing them into known figures. This exploration will lead to looking at regular polygons and deriving a general formula. The general formula for polygons leads to the formula for the area of a circle. Students will also investigate the ratio of circumference to diameter ( pi ). All of this will be applied toward looking at scale and the way that length and area are affected. All the lessons noted above will feature examples of real-world contexts.
The second set of conceptual development lessons focuses on 3-D figures and surface area and volume calculations. Students will revisit nets to arrive at a general formula for finding the surface area of any right prism. Students will extend their knowledge of area of polygons to surface area calculations as well as a general formula for the volume of any right prism. Students will explore the 3-D surface that results from a plane slicing through a rectangular prism or pyramid. Students will also explore 3-D figures composed of cubes, finding the surface area and volume by looking at 3-D views.
The unit ends with a unit examination and project presentations.
Students will resume their project and decide on dimensions for their buildings. They will use scale to calculate the dimensions and areas of their model buildings when full size. Students will also complete a Self Check in preparation for the Putting It Together lesson.Key ConceptsThe first part of the project is essentially a review of the unit so far. Students will find the area of a composite figure—either a polygon that can be broken down into known areas, or a regular polygon. Students will also draw the figure using scale and find actual lengths and areas.GoalsRedraw a scale drawing at a different scale.Find measurements using a scale drawing.Find the area of a composite figure.SWD: Consider what supplementary materials may benefit and support students with disabilities as they work on this project:Vocabulary resource(s) that students can reference as they work:List of formulas, with visual supports if appropriateClass summaries or lesson artifacts that help students to recall and apply newly introduced skillsChecklists of expectations and steps required to promote self-monitoring and engagementModels and examplesStudents with disabilities may take longer to develop a solid understanding of newly introduced skills and concepts. They may continue to require direct instruction and guided practice with the skills and concepts relating to finding area and creating and interpreting scale drawings. Check in with students to assess their understanding of newly introduced concepts and plan review and reinforcement of skills as needed.ELL: As academic vocabulary is reviewed, be sure to repeat it and allow students to repeat after you as needed. Consider writing the words as they are being reviewed. Allow enough time for ELLs to check their dictionaries if they wish.
In the southwestern US and in Mexico (and in other parts of the world), where there are not many trees, people often build houses out of mud bricks called adobe. Adobe houses are warm in the evening and cool in the daytime. If a mud brick is warmed by the sun, how long will it continue to give off warmth once the sun goes down?
This course covers the process of identifying and quantifying market opportunities, then conceptualizing, planning, and starting a new, technology-based enterprise. Students develop detailed business plans for a startup. It is intended for students who want to start their own business, further develop an existing business, be a member of a management team in a new enterprise, or better understand the entrepreneur and the entrepreneurial process.
A workbook for administrators looking to have a coordinated OER implementation in their district, building, or target group; includes questions to answer and activities to help guide the work. This is a remix of 11 other OER resources, along with original work.
Students conduct an experiment to determine how varying the composition of a construction material affects its strength. They make several adobe bricks with differing percentages of sand, soil, fibrous material and water. They test the bricks for strength by dropping them onto a concrete surface from progressively greater heights. Students graph the experiment results and use what they learn to design their own special mix that maximizes the bricks' strength. During the course of the experiment, students learn about variables (independent, dependent, control) and the steps of the engineering design process.
Working individually or in pairs, students compete to design, create, test and redesign free-standing, weight-bearing towers using Kapla(TM) wooden blocks. The challenge is to build the tallest tower while meeting the design criteria and minimizing the amount of material used all within a time limit. Students experiment with different geometric shapes used in structural designs and determine how design choices affect the height and strength of structures, becoming comfortable with the concepts of structural members and modeling.
Students learn about material reuse by designing and building the strongest and tallest towers they can, using only recycled materials. They follow design constraints and build their towers to withstand earthquake and high wind simulations.
Students explore whether rooftop gardens are a viable option for combating the urban heat island effect. Can rooftop gardens reduce the temperature inside and outside houses? Teams each design and construct two model buildings using foam core board, one with a "green roof" and the other with a black tar paper roof. They measure and graph the ambient and inside building temperatures while under heat lamps and fans. Then students analyze the data and determine whether the rooftop gardens are beneficial to the inhabitants.
Students learn about how engineers design and build shake tables to test the ability of buildings to withstand the various types of seismic waves generated by earthquakes. Just like engineers, students design and build shake tables to test their own model buildings made of toothpicks and mini marshmallows. Once students are satisfied with the performance of their buildings, they put them through a one-minute simulated earthquake challenge.
In this video from DragonflyTV, follow the investigation of Isaac and Anjali as they record, measure, and analyze data about how the Sun's position in the sky affects a solar-powered car's speed.