In the Flow Rate Experiment, students perform hands-on experiments with a common faucet, as well as work with the Engineering Our Water Living Lab to gain a better understanding of flow rate and how it pertains to engineering and applied science. Students calculate the flow rate of a faucet for three different levels (quarter blast, half blast, and full blast). Building on these calculations, students hypothesize about the flow rate in a nearby river, and then use the Engineering Our Water Living Lab to check their hypothesis. For this lesson to be effective, your students need to have a visual feel for the flow in a nearby river.

Students learn about the fundamental concepts important to fluid power, which includes both pneumatic (gas) and hydraulic (liquid) systems. Both systems contain four basic components: reservoir/receiver, pump/compressor, valve, cylinder. Students learn background information about fluid power—both pneumatic and hydraulic systems—including everyday applications in our world (bulldozers, front-end loaders, excavators, chair height lever adjustors, door closer dampers, dental drills, vehicle brakes) and related natural laws. After a few simple teacher demos, they learn about the four components in all fluid power systems, watch two 26-minute online videos about fluid power, complete a crossword puzzle of fluid power terms, and conduct a task card exercise. This prepares them to conduct the associated hands-on activity, using the Portable Fluid Power Demonstrator (teacher-prepared kits) to learn more about the properties of gases and liquids in addition to how forces are transmitted and multiplied within these systems.

Students review information learned during the past five lessons and activities of the Introduction to Engineering unit. Working in teams, they create flyers and short quizzes about various types of engineering to share with the class and collect into a "Olympic Engineering Binder" for the class to keep.

Use this activity to explore forces acting on objects, practice graphing experimental data, and introduce the algebra concepts of slope and intercept of a line. A wooden 2 x 4 beam is set on top of two scales. Students learn how to conduct an experiment by applying loads at different locations along the beam, recording the exact position of the applied load and the reaction forces measured by the scales at each end of the beam. In addition, students analyze the experiment data with the use of a chart and a table, and model/graph linear equations to describe relationships between independent and dependent variables.

Students conduct several simple lab activities to learn about the five fundamental load types that can act on structures: tension, compression, shear, bending and torsion. In this activity, students play the role of molecules in a beam that is subject to various loading schemes.

Students learn about four forms of equations: direct variation, slope-intercept form, standard form and point-slope form. They graph and complete problem sets for each, converting from one form of equation to another, and learning the benefits and uses of each.

Students use LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robotics to help conceptualize and understand the force of friction. Specifically, they observe how different surfaces in contact result in different frictional forces. A LEGO robot is constructed to pull a two-wheeled trailer made of LEGO parts. The robot is programmed to pull the trailer 10 feet and trial runs are conducted on smooth and textured surfaces. The speed and motor power of the robot is kept constant in all trials so students observe the effect of friction between various combinations of surfaces and trailer wheels. To apply what they learn, students act as engineers and create the most effective car by designing the most optimal tires for given surface conditions.

The lesson will first explore the concept of current in electrical circuits. Current will be defined as the flow of electrons. Photovoltaic (PV) cell properties will then be introduced. Generally constructed of silicon, photovoltaic cells contain a large number of electrons BUT they can be thought of as "frozen" in their natural state. A source of energy is required to "free" these electrons if we wish to create current. Light from the sun provides this energy. This will lead to the principle of "Conservation of Energy." Finally, with a basic understanding of the circuits through Ohm's law, students will see how the energy from the sun can be used to power everyday items, including vehicles. This lesson utilizes the engineering design activity of building a solar car to help students learn these concepts.

During a scavenger hunt and an art project, students learn how to use a handheld GPS receiver for personal navigation. Teachers can request assistance from the Institute of Navigation to find nearby members with experience in using GPS and in locating receivers to use.

In this lesson, students will investigate error. As shown in earlier activities from navigation lessons 1 through 3, without an understanding of how errors can affect your position, you cannot navigate well. Introducing accuracy and precision will develop these concepts further. Also, students will learn how computers can help in navigation. Often, the calculations needed to navigate accurately are time consuming and complex. By using the power of computers to do calculations and repetitive tasks, one can quickly see how changing parameters likes angles and distances and introducing errors will affect their overall result.

In this lesson, students learn how to determine location by triangulation. We describe the process of triangulation and practice finding your location on a worksheet, in the classroom, and outdoors.

Students use hot glue gun sticks to learn about the forces of tension, compression and torsion.

Students will answer the Challenge Question and use the acquired learning from Lesson 1, "Fix the Hip Challenge" and Lesson 2, "Skeletal System Overview"to construct an informative brochure addressing osteoporosis and the role biomedical engineering plays in diagnosing and preventing this disease.

Students explore the effects of regional geology on bridge foundation, including the variety of soil conditions found beneath foundations. They learn about shallow and deep foundations, as well as the concepts of bearing pressure and settlement.

This lesson introduces the MRI Safety Grand Challenge question. Students are asked to write journal responses to the question and brainstorm what information they will need to answer the question. The ideas are shared with the class and recorded. Students then watch a video interview with a real life researcher to gain a professional perspective on MRI safety and brainstorm any additional ideas. The associated activity provides students the opportunity to visualize magnetic fields.

Students are introduced to the Robotics Peripheral Vision Grand Challenge question. They are asked to write journal responses to the question and brainstorm what information they require to answer the question. Their ideas are shared with the class and recorded. Then, students share their ideas with each other and brainstorm any additional ideas. Next, students draw a basis for the average peripheral vision of humans and then compare that range to the range of two different focal lengths in a camera. Through the associated activity provides, students see the differences between human and computer vision.

Students use graph theory to create social graphs for their own social networks and apply what learn to create a graph representing the social dynamics found in a dramatic text. Students then derive meaning based on what they know about the text from the graphs they created. Students learn graph theory vocabulary, as well as engineering applications of graph theory.

Students learn about an important characteristic of lines: their slopes. Slope can be determined either in graphical or algebraic form. Slope can also be described as positive, negative, zero or undefined. Students get an explanation of when and how these different types of slope occur. Finally, they learn how slope relates to parallel and perpendicular lines. When two lines are parallel, they have the same slope and when they are perpendicular their slopes are negative reciprocals of one another.

Students analyze their social networks using graph theory. They gather data on their own social relationships, either from Facebook interactions or the interactions they have throughout the course of a day, recording it in Microsoft Excel and using Cytoscape (a free, downloadable application) to generate social network graphs that visually illustrate the key persons (nodes) and connections between them (edges). The nodes in the Cytoscape graphs are color-coded and sized according to the importance of the node (in this activity, nodes are people in students' social networks). After the analysis, the graphs are further examined to see what can be learned from the visual representation. Students gain practice with graph theory vocabulary, including node, edge, betweeness centrality and degree on interaction, and learn about a range of engineering applications of graph theory.

In this lesson, the students will investigate what types of plants and insects they could eat to survive in the Amazon. They will research various plants and/or insects and identify characteristics that make them edible or useful for the trip. The students will create posters and present their findings to the class.