Engineers in the Classroom

Students learn how the sun's activity and magnetism drive space weather and impact Earth's living and technological systems.

Students will learn how engineers are working with nanotechnology to make metamaterials. Students will explore how light refracts and bends naturally to better understand how scientist are trying to alter the way light bends with metamaterials to create invisibility fields.

Explore how Newton's Third Law of Motion comes into play when launching a projectile like a stomp rocket. Students will work in small groups to design and launch a stomp rocket. Using their knowledge of Newton's Third Law of Motion, students will dicusss how they could modify their rocket's trajectory.  

Students will work through the engineering process while designing and testing wind turbine blades.

Find two short hands-on activities designed to help middle school students understand that magnifying objects allows them to be seen in more detail and that objects look different at different magnifications.

Students learn how solar activity is monitored and examine the impact the sun has on space weather and Earth systems.

Explore how Newton’s Second and Third Laws of Motion play a part in how a rocket lifts off. As a rocket burns fuel, a hot gas is created and forced out of the back of the rocket. Students will apply Newton’s Laws to design, test, redesign, and retest rockets to optimize the distance a rocket travels from launch.

Students will work through the engineering process while designing and testing wind turbine blades. Students will then use their tested turbine to investigate what happens to the voltage of electricity as it is transmitted along an electrical wire.