See how the equation form of Ohm's law relates to a simple circuit. Adjust the voltage and resistance, and see the current change according to Ohm's law. The sizes of the symbols in the equation change to match the circuit diagram.

In this extension to the Ohm's Law I activity, students observe just how much time it takes to use up the "juice" in a battery, and if it is better to use batteries in series or parallel. This extension is suitable as a teacher demonstration and may be started before students begin work on the Ohm's Law I activity.

See how the equation form of Ohm's law relates to a simple circuit. Adjust the voltage and resistance, and see the current change according to Ohm's law. The sizes of the symbols in the equation change to match the circuit diagram.

Students work to increase the intensity of a light bulb by testing batteries in series and parallel circuits. They learn about Ohm's law, power, parallel and series circuits, and ways to measure voltage and current.

Student teams create, test and improve oil spill cleanup kits, designing them to be inexpensive and accessible for homeowners to use or for big companies to give to individual workers to aid in personal home, community or corporate environmental oil cleanup. After deciding on a target user and scenario, teams conduct research and draw from an assortment of ordinary materials and supplies made available by the teacher. As a concluding gallery walk, each group presents its final prototype and summary poster to the rest of the class.

This lesson will allow students to explore an important role of environmental engineers: cleaning the environment. Students will learn details about the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which was one of the most publicized and studied environmental tragedies in history. In the accompanying activity, they will try many "engineered" strategies to clean up their own manufactured oil spill and learn the difficulties of dealing with oil released into our waters.

This hands-on experiment will provide students with an understanding of the issues that surround environmental cleanup. Students will create their own oil spill, try different methods for cleaning it up, and then discuss the merits of each method in terms of effectiveness (cleanliness) and cost. They will be asked to put themselves in the place of both an environmental engineer and an oil company owner who are responsible for the clean-up.

Students learn about oil spills and their environmental and economic effects. They experience the steps of the engineering design process as they brainstorm potential methods for oil spill clean-up, and then design, build, and re-design oil booms to prevent the spread of oil spills. During a reflective session after cleaning up their oil booms, students come up with ideas on how to reduce oil consumption to prevent future oil spills.

The lesson begins by introducing Olympics as the unit theme. The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the techniques of engineering problem solving. Specific techniques covered in the lesson include brainstorming and the engineering design process. The importance of thinking out of the box is also stressed to show that while some tasks seem impossible, they can be done. This introduction includes a discussion of the engineering required to build grand, often complex, Olympic event centers.

Looking at historic maps of the West, students can begin to appreciate the immensity and mystery of the mission Lewis and Clark accepted.

Students use three tracks marked on the floor, one in yards, one in feet and one in inches. As they start and stop a robot specific distances on a "runway," they can easily determine the equivalent measurements in other units by looking at the nearby tracks. With this visual and physical representation of the magnitude of the units of feet, yard and inches, students gain an understanding of what is meant by "unit conversion." They also gain a familiarity with different common units of measurement. They use multiplication and division to verify their physical estimated unit conversions. Students also learn about how common and helpful it is to convert from one unit to another in everyday situations and for engineering purposes. This activity helps students make the abstract concept of unit conversion real so they develop mental models of the magnitude of units instead of applying memorized conversion factors by rote.

This game game supports students in counting forward and can be adjusted to support backward counting.

Students learn that charge movement through a circuit depends on the resistance and arrangement of the circuit components. In a hands-on activity, students build and investigate the characteristics of series circuits. In another activity, students design and build a flashlight.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fourth graders about one-step conversions between multiples of 10.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach third graders about one-step conversions involving multiples of ten.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fourth graders about one-step subtraction conversions with compound units (metric units) - word problems.

This task acts as a bridge between understanding place value and using strategies based on place value for addition and subtraction.

In this activity, students learn about ocean currents and the difference between salt and fresh water. They use colored ice cubes to see how cold and warm water mix and how this mixing causes currents. Also, students learn how surface currents occur due to wind streams. Lastly, they learn how fresh water floats on top of salt water, the difference between water in the ocean and fresh water throughout the planet, and how engineers are involved in the design of ocean water systems for human use.

Texting and chatting online can sometimes feel just like talking to someone in person, but it's actually pretty different. It's all because of something called the "online disinhibition effect," which makes us more likely to share or communicate differently from how we would in person. Help your students learn to consider this concept before they post, and stop digital drama and cyberbullying before they start.