Students use inclined planes as they recreate the difficult task of raising a monolith of rock to build a pyramid. They compare the push and pull of different-sized blocks up an inclined plane, determine the angle of inclination, and learn the changes that happen when the angle is increased or decreased.

This problem asks the student to evaluate six numerical expressions that contain the same integers and operations yet have differing results due to placement of parentheses. It helps students see the purpose of using parentheses.

In this service-learning engineering project, students follow the steps of the engineering design process to design a hearing testing device. More specifically, they design a prototype machine that can be used to test the peripheral vision of partially-blind, pre-verbal children. Students learn about the basics of vision and vision loss. They also learn how a peripheral vision tester for adults works (by testing the static peripheral vision in the four quadrants of the visual field with four controllable lights in specific locations). Then they modify the idea of the adult peripheral vision tester to make it usable for testing young children. The class designs and builds one complete prototype, working in sub-groups of four or five students each to build sub-components of the project design.

This problem asks the student to evaluate three numerical expressions that contain the same integers yet have differing results due to placement of parentheses.

This review is on the first segment of the Grade 5 curriculum of "The Inquiry Project: Seeing the World Through the Scientists' Eyes." Water, A Liquid is a series of 5 investigations about water. Students use readily available materials such as water, sand and gravel to deepen their understanding of weight. Having a conceptual understanding of weight is important because students will use it when they begin exploring matter that is too small to be seen. The students are introduced to the study of matter by looking at images of ships sitting in a dry seabed in the Aral Sea. This introductory investigation will hook students because it is posed as a mystery and has a real life connection. Within this series of 5 investigations students will: -practice measurement using standard units -collect and record data -read a letter from an engineer -compare the weight of sand and water -use a digital scale -learn vocabulary -review volume, estimation -engage in discourse -reflect on the weight of small bits of matter -summarize evidence -collaborate -develop strategies -observe -transform (by crushing). The Inquiry Project is a quality curriculum developed pre-NGSS but closely aligned with The Framework of K-12 Science Education. This curriculum "links the three dimensions together" through the qualitative and quantitative measurement of water and sand using standard units and student observations. Each lesson is "designed to link with the previous lesson" as students build toward the capacity to be able to "make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties" in the context of the dry sea phenomena.

What makes rockets fly straight? What makes rockets fly far? Why use water to make the rocket fly? Students are challenged to design and build rockets from two-liter plastic soda bottles that travel as far and straight as possible or stay aloft as long as possible. Guided by the steps of the engineering design process, students first watch a video that shows rocket launch failures and then participate in three teacher-led mini-activities with demos to explore key rocket design concepts: center of drag, center of mass, and momentum and impulse. Then the class tests four combinations of propellants (air, water) and center of mass (weight added fore or aft) to see how these variables affect rocket distance and hang time. From what they learn, student pairs create their own rockets from plastic bottles with cardboard fins and their choices of propellant and center of mass placement, which they test and refine before a culminating engineering field day competition. Teams design for maximum distance or hang time; adding a parachute is optional. Students learn that engineering failures during design and testing are just steps along the way to success.

Students use a thermal process approach to design, build and test a small-scale desalination plant that is capable of significantly removing the salt content from a saltwater solution. Students use a saltwater circuit to test the efficiency of their model desalination plant and learn how the water cycle is the basis for the thermal processes that drive their desalination plant.

Students are asked to design methods to filter water using ordinary materials, while also considering their designs' material and cost efficiencies. They learn about the importance of water and its role in our everyday lives. They come to understand what must occur each day so that they can have clean water.

In this Public Service Design Seminar (PSDS), we will design and build products with developmentally disabled students at the Protestant Guild Learning Center in Waltham, MA. The class will work closely with community clients to make sure that what is developed is helpful and functional. These products will be built using the Hobby Shop equipment, the water jet machine in particular. Over the course of the seminar, this class will teach students how to use the water jet machine and associated OMAX software. The product development process will also be detailed in depth: determining customer needs, concept development, prototyping, design, and manufacturing.

Students observe a model waterwheel to investigate the transformations of energy involved in turning the blades of a hydro-turbine. Students work as engineers to create model waterwheels while considering resources such as time and materials, in their design. Students also discuss and explore the characteristics of hydropower plants.

Emphasis on mathematical models for predicting distribution and fate of effluents discharged into lakes, reservoirs, rivers, estuaries, and oceans. Focuses on formulation and structure of models as well as analytical and simple numerical solution techniques. Role of element cycles, such as oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus, as water quality indicators. Offshore outfalls and diffusion. Salinity intrusion in estuaries. Thermal stratification, eutrophication, and sedimentation processes in lakes and reservoirs.

Students measure the effectiveness of water filters in purifying contaminated water. They prepare test water by creating different concentrations of bleach (chlorine-contaminated) water. After passing the contaminated water through commercially available Brita® water filters designed to purify drinking water, students determine the chlorine concentration of the purified water using chlorine test strips and measure the adsorption of chlorine onto activated carbon over time. They graph and analyze their results to determine the effectiveness of the filters. The household active carbon filters used are one example of engineer-designed water purification systems.

Students collect a large set of data (approximately 60 sets) of individual student’s water use and learn how to use spreadsheets to graph the data and find mean, median, mode, and range. They compared their findings to the national average of water use per person per day and use it to evaluate how much water a municipality would need in the event of a recovery from a water shutdown. This analysis activity introduces students to the concept of central tendencies and how to use spreadsheets to find them.

Students learn about floods, discovering that different types of floods occur from different water sources, but primarily from heavy rainfall. While floods occur naturally and have benefits such as creating fertile farmland, students learn that with the increase in human population in flood-prone areas, floods are become increasingly problematic. Both natural and manmade factors contribute to floods. Students learn what makes floods dangerous and what engineers design to predict, control and survive floods.

Students learn about the importance of dams by watching a video that presents historical and current information on dams, as well as descriptions of global water resources and the hydrologic cycle. Students also learn about different types of dams, all designed to resist the forces on dams. (If the free, 15-minute "Water and Dams in Today's World" video cannot be obtained in time, the lesson can still be taught. See the Additional Multimedia Support section for how to obtain the DVD or VHS videotape, or a PowerPoint presentation with similar content [also attached].)

An introduction to chemical oceanography. Reservoir models and residence time. Major ion composition of seawater. Inputs to and outputs from the ocean via rivers, the atmosphere, and the sea floor. Biogeochemical cycling within the oceanic water column and sediments, emphasizing the roles played by the formation, transport, and alteration of oceanic particles and the effects that these processes have on seawater composition. Cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, oxygen, and sulfur. Uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide by the ocean. Material presented through lectures and student-led presentation and discussion of recent papers.

Theory and design of systems for treating industrial and municipal wastewater and potable water supplies. Methods for characterizing wastewater properties. Physical, chemical, and biological processes, including primary treatment, and suspended growth and fixed-film methods for secondary treatment. Nutrient removal. Reactor design and process kinetics. State-of-the-art processes. Sludge processing and disposal. This course is an overview of engineering approaches to protecting water quality with an emphasis on fundamental principals. Theory and conceptual design of systems for treating municipal wastewater and drinking water are discussed, as well as reactor theory, process kinetics, and models. Physical, chemical, and biological processes are presented, including sedimentation, filtration, biological treatment, disinfection, and sludge processing. Finally, there is discussion of engineered and natural processes for wastewater treatment.

Students learn about the water cycle and its key components. First, they learn about the concept of a watershed and why it is important in the context of engineering hydrology. Then they learn how we can use the theory of conservation of mass to estimate the amount of water that enters a watershed (precipitation, groundwater flowing in) and exits a watershed (evaporation, runoff, groundwater out). Finally, students learn about runoff and how we visualize runoff in the form of hydrographs.

Students learn the history of the waterwheel and common uses for water turbines today. They explore kinetic energy by creating their own experimental waterwheel from a two-liter plastic bottle. They investigate the transformations of energy involved in turning the blades of a hydro-turbine into work, and experiment with how weight affects the rotational rate of the waterwheel. Students also discuss and explore the characteristics of hydroelectric plants.

This collection uses primary sources to explore The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.