Whether you want your learners to discover sustainable solutions or engineer for natural disasters, you’ll find that these lessons are out of this world!
Lesson titles marked with an asterisk (*) address engineering within the Next Generation Science Standards.
Storm Shield: What Living Things Need*
Design and build a shelter to keep animals safe in severe weather.
Duration: Five 45-minute sessions
Grade: K
Lesson Plan
Engineering for Earthquakes*
In this design challenge, you’ll engineer a structure and see if it can survive an earthquake you create!
Duration: 60 minutes
Grades: 3-5
Lesson Plan Tech at Home activity
Shaky Shelves: Exploring Cause and Effect*
Write a proposal to the mayor for a device that prevents product and profit loss caused by earthquakes.
Duration: Four 45-minute sessions
Grade: 6
Lesson Plan
Wildfire Warning*
Design a wind detection device, an anemometer, that could warn community members of the strength and direction of high winds during a wildfire.
Duration: Lesson: 90 minutes; Unit: 150 minutes
Grades: 6-8
Lesson Plan Unit
Balloon Astronaut*
Design spacesuits that can withstand the hazards of high velocity impact from space debris and meteoroids.
Duration: 45 minutes
Grades: 2-8
Lesson Plan
Demonstrating Change Over Time
Apply computational thinking to create or modify a computer program in Scratch that shows how the moon appears throughout the lunar cycle.
Duration: 180 to 240 minutes
Grades: 3-5
Lesson Plan
Building a Storm Drain*
Create a storm drain cover that can keep trash out while letting water pass through in order to protect our waterways.
Duration: 45-60 minutes
Grades: 3-8
Tech at Home activity
Catch It If You Can*
Build and develop a scale drawing of a rain catchment system that will help conserve water. Explore challenges associated with drought in California and how water conservation can be part of a solution.
Duration: Five to six 60-minute sessions
Grades: 4-7
Lesson Plan
Responsible Reservoirs
In this activity, you’ll play a game that shows this complicated cause and effect relationship involved in major environmental decisions.
Duration: 20+ minutes
Grades: 5-8
Tech at Home activity
More Plastic, More Problems: Using Ratios to Get Real*
Design a device that removes garbage from the Pacific Gyre while minimizing the number of animals collected.
Duration: Five to seven 50-minute sessions
Grade: 6
Lesson Plan
Coastal Erosion: Designing and Debating Solutions*
Make an argument supported with evidence for a solution to the environmental issue of coastal erosion.
Duration: Five 60-minute sessions
Grades: 6-8
Lesson Plan
Emerging Tech*
Examine environmental issues through the lens of four emerging technologies. Then, students will consider the challenges these technologies might face if they were adopted in their own communities.
Duration: Three 60-minute sessions
Grades: 7-12
Lesson Plan
Connecting With Climate*
Learners will explore how to problem-solve when approaching large-scale, multidimensional issues like climate change.
Duration: 90 minutes
Grades: 6-12
Lesson Plan
Bridging the Gap*
Build a bridge over a variety of terrains to determine how different designs affect stability and strength.
Duration: Five 50-minute sessions
Grades: 4-8
Lesson Plan
Traverse the Terrain*
Design a Mars terrain navigation test using coordinate planes to help NASA prepare for the next rover mission.
Duration: Four 50-minute sessions
Grades: 4-8
Lesson Plan
Building a Storm Drain*
Create a storm drain cover that can keep trash out while letting water pass through in order to protect our waterways.
Duration: 45-60 minutes
Grades: 3-8
Tech at Home activity
Catch It If You Can*
Build and develop a scale drawing of a rain catchment system that will help conserve water. Explore challenges associated with drought in California and how water conservation can be part of a solution.
Duration: Five to six 60-minute sessions
Grades: 4-7
Lesson Plan
Responsible Reservoirs
In this activity, you’ll play a game that shows this complicated cause and effect relationship involved in major environmental decisions.
Duration: 20+ minutes
Grades: 5-8
Tech at Home activity
More Plastic, More Problems: Using Ratios to Get Real*
Design a device that removes garbage from the Pacific Gyre while minimizing the number of animals collected.
Duration: Five to seven 50-minute sessions
Grade: 6
Lesson Plan
Coastal Erosion: Designing and Debating Solutions*
Make an argument supported with evidence for a solution to the environmental issue of coastal erosion.
Duration: Five 60-minute sessions
Grades: 6-8
Lesson Plan
