Material Properties
Matter is all around us. Many students intuitively know that wood is harder than dough. This lesson gives them the starting foundation for understanding how scientists look at materials and decide what category they fit into.
Near-Earth Objects
Students learn how near-Earth objects (NEOs) can threaten the planet. After identifying and categorizing NEOs through a citizen science exercise, students enter a simulation to save Earth from an incoming asteroid.
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Stanford Biomimicry Challenge: Crisis Interrupt
The goal of this ETP is to expose students to the Biomimicry process of using innovation from nature to solve problems.
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Guide on the Side
As it is used in teaching, the phrase “be a guide on the side, not the sage on the stage,” refers to the idea that the teacher functions as an informative facilitator, and allows students to actively interact with new information by working with one another.
Neighborhood Mapping
We rely on a complex infrastructure of tunnels, pipes, and pumps to bring us the water and power we need in order to live and to clean our wastewater. What are the different utilities and services used by our communities and how do these services impact our communities on broader social levels?
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System Thinking: Batteries and Electric Cars
In this lesson developed by Northwestern’s Reach for the Stars program, students will explore the basics of a battery, measure the voltage of batteries, look at energy transformation and how it fits into the larger system of an electric vehicle.
Deep Dive Data
Complex organizations like Lockheed Martin gather large amounts of data from various sources. While data collection has been automated, data analysis and communication still requires human capital.
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Pics or it Didn’t Happen
As a summative assessment, students will design their own research question and implement the research. In pairs, they will present their research project in a scientific poster to faculty and community members.
Signal through the Noise: Data Literacy as Self-Empowerment
In today’s increasingly digital world, we produce (and continue to produce) large amounts of data about things ranging from test scores, to social media posts that we “Like” or “Comment”, to online shopping recommendations, to how safe (or not) a new engineering design could be, to self-driving c
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