Edible Car Activity Don’t let the title mislead you. No FOOD is to be consumed. Students are given a variety of food items (rice cakes, pretzel rods, graham crackers, granola bars, donuts, marshmallow crème, peanut butter, etc.) to use to make a car that will travel down an incline (in a race with the other cars). No other items, such as pencils, paper clips, etc., may be used – only food items. Students are asked to Plan, Design and Construct the car with the materials given (in keeping with the ideas about Engineering that they learn before the exercise). They are asked to work in teams, have a time frame, and usually obtain a reward for the best “thinkers.”
Problem solving, team building skills are gained from this exercise. Plus, the students really enjoy it! Instructors furnish all of the items to be used, including trash bags, paper plates, paper towels and wet wipes. This exercise can be slightly messy, but we keep a trash bag under the food items and for each team so that clean up is fast. Aluminum Boat Activity The class is given a 6” by 4” piece of Aluminum foil and asked to construct a boat (any size type or dimension) that will hold the most money (in $ value) without sinking. The last coin placed in the boat, that sinks the boat, will be removed. Coins used are quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. The actual construction can consist only of the 1 material given the piece of foil. Students are asked to Plan, Design then Construct the boat (in keeping with the ideas about Engineering that they learn before the exercise). They are asked to work in teams, have a time frame, and usually obtain a reward for the best “thinkers.” Weight Distribution, Force, Velocity, Surface Area, and other mathematical concepts can be incorporated for the higher grade students, or this exercise can also be elementary for lower grade students. Instructors furnish the foil, floating tubs, water, etc. Very little mess (only water) is made.  Jeopardy Game Pretend to be Alex Trebek and act like you have all the answers. A brief presentation is given to the students that discusses most all of the answers to the questions. (Or should we say questions to the anwers?). After the presentation, use this power point presentation to test the student's knowledge. It works better to divide the whole class up into three teams, and have them appoint a spokesperson.
	Cast-in-place Bridge Building Activity
Yes, we actually build a bridge (2 to be exact) from water and plaster of paris.  Students are given a chance to mix water and plaster of paris at differing ratios to see which bridge is strongest.  They will then break these bridges in an apparatus that shows the strength of the best bridge. Students are asked to Plan, Design and Construct the bridge as a team.  They have a time frame and are exposed to algebra (in the Moment of Inertia equation), hydration (from the water and plaster of paris’ chemical properties) and the idea of deflection.   Problem solving/team building skills are also gained from this exercise.  The students’ “souvenirs” become the pieces of the bridge.  They really enjoy it! Instructors furnish all of the items to be used, including bridge molds, water, plaster of paris, spray for the mold, the apparatus to break the bridge, trash bags, paper towels and wet wipes. This exercise can be slightly messy, but we keep a trash bag under the molds so that clean up is fast.