Students analyze the relationship between wheel radius, linear velocity and angular velocity by using LEGO(TM) MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robots. Given various robots with different wheel sizes and fixed motor speeds, they predict which has the fastest linear velocity. Then student teams collect and graph data to analyze the relationships between wheel size and linear velocity and find the angular velocity of the robot given its motor speed. Students explore other ways to increase linear velocity by changing motor speeds, and discuss and evaluate the optimal wheel size and desired linear velocities on vehicles.

Learn why artists have been featuring food as a subject in their work for centuries.  You’ve been told to eat your vegetables, but have you ever tried to paint them? Special Guest Lisa McLaughlin, the baker behind Jesse’s Girl Cookies, invites us into her kitchen to experiment with modern art techniques on cakes, and then we’ll make our own painting of a scrumptious treat inspired by 20th-Century painter Wayne Thiebaud.

This is a google slides mini lesson on diameter and radius of a circle.  The first slide consists of a definition of a diameter and radius.  Students will discuss and realize the difference between the two.  Then they will make a text box for the answer.  They will type the answer in the text box, then complete the slides.

Students learn about the engineering design process and how it is used to engineer products for everyday use. Students individually brainstorm solutions for sorting coins and draw at least two design ideas. They work in small groups to combine ideas and build a coin sorter using common construction materials such as cardboard, tape, straws and fabric. Students test their coin sorters, make revisions and suggest ways to improve their designs. By designing, building, testing and improving coin sorters, students come to understand how the engineering design process is used to engineer products that benefit society.

Students drop water from different heights to demonstrate the conversion of water's potential energy to kinetic energy. They see how varying the height from which water is dropped affects the splash size. They follow good experiment protocol, take measurements, calculate averages and graph results. In seeing how falling water can be used to do work, they also learn how this energy transformation figures into the engineering design and construction of hydroelectric power plants, dams and reservoirs.

Working individually or in groups, students explore the concept of stress (compression) through physical experience and math. They discover why it hurts more to poke themselves with mechanical pencil lead than with an eraser. Then they prove why this is so by using the basic equation for stress and applying the concepts to real engineering problems.

Students work as engineers and learn to conduct controlled experiments by changing one experimental variable at a time to study its effect on the experiment outcome. Specifically, they conduct experiments to determine the angular velocity for a gear train with varying gear ratios and lengths. Student groups assemble LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT robots with variously sized gears in a gear train and then design programs using the NXT software to cause the motor to rotate all the gears in the gear train. They use the LEGO data logging program and light sensors to set up experiments. They run the program with the motor and the light sensor at the same time and analyze the resulting plot in order to determine the angular velocity using the provided physics-based equations. Finally, students manipulate the gear train with different gears and different lengths in order to analyze all these factors and figure out which manipulation has a higher angular velocity. They use the equations for circumference of a circle and angular velocity; and convert units between radians and degrees.

This learning resource provides students insight into combining and subdividing figures as well as utilizing the understanding of quadrilaterals.  Along with the exploration, students will be developing critical thinking through the decisions that are made to create the final mathematical product.  They will also communicate through collaboration to produce a final mathematical product.  They will also develop creative thinking and citizenship by producing a written piece to show their caring and understanding nature.

Working as a team, students discover that the value of pi (3.1415926...) is a constant and applies to all different sized circles. The team builds a basic robot and programs it to travel in a circular motion. A marker attached to the robot chassis draws a circle on the ground as the robot travels the programmed circular path. Students measure the circle's circumference and diameter and calculate pi by dividing the circumference by the diameter. They discover the pi and circumference relationship; the circumference of a circle divided by the diameter is the value of pi.

Video Description:  In addition to planets and their moons, there are many small bodies orbiting the Sun. How did these bodies form? Learn more about comets and asteroids and the role these play in our Solar System, as well as NASA's Rosetta and NEOWISE missions.  Video Length:  3:09.NASA eClipsTM is a suite of online student-centered, standards-based resources that support instruction by increasing STEM literacy in formal and nonformal settings.  These free digital and downloadable resources inform and engage students through NASA-inspired, real-world connections.NASA eClips Real World segments (grades 6-8) connect classroom mathematics to 21st Century careers and innovations.  They are designed for students to develop an appreciation for mathematics through real-world problem solving.

In this activity, learners use basic measurements of the Earth and pieces of rock and iron to estimate the mass of the Earth. Learners will calculate mass, volume, and density, convert units, and employ the water displacement method. To calculate an even more accurate estimate of the mass of the Earth, this resource includes optional instructions on how to measure the iron core mass.