"Team Estimation & Measurement" is adaptable to any grade level, and is very effective as an activity to start out a school year.  It involves teams of students being shown various items, and then collaborating in teams to estimate a teacher-requested dimension.  Teams can then refine their estimates as additional clues are given.  In my experience, students almost always asked later in the year to 'play this game' again!

 

           ************

"Cup Slide" and "Box Slide" can be used one after the other --- and can be adapted for use in grades 3 through 12.  Both cases involve a ball rolling down a ramp, and then the ball pushing an object that can slide.  Measurements are recorded, and predictions can be made.  Distance, speed, and energy are the fundamental concepts, which are perfect for exploring fair test experimentation.  "Cup Slide" is conducted by students on tables.  "Box Slide" is a larger version conducted by the teacher as an exciting follow-up demonstration.

 

           ************

"Swinging" is a science experiment involving a pendulum that helps students learn how to conduct a controlled, fair-test experiment.  Although written for use in grade 3, it can easilty be adapted for higher grade levels.

 

           ************

"Brake That Car!" is a multi-day engaging engineering task that can be adapted for use in grades 3 through 12.  It involves building a car (from limited materials) which is designed to meet one or two specific challenges.  This task incorporates the concepts of speed and friction.

 

           ************

"Flight Challenge" is a team engineering design challenge.  It involves simple materials, but is a challenging task.  Adaptable for grades 5 through 12.

 

           ************

"Half-Life of Diceium" is a experiment using dice that simulates radioactivity and half-life.  It can be adapted for grades 7 throug 12.  If enough dice are not available, thumbtacks or pennies can be subsituted.

 

           ************

"An Engineering Design Process" is an instructional sheet for students which helps them understand a commonly-used engineering design process.  Students can refer to this sheet for years as a refresher.