Engineering Adventures Curriculum Unit

Engineering
Unit Unit Overview Activities
Field
The Sky’s the Aeronautical India and Jacob are visiting a friend at NASA’s Ames 8
Limit Engineering Research Lab. With India and Jacob’s help, kids dive into
aeronautical engineering by designing models of flying
technologies that help NASA collect aerial photographs.
Kids will learn that scientists and engineers often study harsh
environments here on Earth (like the largest sand desert in
the world, the Empty Quarter) to understand the
environments they might encounter in space.
Light Up the Electrical While visiting Iceland, India and Jacob learn that they get to 9
Night Engineering help design a display for the annual Light Festival! After
experimenting with circuits and sculpting materials, kids
design a light display that replicates the Northern Lights.

To the Package While travelling in Thailand, Jacob and India learn that 9
Rescue Engineering monsoon rains can cause severe flooding that cuts people
off from important supplies. Kids will help Jacob and India
engineer “aid drop packages” that can be dropped from an
aircraft, protect what’s inside, and are easy to find once they
reach the ground.
Go Green Green India and Jacob visit Senegal, where they’re impressed by 9
Engineering the way people recycle items that would ordinarily be
discarded by turning them into toys, sculptures, and
household objects. Your kids will use recycled materials to
engineer their own toy cars, then compete in a Recycled
Racer Rall.
Bubble Materials Jacob and India are in California, and they get to help create 9
Bonanza Engineering a stage show about bubbles for an amusement park! Kids
will explore how bubbles behave and investigate the
properties of different materials as they engineer all kinds of
bubble wands. The unit wraps up with a Bubble Bonanza
Showcase where kids demonstrate their creations.

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 A Slippery Avalanche Jacob and India are in Peru exploring the Andes Mountains 8
Slope Engineering when they learn a town is in danger from a potential
avalanche. Kids use what they learn from designing barriers
and catches to engineer an avalanche protection system.

Music to My Acoustical This unit introduces kids to the field of acoustical 8

Ears Engineering engineering as they design and improve acoustic devices.
After experimenting with shapes and materials that reflect
and absorb sound, kids use a decimeter to measure changes
in volume. Kids use what they know about sound and
vibrations to help India and Jacob design acoustic devices
that amplify music from a speaker in several locations.
Liftoff Aerospace Jacob is at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory learning how 8
Engineering to engineer rovers that can be used to explore faraway
worlds. Meanwhile, India is learning about the trade-offs and
variables involved in engineering a rocket as she blasts off
to the International Space Station. Kids will engineer rockets
and rovers to help India and Jacob explore several planets
and moons in our solar system.
Shake Things Earthquake A huge and very destructive earthquake hit Haiti in 2010. 9
Up Engineering Now Jacob and India are there, learning how to support and
protect buildings during earthquakes. Your kids will
engineer model buildings that are earthquake resistant.
They’ll also develop building codes that help others build
earthquake resistant structures.
Hop to It Mechanical Oh no! India and Jacob accidentally brought a cane toad 6
Engineering from Australia to New Zealand. Cane toads are pests.
They’re an invasive species that hurts native species in
Australia—and they could do the same in New Zealand. Kids
will help India and Jacob engineer a humane trap to catch
the toad.

*45 minutes per activity