Outreach Experiments

What outreach experiments/activities are available for SWE-MN members to use? 

SWE-MN owns many hands-on experiments that are available to the SWE-MN members to use for outreach events.  This list is always changing, as SWE-MN purchases new experiments frequently.  Contact the Outreach co-chairs at outreach@swe-mn.org to obtain the most up to date list of experiments and to request to borrow a specific experiment.  A detailed list of the experiments follows. 

Click on the links provided after each description to bring up a detailed document describing the experiment.

Da Vinci Bridge - Self Supporting

Target Age Group: 9+ years
Time: 14-20 minutes
Subject: Civil/Structural Engineering
Objective: Students one-by-one will build Da Vinci's Bridge Design dating back to the 1400s. Through this activity, students learn about forces on a bridge and structural engineering.
Click on this link for more information: Da Vinci Bridge

Marble Roller Coasters

Target Age Group: 9+ years
Time: 60 minutes
Subject: Mechanical Engineering
Objective: Students can learn about kinetic and potential energy through the design challenge to build their own roller coaster using pipe insulators, tape, and a marble.
Click on this link for more information: Roller Coaster
Get the worksheet here

Building Structures

Target Age Group: any
Time: 60 minutes
Subject: Civil/Structural Engineering
Objective: Groups of students will build toothpick-and-marshmallow models of structures, including cubes, pyramids, and tetrahedrons, and determine which shape/structure is the strongest and why. Click on this link for more information: Building Structures
  

Circuit Butterflies

Target Age Group: 4th - 8th grade
Time: 45 minutes
Subject: Electrical Engineering
Objective: Learn how circuits work by building a closed circuit "bug" and watching the bug's eyes light up. Click on this link for more information: Circuit Butterflies

Egg Mobile

Target Age Group: 4th - 8th grade
Time: 90 minutes
Subject: Process Design, Mechanical Engineering
Objective: Each design team's goal is to build a vehicle, the EggMobile, using LEGOs and other supplies to safely transport a raw egg. Each team is given a budget to buy parts (LEGOs, etc.) to build the EggMobile and to pay fines resulting from the failure of their design to meet specific design requirements as well as product liability lawsuits.  Click on this link for more information: Egg Mobile, Tally sheet, Speaker Hints

What's Does An Engineer Do?

Target Age Group: all
Time: 15 minutes
Subject: Warm-up Introduction Activity
Objective: A matching worksheet: match the engineer to his/her job description.  Click on this link for more information:  What's Does An Engineer Do?

Invisible Forces

Target Age Group: 4th - 8th grade
Time: 60 minutes
Subject: Mechanical, Electrical Engineering
Overview: Exploring simple motors and invisible forces.  Click on this link for more information: Invisible Forces

Electric Boogie

Target Age Group: 3rd - 5th grade
Time: 30-45 minutes
Subject: Electrical Engineering
Overview: Exploring static electricity.  Click on this link for more information: Electric Boogie


Hoop Gliders

Target Age Group: 8 years +
Time: 15 minutes
Overview: If you throw a plain straw, it doesn't go very far. But when you add paper hoops, the straw glides through the air. That's because the hoops act like wings. Things that fly - like insects, birds, and airplanes - all have wings. But wings are not all the same shape and size. Different wings can be better for different kinds of flight. For example, an eagle has long, wide wings that help it glide. An airplane has wings with small flaps that move up and down to turn the plane. Try changing the wings on your glider. How does it fly with different wings?  Click on this link for more information:
Hoop Gliders

Shopping Mall

Target Age Group: 9 years +
Time: 50 minutes
Overview: After completing the Lego® Shopping Mall activity, the student will understand the basic concepts behind the process of designing construction projects.  This includes the basics of specifications, construction plans, and how to construct a building based on these two documents.  The student will be able to experiment with dimensions, scale, and the aesthetics of the building.  The activity also focuses on the concepts of measurement and scale, as well as clear and concise communication of their ideas to others (through specifications and drawings).  The students will be working in teams, which will allow for advancement of teamwork skills.   Click on this link for more information:  Shopping Mall

Spool Racer

Target Age Group: 1st - 8th grade
Time: 10 minutes
Subject: Mechanical Engineering/Physics
Overview: In this experiment, students will be able to learn and understand the concepts of potential and kinetic energy.  By building their own spool racer, the students will get to see and feel the potential energy being built up as the rubber band gets wound.  When they release their racer and see the spool go, they will see how the potential energy is turned into kinetic energy.  Click on this link for more information:  Spool Racer

Pinwheels

Target Age Group: 8 years +
Time: 15 minutes
Subject: Energy Engineering
Overview: Learn about considerations for constructing a successful wind farm, such as local conditions and turbine placement, and then design an efficient and environmentally-friendly facility.  Click on this link for more information:  Pinwheels

Homemade Ice Cream Experiment

Target Age Group: Preschool - 3rd grade
Time: 20 minutes
Overview: The mixture of ice cream ingredients are added to a plastic bag. Ice and salt are added to a surrounding enclosure in order to produce the chemical reaction needed to freeze the ice cream. This is a great elementary chemical kit for beginning chemical engineering principles, and the ice cream is fun to eat! 

Silly Putty/ Slime

Target Age Group: Preschool - 4th grade
Time: 15 minutes
Subject: Chemical Engineering
Overview: Mixing Elmer's Glue with borax, food coloring, and water produces a putty-like material called a polymer. Borax is the chemical that is responsible for hooking the glue's molecules together to form the putty-like material. This is a wonderful elementary chemical kit for introducing basic chemical engineering principles.  Click on this link for more information: Silly Putty/ Slime

Lip Gloss

Target Age Group: Preschool - 4th grade
Time: 15 minutes
Overview: Make lip gloss from common kitchen ingredients.

Super Bouncing Balls

Target Age Group: 6+
Time: 20 - 60 minutes
Overview: In this experiment, students will learn and understand the concepts of chemical reaction, polymers and cross-linkers. Students can do comparative analysis of the super bouncing balls on different surfaces or other bouncing balls. Refer to our Lesson Plan and Experiment Worksheet.