We love these Design Squad Challenges from NASA! This one involves building a crane using cardboard and other everyday objects. A great summer fun activity to keep ’em learning!
Aimed at middle / high school students, Heavy Lifting is a 5-page download that covers the challenge of building a crane and seeing how heavy a load it can lift. Meanwhile, students learn the science, math, and technology topics of:
- Simple machines.
- Measurement.
- Force and Newton’s Third Law.
The download includes instructions for:
- Preparation and gathering easy-to-find materials.
- Demonstrating a very simple example.
- Brainstorming and design.
- Building, testing, evaluating, and redesigning.
- Discussing key ideas.
- Extending the activity to adding more weight or making the crane more efficient.
As you can see, there is more going on here than just having fun. But that’s the point!
Perfect summer fun learning activity to keep ’em learning! Free!
Update: This resource is no longer available, so we are linking to an archived version.
Free Resource
Additional Resources
10 Ways to Use Notebooking: #7 Science
Lots of notebooking options for recording the results.
Summer Fun Activity: Feel the Heat {Free Download}
Another Design Squad Challenge!
