Constructing castles may seem a childish beach pursuit, a brief bastion against the incoming tide. But sand - or silica, as the mineral-and-rock grains are known - has been a crucial building material since ancient times, found in everything from brick to cement to glass. Your civil engineers will dig this summer activity marking National Sandcastle & Sculpture Day (Aug. 19). See whose structures stand firm!
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EXTRA CREDIT
- Combining 1 part water with 99 parts dry sand gives you the best chance of building the most stable sandcastle.
- Sand with rougher, jagged edges is better than smooth beach sand.
- The world’s tallest sandcastle was 13.97 metres high.
- By studying sandcastles we can better understand fields as diverse as civil engineering, physics, and soil mechanics.
- The maximum height of a sandcastle varies with its width.
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Second graders draw on their knowledge of Earth science to follow the engineering design process and investigate solutions for protecting sandcastles from wind and water damage. They make hypotheses, measure and record changes, and support their results using evidence. Suitable for students in grades 1-3.
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Tufts University students took to the beach for a fun, hands-on lesson in engineering design, creativity, teamwork, and materials science.
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Find in-person and online engineering education offerings for kids as young as pre-kindergarten on the new interactive U.S. map created by ASEE's Pre-College Engineering Education Division.
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BONUS: ENGINEERING SITE-SEEING
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Student Contests & STEM Programs |
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U.S. middle and high school students in congressional districts nationwide gain hands-on practice with coding and computer science by designing apps. Competition deadline is Nov. 1, 2022.
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U.S. high school students16 years old and up have an opportunity to work on a real research project with scientists and engineers over the summer at one of several Naval Research Labs around the country, receiving a stipend of $4,000 to $4,500. Applications are due Nov. 1, 2022.
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Billed as the largest annual hackathon in the world, NASA's 11th annual International Space Apps Challenge invites students, educators, scientists, technicians, artists, and others to develop apps using open-source data. Nine other space agencies, including in Japan, Mexico, Bahrain, and Austrailia, are participating. This year's challenge will be held in-person and virtually on October 1-2, 2022.
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High school teams from around the world develop and pitch real-world STEM solutions to aviation, health, cybersecurity, and other global problems in this prestigious contest named for astronaut Pete Conrad. Registration launches in August.
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Real-world mentors and problem solving for local communities is a hallmark of this NGSS-aligned virtual contest for 6th to 9th graders sponsored by the U.S. Army. State, regional, and national awards range from $500 to $5,000 in U.S. Savings Bonds. Registration opens Aug. 15.
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Amazon's K-12 STEM initiative for underserved students offers free coding camps, AP prep, and college scholarships.
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Educator Grants & Professional Learning |
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The Toshiba America Foundation offers up to $5,000 for middle and high school teachers to create engaging math and science lessons. Apply by Sept. 1. Smaller K-5 teacher awards have an Oct. 1 deadline; applications for 6-12th grade grants above $5,000 are due Nov. 1.
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Open to teachers in all 50 states, the Distrcit of Columbia, and Department of Defense schools can receive up to $3,000 to support STEM programs and activities, including innovative virtual or distance learning initiatives.
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Bring the excitement of future lunar expeditions to your middle school classroom.
“Landing Humans on the Moon” features four standards-aligned activities to help students learn about the Moon and create a model of a human landing system for lunar expeditions.
Visit the site to download the guide and watch video demonstrations of the activities.
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NSTA's Daily Do Playlists are instructional sequences of two or more lessons that help students coherently build science ideas over time. Lessons have been updated to facilitate remote learning.
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The National Energy Educational Development Project (NEED) offers free, live virtual energy education workshops and other professional learning opportunities for P-12 teachers in subjects from electricity to climate science to solar, wind, and nuclear energy.
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Engineering Career-Exploration Resources |
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STEM Careers. -- Show students what engineers do with Discovering You: Engineering Your World, a new video series from NBCLearn, Chevron, and ASEE.
Chemical Engineering Careers. -- YouTube series launched by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation aims to convey the major positive impact that chemical engineers and scientists have on society. Each video includes a proposed lesson for incorporating the cutting edge research into the classroom.
NASA Internships. -- High school, college, and grad students can work with engineers and scientists on sending the first woman to the moon and other missions.
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Explore eGFI: Helpful Links |
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Whether you seek timely, authentic engineering activities, teaching resources, or professional development opportunities, ASEE's free eGFI Teachers newsletter is your go-to source for STEM! |
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Engineering, Go For It (eGFI) is part of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), a non-profit organization committed to enhancing efforts to improve STEM and engineering education.
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Washington, DC 20036
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