S.4.14: Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that…

Build It, Launch It Grades K–5

Egg drops, paper planes and balloon rockets, done properly at home. Three engineering challenges where kids build, test, fix and explain the pushes and pulls behind what happened.

• Can you drop an egg without breaking it? 60 min

  Kids design an egg protector on a materials budget, test it from a low height first and work up, and fix what fails. They finish able to explain why a soft, slow stop saves the egg.

Your Senses: How Does Your Body Know? Grade 4

Map the most sensitive spots on your skin, find the blind spot in each eye, lose the flavour of a jelly bean by pinching your nose, and build an owl ear. Four lessons on how senses gather information and the brain makes sense of it.

• How do animals sense what we can't? 60 min

  Students read about whiskers, echolocation and owl ears, build a paper cone 'owl ear' and test whether it helps them find where a sound comes from. Then they define a problem and invent a sensor or tool inspired by an animal.

Simple Circuits: Make It Light Up Grade 4

Light a bulb with one wire, hunt for materials that let electricity through, find out why string lights all go dark at once, and build a burglar alarm. Four hands-on lessons on closed loops, safe and cheap.

• Can you build a burglar alarm? 60–75 min

  Teams design and build a homemade switch from a clothes peg or foil and cardboard that closes a circuit when a door or box lid opens, sounding a buzzer or lighting an LED. They test it, improve it and use evidence to argue their alarm is the most reliable.

Earth Day Investigations: Make Your School Better Grades 4–6 · partly supports this outcome

Four hands-on investigations into the school's own garbage, shade, water and electricity. Each one ends with students taking a real, evidence-based recommendation to the principal or caretaker.

• Where would a new tree help most? 50–60 min

  Teams measure air and ground temperature in sun and shade, on grass and on pavement, to see how much shade cools the schoolyard. They use their numbers to recommend where the school should plant a new tree.

Monsoon Science: Rain, Sun and the Nón Lá Grades 3–4

Science and English together, for English learners (CEFR A2–B1). Why is the Vietnamese nón lá shaped like a cone? Students build paper hats, test them in 'monsoon rain' and 'midday sun', and find the best shape for a rice farmer.

• How does a nón lá keep a rice farmer dry? 60 min, or two 35-minute periods

  Science and English together, for English learners at CEFR A2–B1. Teams build paper cone hats of three shapes, test them under 'monsoon rain' and 'midday sun', and measure how far each one sends the water and how much shade it makes. Then they design the best hat for a rice farmer.

Printable practice for S.4.14

• Build It, Launch It workbook included with the unit

  1 English-support page, 1 practice page, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Your Senses: How Does Your Body Know? workbook included with the unit

  1 practice page, 1 reading, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Simple Circuits: Make It Light Up workbook included with the unit

  1 practice page, 1 reading, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Earth Day Investigations: Make Your School Better workbook included with the unit

  4 practice pages, 2 readings, 1 English-support page, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Monsoon Science: Rain, Sun and the Nón Lá workbook included with the unit

  1 word wall, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

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