Engineering Design

Students will learn about the significance of scientific writing, the significance of two writers from the early eighteen hundreds, and will practice writing themselves. 

Grade level(s)
9-12
Prep time
20-30 minutes
In-class time
55-105 minutes

Students will learn about the significance of scientific writing, the significance of two writers from the early eighteen hundreds, and will practice writing themselves. 

Guide subjects
Grade level(s)
9-12
Prep time
20-30 minutes
In-class time
55-105 minutes

In this lesson plan, students will learn about the “West Computers” or “West Area Computers” – a group of African-American women who worked as “human computers” at NASA Langley Research Center from the 1940s onward. Students will practice using scientific notation and calculations as if they were computers at NASA Langley Research Center. 

Grade level(s)
9-12
Prep time
15-20 minutes
In-class time
90 minutes

Students will research the lives and work of some notable African American inventors and then create an invention or patent of their own.

Guide subjects
Grade level(s)
6-8
9-12
Prep time
15 minutes
In-class time
Two parts, 60-80 minutes each