Air Bag Design

Using automobile crash test footage, this video segment adapted from NOVA shows some of the challenges in designing the air bag.

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Air Power: Making a Hovercraft

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members make their own hovercraft and demonstrate how the air leaking out of a balloon can make a plastic plate hover above a table.

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Ask an Engineer

Explore some of the wonders of modern engineering in this video from the Sciencenter in Ithaca, New York. Hear a diverse selection of engineers explain how things work.

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China’s Innovative Past

This audio segment from PRI's The World Science Podcast explores the roots of China's creative past and examines why China, a country that over 1500 years came up with some of the most important inventions the world had ever seen, might have lost its innovative edge to the West.

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Choosing a STEM Career

Students will view video clips about graduate and middle school students with interests in STEM careers and compare technologies from yesterday with today. They will explore careers on-line before writing about their futures as STEM professionals.

Darfur Stoves

In this video from KQED's QUEST, find out how researchers have engineered a stove, which is helping women in refugee camps of Darfur, Sudan.

Design for Function

In this video segment from Cyberchase, the CyberSquad designs an invention that will help them cross a swamp and also reach the top of a tall cliff.

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Design Inspired by Nature

In this stills collage produced for Teachers' Domain, see several examples of everyday inventions that were either inspired by nature or are similar in form and function to plants or animals.

Drilling to Antarctica’s Rock Core

In this video adapted from ANDRILL, find out how geoscientists get through more than a dozen football fields of ice and water in order to study the rock and sediment beneath Antarctica.

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Engineering Career Options

It's a profession that can take you from the depths of the ocean to the far reaches of outer space, from within the microscopic structures of the human cell to the top of the tallest skyscrapers. In this stills collage adapted from The American Society for Engineering Education, learn about some of the most popular engineering fields.

Forgotten Inventors

This illustrated feature from the American Experience Web site highlights the frequently forgotten inventors of several useful, innovative technologies.

Franklin Chang-Díaz: Rocket Scientist

This video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW profiles Franklin Chang-Díaz, a scientist who is working on plasma-powered rockets and was NASA's first Latin American astronaut.

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Fusion Energy Advances

In this report from the NewsHour, correspondent Spencer Michels reports on ongoing efforts to produce fusion energy to help fuel American energy independence.

Global Warming: The Hydrogen Car

Is the hydrogen car the answer to global warming? This video segment adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE looks at the pros and cons of this developing technology.

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Green Chemistry

This audio segment from PRI's The World Science Podcast explores the science of Green Chemistry. Hear about companies that are developing greener chemicals, and learn why they are fast becoming an attractive alternative for the multi-billion dollar chemical industry.

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Green Energy

This video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K describes renewable and non-renewable energy sources and the benefits and drawbacks of each. It provides some ideas about how you can personally conserve energy.

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Hoover Dam and Hydroelectric Power

How does a dam generate electricity and what are the environmental impacts of operating these mammoth structures? Find out in this video segment adapted from Building Big.

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How Engineering Affects Your Life

Students explore the engineering that impacts their day-to-day life.

How Technology Affects Your Life

This collection of still images explores the many ways in which various technologies, from telephones to bicycles to computers, affect the everyday lives of young children.

Igloo 101

Learn what it takes to build an igloo—from the best kind of snow to the most effective tools—and other little-known facts about these traditional Canadian Inuit structures in this interactive activity from NOVA.