Arch Bridge

This video segment adapted from Building Big illustrates the strength of the arch in bridge design and construction.

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Automatic Door Opener

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, watch the design process in action as cast members create automatic door openers to open their bedroom doors while still lying down.

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Balloon Brain: Designing a Helmet

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members are challenged to design protective headgear for a water balloon using what they know about the properties of the materials available.

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Blacker Than Black

In this video adapted from NASA, two members of a NASA research team working to produce carbon nanotubes share some background behind this new technology, show examples of how it will be useful, and explain the various tests being performed to ensure readiness for spaceflight.

Breaking Point: Testing Tensile Strength

This video excerpt from NOVA’s "Making Stuff: Stronger" and accompanying demonstration illustrate the toughness and tensile strength of Kevlar® and other everyday materials.

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Building a Cleaner Battery

This video excerpt from NOVA’s "Making Stuff: Cleaner" and accompanying activity guide for grades K–8 introduce students to the design and use of batteries and the rapidly developing science of clean energy and clean materials.

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Building a Dam Like a Beaver

In this video segment from PEEP and the Big Wide World, children make a dam with dirt, sticks, and stones to try to stop the flow of water.

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Building a Fence

In this Cyberchase video segment, Harry must build a rectangular fence in his grandmother's backyard using fencing of various sizes.

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Building Curiosity: Rover Rocks Rocker-Bogie

NASA engineers test Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory rover, and demonstrate its material properties, its handling and mobility, and its design features in this NASA video.

Building the Channel Tunnel

How do you build a tunnel 32 miles long -- under water? This video segment adapted from Building Big, follows the construction of the Channel Tunnel (nicknamed "Chunnel"), the engineering wonder that connects England to France.

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The Business of Bioplastics

This video excerpt from NOVA’s "Making Stuff: Cleaner" and accompanying demonstration introduce students to the production and importance of bioplastics, or plastics made from plant or animal products.

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Columns: Experimenting with Paper Cups

In this video segment from ZOOM, the cast experiments to see if a bunch of paper cups covered by a piece of cardboard can support the weight of a cast member.

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Columns: Hillary's Neighborhood

In this video segment from ZOOM, Hillary, from Randolph, MA, takes us on a tour of the columns in her neighborhood.

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Cosmic Origin Spectrograph

This video from NASA features the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS), which allows scientists to use spectrographic analysis to assess the composition of intergalactic material.

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Designing a Paper Bridge

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members make a bridge from a single piece of paper. Will it be strong enough to hold a hundred pennies?

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Designing Balloon Cars

Can the air in a balloon power a car? Watch students from Weston, Massachusetts, demonstrate their balloon car designs in this video adapted from ZOOM.

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Designing Electric Circuits: Steadiness Tester

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members discover that metal is a good conductor of electricity as they play the steadiness tester game.

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Eco Electronics

In this video adapted from DESIGN SQUAD, meet engineers who help protect the environment by recycling and using biodegradable materials.

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Electric Girl

Anna loves electricity. Watch her construct a homemade flashlight and show off her new, electrifying hairdo in this video segment from ZOOM.

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Electronic Gadgets

Two kids learn some surprising facts about the parts in their computer game, in this animated video from LOOP SCOOPS.

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Erick Ordoñez: Materials Engineer

In this video from Design Squad Nation, NASA materials engineer Erick Ordoñez explains how he makes sure that the materials NASA sends into space are problem-free.

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Glider Boy

Meet 12-year-old Jesse, the designer of dozens of gliders, in this ZOOM video segment. Some of his gliders fit in your hand, while others can only be stored in the garage. Watch his gliders go and learn why they fly.

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Grass Bridge

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, watch residents of the Peruvian Andes build a suspension bridge made entirely of grass.

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A House for Teddy Bear

In this video segment from PEEP and the Big Wide World, children experiment with cardboard and build a house for their stuffed animals.

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How Would You Turn a Bolt in Space?

In this fast-paced NASA Brain Bites™ video, an astronaut demonstrates the impact of microgravity on the use of tools in space.

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The Impact of Technology: Cars

This video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey looks at the invention of the automobile and the development of mass production.

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Inspector Detector Challenge

In this video from Design Squad Nation, kids design and build magnetic-field detectors and use them to find hidden magnets. They also learn how NASA uses magnetometers to learn what is going on inside a planet or moon.

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Juice Boxes

A kid discovers that an ordinary juice box is surprisingly high-tech and, once discarded, will last for 300 years, in this animated video from LOOP SCOOPS.

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Kid Designer: A Comfortable Cardboard Chair

Follow along in this video segment from ZOOM as 13-year-old Nick explains how he came up with a design, tested materials, and constructed his own cardboard chair.

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Let's Build Something

Children learn about the types of machines on a construction site and the different jobs they do to help us build in this original video from KET.

Levers: Raising the Moai on Easter Island

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, a team of archaeologists and engineers explores different uses of the lever by recreating the engineering feats of the ancient Easter Island peoples.

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Lifting with Air

How can you lift a heavy metal table using air? In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, cast members succeed in lifting a table using their own breath and a few plastic bags.

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Lifting with Levers

In this Cyberchase video segment, the CyberSquad figures out how to use a lever to help them remove a stack of heavy objects blocking their path.

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Magnetic Microbots

This video excerpt from NOVA’s "Making Stuff: Smaller" and accompanying activity for grades K–8 teach students how materials scientists are building extremely small robots that may be able to travel inside the human body.

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Measuring for an Exact Fit

In this Cyberchase video segment, the CyberSquad must figure out how to construct rectangular lids to fit precisely on two different boxes.

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Motorcycles for Health

In this video segment adapted from Rx for Survival, health care workers in The Gambia learn to use and maintain motorcycles in order to travel to isolated villages with a uniquely designed ambulance attachment that can mean the difference between life and death.

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Nanowires and the Ever-Shrinking Microchip

This video excerpt from NOVA’s "Making Stuff: Smaller" and accompanying demonstration introduce students to small, thin wires, called nanowires, that may help make computers and electronics even smaller in the future.

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Outsmarting Oobleck

This video excerpt from NOVA’s "Making Stuff: Smarter" and accompanying activity for grades K–8 help students investigate some “smart” materials that respond to forces or changes in their environment in unusual ways.

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Robo Arm Challenge

In this video from Design Squad Nation, kids design and build controllable mechanical arms and use them to lift objects and play games. They also learn how NASA uses robotic arms on many of its missions.

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Shape Shifters: Shape-Memory Alloys and Polymers

This video excerpt from NOVA’s "Making Stuff: Smarter" and accompanying demonstration teach students about revolutionary shape-memory materials.

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Sharing Water Between Dams

In this video segment from PEEP and the Big Wide World, children figure out how to control the flow of water so it supplies two dams.

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Spy Technology

In this video segment from IdahoPTV's D4K meet Kevin Young, an Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory engineer, who designs robots, infrared cameras and hazmat cameras as he describes their many uses. These imaginative creations are valuable for the military, counter terrorism and law enforcement.

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Teens for Safe Cosmetics

In this video adapted from Earth Island Institute's New Leaders Initiative, meet a high school student who worked to enact a state law to make cosmetics safer, after she learned they contained toxic chemicals linked to cancer.

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Telescope Girl

In this video segment from ZOOM, 12-year-old Katy gives people in her neighborhood a glimpse of the moon through a 10-inch reflecting telescope she built herself.

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Strong as Steel: Testing Toughness

This video excerpt from NOVA’s "Making Stuff: Stronger" and accompanying activity for grades K–8 help students investigate the strength and toughness of steel and other everyday materials.

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Testing Insulators: Ice Cube in a Box

Watch the ZOOM cast discover which insulator -- newspaper or aluminum foil -- is better at keeping an ice cube frozen longer.

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Triangles: Designing a Newspaper Chair

Watch the ZOOM cast build a chair out of newspaper by making good use of the strength of triangles.

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Velcro

Two children are introduced to biomimicry—design inspired by nature—through the story of Velcro, in this animated video from LOOP SCOOPS.

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