Are you having trouble with all of the things your eighth-graders are studying? Or, maybe you want to keep up with what they’re doing and be inspired by their engineering projects. Let’s look at 25 awesome eighth-grade engineering projects that we found in this post. Many of these are fun and can easily by teachers for school projects or classrooms.
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1. Make Your Own Wind Turbine
Make own wind turbine is an excellent project for students ages 12 and older. Wind turbines produce power to help save electricity. The wind turbine can help with essential tools in less than an hour, like a pencil, rubber bands, a screwdriver, and a tape measure. Students can make wind turbines of any size and adapt them to different environments.
2. Harnessing The Sun’s Rays For Cooking
Solar ovens are a fun project to build and use. There is a unique design to use the sun’s rays for cooking. Some project ideas are solar liquid heaters, food dehydrators, solar oven shingles, and portable solar ovens. Solar cooking is cheaper than burning coal or gas in the home, so anyone can do it at home with a bit of time and money.
3. Keeping Your Gadgets Going With Solar Power
Solar battery chargers are a fun and inexpensive project that anyone can do. The solar power source is from the sun, which is free and natural. It works more efficiently than a regular battery charger because it can store energy from the sun’s power. Just hook up to a standard outlet, and you’re ready to go.
4. Mentos + Diet Coke – Pour Six Sodas At One Time
Mentos +diet coke is a fun science project for kids to make and experiment with. The experiment is to see how much soda one can pour into Mentos at one time. Students will create their soda fountain to test out their hypothesis. To do this, they will use the science behind siphons and pressure and standardize pressure measurements in different quantities of soda. This experiment works with any carbonated beverage, and it is with other experiments as well.
5. Turn Up The Heat: Comparing the Flammability Of Residential Siding Materials
Students will test how flammable certain materials are. Students will create a flame using rubbing alcohol and candle wicks in this experiment. They will then test different materials by putting the honey on top of specific materials for about 7 seconds. They will then measure the temperature with a thermometer and record their results. Their research findings can replace wood on houses with something safer, as wood is highly flammable in direct contact with fire.
6. Building An Articulated Hand
Building an Articulated Hand is a project anyone can make in just a few minutes. Students can make it from household tools and materials like a yarn ball, clothespins, and tape. It is a satisfying project that can, whenever the idea strikes them, and then they can take their articulation off to do something else.
7. Making Batteries From Fruits & Vegetables
Fruits and Vegetable Batteries is a fun project for students who will like creating something from something around them and consuming many of them in the process. The battery is out of any fruits or vegetables that the user could consume. It is an eco-friendly project as it replaces batteries used in everyday life and helps save energy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtHt00AN0
8. STEM Catapult Math & Engineering Activity
STEM Catapult is a fun math and physics activity designed to teach students about the basics of projectile motion, which they can make at home or in school. This kit also includes ideas for other STEM challenges, like designing catapults from different materials. This assignment will appeal to students because it is collaborative and imaginative.
https://www.steampoweredfamily.com/activities/popsicle-stick-catapult/
9. Paper Roller Coasters – Marble Tracks Made From Paper – Easy And Fun
Paper Roller Coasters is another paper craft that can be fun for students of all ages. Paper roller coasters from paper make them eco-friendly, durable, and simple to build. It also saves money for teachers or parents on materials. The coaster design on the roller coaster type can be for the classroom or home. It is a complicated project that requires a lot of patience and some essential tools.
10. Santa Sleigh Zip Line
Christmas is when everyone wants to spend time with their families and do something fun. For kids, it is an opportunity to make something similar to a Santa Sleigh Zip Line is a great way to create memorable Christmas memories with their family. This fun activity can be made out of paper and tape or built out of wood or metal. It is a project that can be anyone and will help students get creative with their hands.
11. Back To School Bundle: Icebreaker Activities, Projects, And More
This Back to School Bundle: Icebreaker Activities, Projects, and More has many resources to help get students back into the school year or start a new one. There are some fun projects that students can add to their activity collection. There is an engineering project called the cupcake tower. It is by using paper and tape or wood and nails.
12. Take-Home STEM Starter Engineering Challenges
Take-Home STEM Starter Engineering Challenges is an excellent project for students of ages 8-11. It allows teachers to get students involved in building and creating things without investing too much money. The materials are affordable; they can be ordered online or bought at a local hardware store. Teachers can help students build it by guiding them through the procedures and ensuring that they have all they need. it is a fun activity for youngsters because they can use and explore it.
13. Build A Water Cycle Activity
Build a Water Cycle Activity is something students can do and take home to share with their families. It uses standard, everyday materials that are around the house. The instructions in this article are easy to follow and provide simple instructions for those who are not experts in construction or engineering. This activity center is one of the first hands-on activities that teachers can introduce when introducing the water cycle topic to their students.
14. Balloon Car STEM Challenge: Engineering Design Process
The engineering design process in this instructive STEM assignment. Students try to create a balloon car that will fit inside a balloon and reach a specific target. This project is an easy way to demonstrate the engineering design process, making it educational and fun for students.
15. STEM Oil Spill Challenge – Earth Day STEM Activity
First created in 2012, the STEM Oil Spill Challenge is a STEM activity built around the topic of oil spills in the ocean. This project aimed to get kids to build an oil extraction machine and figure out a way to successfully clean up oil spills.
16. STEM Activity Challenge Marshmallow Catapult 6th-8th Grade
STEM Activity Competition Catapult of Marshmallows: Build a catapult to launch marshmallows. Great for 6th-8th grade engineering projects in science and maths. This is one of our favorite STEM activities from the STEM Activity Challenge series. Excellent for challenging students across many subjects. In this STEM activity, the students learn how to create a catapult to shoot marshmallows. They will also learn about materials, force, velocity, and acceleration while experimenting with weight measurement, estimating distance, and other topics.
17. Volcano Shelter STEM Challenge
Volcano Shelter STEM Challenge: Build a volcano shelter for your family. Great for 6th-8th grade engineering projects in science and maths. This science challenge teaches students about volcanoes, their eruptions, their crust, and pressure zones from the earth’s surface to the mantle. It encourages hands-on learning in a fun and creative way. Great for parents/teachers including for homework or end-of-unit project activities.
18. STEM Sailboat Challenge
STEM Sailboat Challenge: Build a Sailboat. Great for 6th-8th grade engineering projects in science and maths. This is one of our favorite STEM activities from the STEM Activity Challenge series. Excellent for challenging students across many subjects. In this STEM activity, the students learn how to build a sailboat and test it on a windy day. They will also learn about forces, weight, buoyancy, and gravity while experimenting with weight measurement, estimating distance, and other topics.
19. STEM Project: Catapult Kinetic And Potential Energy
STEM Project: Catapult Limits & Kinetic and Potential Energy: Learn how to measure the velocity of a projectile (something that is moving) and the amount of work it does while moving. This is one of our favorite STEM activities from the STEM Activity Challenge series. Excellent for challenging students across many subjects. In this STEM activity, the students will learn about kinetic, potential, and elastic energy by building a catapult. They will also learn about pressure, friction, force, and momentum while experimenting with speed measurement, estimating distance, and other topics.
20. STEM Space Moon Crater Design Challenge
STEM Moon Crater Design Challenge: Build a crater on the moon. Great for 6th-8th grade engineering projects in science and maths. This is one of our favorite STEM activities from the STEM Activity Challenge series. Excellent for challenging students across many subjects. In this STEM activity, the students will learn about craters by building a pretend moon with Epsom salt and marble chips and then launching projectiles to create holes in it.
21. Bottle Flipping STEM challenge
Bottle Flipping STEM Challenge: Build a bottle flipping machine. Great for 6th-8th grade engineering projects in science and maths. This is one of our favorite STEM activities from the STEM Activity Challenge series. Excellent for challenging students across many subjects. In this STEM activity, the students will learn about energy transfer by building a small bottle flipping machine. They will also learn about forces, pressure, friction, and energy conservation while experimenting with acceleration measurement, estimating distance, and other topics.
22. Build A Robot That Can See Light
Build a robot that can see the light, great for 6th-8th grade engineering projects in science and maths. This is one of our favorite STEM activities from the STEM Activity Challenge series. Excellent for challenging students across many subjects. In this STEM activity, the students will learn about photoresistors by building robots that can respond to light. They will also learn about electricity, circuits, force, and power while experimenting with change detection, estimating distance, and other topics.
23. Reach Further With A Mechanical Hand
Students design and build a robotic hand to achieve tasks. This is one of our favorite STEM activities from the STEM Activity Challenge series. Excellent for challenging students across many subjects. In this STEM activity, they will learn about force by building a mechanical hand to push or pull things using the same amount of energy but with different amounts of distance. They will also learn about pressure and friction while experimenting with friction measurement, estimating length, and other topics.
24. Create Your Own Ferris Wheel
Create your Ferris wheel, which is excellent for 6th-8th grade engineering projects in science and maths. This is one of our favorite STEM activities; the students will learn about transportation by building their Ferris wheel and operating it with their friends and family on a sunny day. They will also learn about forces, weight, distance, and balance while experimenting with simple machines, building ramps to increase height, and other topics.
25. Make Your Own Newton’s Cradle
Students can learn the concepts of kinetic, potential, and elastic energy by building their own Newton’s Cradle. The Newton’s Cradle is a device of five steel balls suspended from parallel strings hanging from a frame. When one ball is at the bottom, its weight displaces a ball at the top, causing it to collide with the others in turn. This causes them to settle in an equilibrium state, with each ball stopping after making successive equal displacements.