Engineering

Telescope Towers

Invite students to reach for the stars as they explore celestial bodies and the technology that helps us study them.

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About this lesson

Invite students to reach for the stars as they explore celestial bodies and the technology that helps us study them. In this engineering challenge, learners examine how telescopes work and why observation decks are designed for stability and accessibility. Using this knowledge, students create a tall, sturdy observation deck that safely supports a telescope model and allows astronomers to access it. The hands-on building and testing process fosters perseverance, creativity, and structural problem-solving while connecting space science to real-world engineering design.

Introduce the challenge

Design & build

Test it

Improve & share