STEM Lesson Plans

Using my backyard chickens as inspiration, this 5th grade lesson asks children to graph egg production and build a model of a chicken coop and run.

Students will work on this research project to learn about animal migration. They will research environmental factors that may influence the migration of specific animals and use it to create an

This two day genetics mini unit will take students through observations of cats and their own physical characteristics. Students will graph data and potentially create a bar graph to reflect their

This project sets students up to explore animal anatomy and physiology with the idea of replacing a lost appendage (beak, leg, tail, fin, etc.) This is used in small groups of 2 or 3 over the course

The lesson plan goes beyond the conventional boundaries of art and science, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of these fields. Students will discover the synergies between art (A) and STEM

Students will learn about the relationships between traits of humans and animals. They will use real examples to relate their vocabulary to their everyday lives and then put it into practice by

This is part 2 of a two-part series focused on the effects of grafting tomato plants to potato root stock in order to create "pomato" plants. This lesson is written for junior high students but can be

Students will continue to learn about the mining process and will get the chance to do some mining in this lesson. They will get to determine the best area to mine using core samples. Students will

In this four-day lesson, students will be assigned a specific pollinator. They will research the pollinator and the plants which it pollinates. Then, they will create a puppet and props to model the

In this lesson students will use everything they've done in parts 1-3 to analyze how mutations affect proteins. Students will build the mutated proteins that they sequenced in part 3. They will test

In this lesson, students will be introduced to mutations in DNA. They will create beaded or illustrated "codes" to represent 5 different mutations to their original protein codes. These codes will be

In this lesson students will continue to learn about protein synthesis. At the beginning of this lesson students should know that genes have the code to make proteins. Today they will be introduced to

In this lesson students are introduced to the idea that DNA is the code to create proteins and that proteins can be structural or functional. Students are given a problem to create a model of a

This lesson is designed around competition. Competition is a driving force behind natural selection. If something can survive to reproduce, the traits are passed on. Students will be completing

By the end of this lesson, students will understand the unique adaptations of desert tortoises and the importance of conserving their habitat. Students also engineer a habitat for the desert tortoise.