STEM Lesson Plans

In this lesson students will explore the world of VR and proceed by creating a model of what their VR world would look like if they could make one.

This multi-day activity is designed for an introductory 4th grade STEM after school club. It can be easily modified for whole classes and for lower and upper grade levels. The activity has students

Students will create a 3D bookmark in Tinkercad. I pace this unit for three days. Day 1 is the introduction of 3D printing and practice in Tinkercad. Days 2 and 3 are creating and sharing their

Using the engineering design process, students will identify a structural or spatial problem on their school campus and then plan, design, evaluate and redesign a structural and spatial solution while

Students design and engineer a paper backpack to hold all the supplies swallowed by the well-loved old lady in "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books". They follow the engineering design

Students will learn about the difference between potential and kinetic energy by building a ramp. Three objects will be tested down the ramp to see which one can go the farthest. Data will be

This lesson will develop an awareness of the critical importance of access to clean water for survival in the wilderness, drawing inspiration from the book "Hatchet." Students will recognize the vital

In this lesson, students focus on the engineering design process to help them design, build, and test a functional bow and arrow system like the character Brian Robeson in the book "Hatchet". Students

After completing a unit on weather, students will be challenged to research, design, construct and attach a snow plow to their Edison robot. Then they will create a scratch code that will navigate

This lesson is PART 4 of a four-lesson unit, which focuses on futures thinking, the phenomenon of electricity, closed-system agriculture, and water as a renewable energy resource. “The City of Ember”

This lesson is PART 3 of a four-lesson unit, which focuses on futures thinking, the phenomenon of electricity, closed-system agriculture, and water as a renewable energy resource. “The City of Ember”

This lesson is PART 2 of a four-lesson unit, which focuses on futures thinking, the phenomenon of electricity, closed-system agriculture, and water as a renewable energy resource. “The City of Ember”

This lesson is PART 1 of a four-lesson unit, which focuses on futures thinking, the phenomenon of electricity, closed-system agriculture, and water as a renewable energy resource. “The City of Ember”

In this lesson students will use their climate zone and plant information to create a model of a garden. They will use a variety of charts and graphs to determine what plants will grow best given the

This is the first of 4 lessons where students will propose and configure a school garden using criteria given by the principal. Students will work in groups of 3 to determine configurations. They will

In this lesson plan, students will be able to build a simple electric motor and study how simple changes affect the motor's rotation. They will learn how energy comes in many forms, and how electric

Students in 4th grade learned about natural disasters through this interactive STEM lesson focused on the creation on a 'tsunami-proof' home. Students used the Engineering Design Process to create a

Students will learn about water availability in Arizona and design and build a prototype/model of a rain-catchment/recycling system to provide water for a school garden.

In this unit, students will use their knowledge of weather and climate patterns to construct, place, and collect data from a rain gauge for one month. The beginning of the school year would be the

This is the culminating activity of the 8 part lesson series on simple machines. Students will put together everything they have learned about each individual simple machine to create a complex chain

In this lesson students will: Identify screws in our world; Discuss how screws make work easier; Plan and construct an Archimedes Screw Provide and receive feedback through peer critiques

In this lesson students will: Identify wedges in our world; Discuss how wedges make work easier; Plan and construct a canoe of their own design that incorporates a wedge shape to make it more

In this lesson students will: Identify wheels and axles in our world; Discuss how wheels and axles make work easier; Plan and construct a wind powered care of their own design that uses wheels and

In this lesson, students will: Identify levers in our world; Discuss how levers make work easier; Plan and construct a catapult that uses a lever Provide and receive feedback through peer critiques