STEM Lesson Plans

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”

This lesson is a 3-4 day lesson on Public Service Announcements for reusing commonly discarded item versus trashing them. The lessons include the power of a Public Service Announcement, components to

This is a multi-day engineering design project. I use this for 2 weeks, a total of ten 50-minute periods. Students will research and design a dog house, creating a 3D model in a web-based computer

Students will learn about the light sensor on the Circuit Playground Express and how it can be used as an automatic switch to turn a device on or off. They will learn about the thermometer sensor on

Students will learn and recall about the different parts and components of an Adafruit Circuit Playground Express. Students will be able to program an Adafruit Circuit Playground Express

This lesson is the beginning stages of planning for a greenhouse. Students work to gather data and information about possible locations for the greenhouse by using their perimeter skills.

This lesson allows students to explore why volcanoes are shaped differently and why they erupt differently. Students will investigate viscosity, silica content of igneous rock samples, and perform

In this lesson, students work with an assigned customer to create a 3D-printed nameplate. Working through the steps of the engineering design process, students use a 3D modeling software, Tinkercad

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

In this lesson plan, students will be able to investigate battery cells as they construct their own simple batteries: They will know that batteries are a common store of energy for many devices that

Students will be able to collaboratively build, and program a simple robot using Lego Spike Prime kits. Students will demonstrate basic skills in robotics and coding by successfully constructing their

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.

Including themes of natural resources, art, and geography; this engineering lesson introduces students to the idea of mass conservation. While using the phenomena of the water crisis in Arizona,

In this first of a four-part unit, students are introduced to the question under investigation: How much life insurance should I buy to cover myself when I am 45 years old? To answer this

The Parachute design lesson involves students learning about the engineering design process, air resistance, and parachute principles before planning and constructing their own parachutes. Through

In this lesson, students will learn about Wilson Bentley, the "farmer scientist" who pioneered photomicrography to photograph snowflakes and share them with the world. Students will then design and

Today students will continue their studies of simple block programming with the use of the Edison robot. Students will start using the barcode and then transition into block coding using Edscratch

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 be able to learn how the hydraulic system works. With this in mind, you will be able to design a hydraulic marble game using materials provided. At the same time, they will be able to

Launch into a fun activity! Students will be building a rocket, then blow into the straw inserted and watch how high their rocket flies. This fun activity can be done indoor or outdoor. Students can

In this lesson plan, students will make use of their knowledge about gravitational force and factors affecting it to design a stuffed mini parachute that will land the slowest from a given height

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.

Students will gain an appreciation of M.C. Escher's tessellation artwork and process and be inspired to create their own tessellation.This lesson combines math, art and technology by using an

This lesson includes having students design and build a wing to put onto a pre-built RC plane and fly it in circles (tethered). Requires previous RC knowledge.