STEM Lesson Plans

Students will research and use math calculations to set up a classroom worm compost bin to compare to a classroom non-worm compost bin to be utilized for observation throughout the school year for

In this lesson, students will embark on an investigative journey to explore the geological history of their local community. Through hands-on activities and research, students will analyze rock layers

In this engaging lesson, students will use an online planetarium and participate in a kinesthetic model activity in order to develop and revise a model explaining the apparent motion of the stars in

This engaging lesson explores electrical energy/currents, the engineering design process, and coding (picture, block, and python) with LEGO robots! Students will code their robots to navigate an

This lesson explores light energy, hydroponics, and metric measurement conversions (mm, cm, m). Students will identify the ways that different colors of light energy can affect plant growth. They will

This is a lesson geared toward junior high and high school classes to introduce students to the idea of cryptography and encryption. This lesson could be simplified for younger students by removing

Over the course of three class sessions, spanning 90 minutes each, students will engage in an immersive project focusing on the outdoor air quality prevalent in four states situated in the

What would you do if you were dropped into the wilderness, with nothing but what you could fit into a backpack, and had to survive harsh weather, a hostile location, and possibly aggressive wildlife

In this creative lesson, students choose to be heroes saving an endangered species or to be villains eradicating an endangered species. They create their origin story, finance a plan, and end with a

Students will create an engineering notebook that documents their progress through the engineering design process as it applies to their choice of project, either creating a toy from “trash” or a

In this lesson, students will relate The Very Hungry Caterpillar to a butterfly's life cycle. Students will learn the four main parts of a butterfly's life cycle and then use the indi robot to create

In this lesson, students will practice the skill of sequencing the main parts of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Students will then use the indi robot and coding tiles to create a model

This outstanding multi-day lesson covers the anatomical design of the respiratory system. Students will work on a basic model project to simulate breathing action and the diaphragm. They will also

How do light rays reflect and refract? Does light travel at different speeds in different mediums? This lesson reviews how light waves can be reflected and refracted, and how light waves can change

Does light have energy? In this lesson, students will engage in a practical experiment to witness how light can induce changes such as heating, altering colors, and setting objects in motion. As

In this physics lesson, students will explore force, motion, kinetic energy and potential energy through projects and gameplay. They create a prototype of a cup and ball game using the engineering

This lesson is about exploring Arizona's state bird, the cactus wren, that lives in the desert, has special body parts and behaviors that help it survive in its harsh environment. Students will learn

Students will investigate the properties of different types of matter and apply the concept of "P1: Matter" to design, model, and 3D print an object using a MakerBot 3D printer. Hands-On STEM Design

In this lesson, students will research information to describe climates in different regions of the world. Then students will design a prototype of different tools used in understanding climate.

This epic road trip is an end-of-year project where students are given the opportunity to reflect on their learning and select 6 unique stops in Arizona that a tourist should visit. Students are led

This hands-on lesson helps students understand the properties of 3D solids from their 2D base shapes and teaches them how to use CAD software to build their own 3D models of real-world objects by

This lesson is a 6-14 day unit consisting of 30 minute lessons taking students through the introduction of energy flow from the sun through the food chain. The lessons culminate with students showing

Students get to investigate how energy transfers using different phenomena. They practice using a Colorado PhET simulation on the differences between potential and kinetic energy. Students will

Structured activities to support learning up Quantum Model as improvement over traditional "solar system" atomic model, or Bohr's atomic model. Students learn to relate Quantum numbers to describe