STEM Lesson Plans

This lesson uses a PhET Simulation to allow students to collect data on the orbits of planets around our Sun, then summarize and share their results. It is designed for students in Grades 9-12.

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 are introduced to the concept of nanotechnology with a small group research activity about the different industries using nanotechnology.

Students will explore beginning coding thru binary coding and creating a name bracelet.

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

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

Students will use an understanding of the sun as an energy and heat source to design a device to direct the sun's heat to aid with growing plants. The students will go through the 5 E's and the

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

Students will explore how gravity plays a role in orbits and the attraction between objects in space, using online simulations. In addition to the online simulations this lesson contains ideas for

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

The lesson helps students investigate the purpose of conductors and insulators in various practical applications. The first part of the lesson is to introduce vocabulary and explain its relationship

This lesson is simple lesson plan for 4th grade students. It will challenge students to investigate and demonstrate that electricity is a flow of electrons around the circuit. This lesson will be 50

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.

Student teams design insulated beverage cups with the challenge to test them to determine which material works best as an insulator to keep a hot beverage warm for as long as possible. Students test

Students design and create a sculpture out of recycled materials and then calculate the surface area and volume of the sculpture that they created. They will then utilize the surface area to try and

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

In this lesson, students cover concepts like states of matter and chemical changes. Students will apply these concepts to an activity where they will make fake snow. Students will be challenged to

Students will use science skills to engineer habitats for polar regions as they learn about the polar regions through hands on experiences.

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