STEM Lesson Plans

This STEAM lesson is ideal for Tucson/Pima County Middle School Students who can participate in the annual KIDStruction building contest but you can also duplicate many of the learning opportunities

In this hands-on engineering and science project, students will become earthquake engineers tasked with designing and constructing earthquake-proof structures using toothpicks and mini marshmallows

In this project, 8th-grade students will engage in hands-on exploration of elastic potential energy and its conversion to kinetic energy using small catapults. Through experimentation and data

This is a fun unit that will discuss drones and gives students the opportunity to build an obstacle course to fly the drones through.

This hands-on lesson helps students understand exponential functions by using an LED circuit. LED luminosity decreases at an exponential rate as more are added in series. As students add more lights

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 allows robotics students to redesign a working floor vacuum and design it to fit the needs of a robotics lab - it should be able to pick up heavier and larger objects or loose parts off

This lesson explores the concept of density. Students will observe a phenomenon involving floating and sinking. They will design their own investigations and they will learn how to use the density

Students will understand the concept of levers as simple machines and will identify and classify everyday objects as levers. Students will apply basic mathematical concepts to measure and compare the

After becoming familiar with the factors that affect lift from the previous Flight Basics lesson and going over key weather concepts from this lesson, students will be expected to make a device to

This is the part one of the composting lesson that is aligned to the ELA standards of narrative reading and writing. In this lesson, students build their experiences by preparing the bucket composters

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

In the captivating lesson, "Dive into the World of Atoms," sixth-grade students embark on a journey into the microscopic realm to discover the fundamental building blocks of matter. The class kicks

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.

In this unit, students will explore the interdependencies in a system and uncovers circular causal connections. Students will use a stock-flow game, specifically the “Mammoth Game” to simulate how

In this unit students will observe how elements within a system changes over time, generating patterns and trends that affect the ecosystem of bees. Students will use Stock-Flow Maps to show the

Students will investigate the geological features of the Santa Catalinas. Specifically the phenomenon of Catalina Gneiss. Students will research the formation of the Tucson basin and Santa Catalinas

In this lab students will observe how five different ice cubes react while melting. Each ice cube is made of a different liquid (matter). They will then collect their data on length, height, and

Using The Wild Robot by Peter Brown as provocation, students will develop a project integrating math, science, engineering and ELA standards. Students will build a robot prototype and take it through

This set of lessons allows students to model the decay chains of radioactive isotopes and relate the mathematical patterns and scientific concepts together in a innovative and interactive way.

This lesson is part 2 of 2, Days 3 and 4. This lesson is set up to have students explore the friction bridge designed by Leonardo Da Vinci. Students have discovered the inventor and become familiar

This lesson is part 1 of 2. This lesson is set up to have students explore the friction bridge designed by Leonardo Da Vinci. Students first discover the inventor and become familiar with his life

In this lesson students will use Tinkercad to design a puzzle piece that will be used in the Escape Room from the previous lesson. This can be used as a stand alone lesson or in conjunction with the

In this lesson students will design a rough and final draft of an escape room using scale factor and ratios. Students will also create an escape plan using math at the level of the teachers choosing