STEM Lesson Plans

In this lesson students model the process of speciation using Skittles. As they work through the story, students see how changing geography can change the traits in a species and how over time these

This lesson uses the children’s book The Seed and the Giant Saguaro to teach about plant and wildlife habitat in the Sonoran Desert. It includes story reading, discussion, a field experience, writing

This is part 2 of a Heredity lesson. In this portion of the lesson the students will work in collaborative pairs to mate the dragons the created in part 1. Furthermore, they will create Punnett

In part 1 of this lesson, students will use the laws of heredity to create a dragon based on the random toss of a coin. A chart has been created to assign genotypes and the corresponding phenotypes

In this engaging lesson, students study and design a healthy fish tank with a variety of animals. Students also learn about budgeting costs.

This lesson combines ELA/STEM lesson for 2nd grade. It's great to use with "Mr. Popper's Penguins" or any other units related to penguins. During this design challenge, students will build an iceberg

This hands-on lesson uses vermicomposting to apply virtually all of the science & engineering practices as well as several in math. Enough for a unit but a few stand-alone pieces can help your

Through the use of the Read Aloud, "This Is a Book to Read with a Worm" by Jodi Wheeler-Toppen, students will learn about the functions and the structure of a worm and how worms affect the garden.

Through the use of the Read Aloud, "Up in the Garden and Down by the Dirt" by Kate Messner, students will learn about all the elements that make up a garden. Students will also plant a seed into a

Wildlife cameras are fun & surprisingly easy to use! If your students have never used any, check out this lesson to get them started by collecting meaningful image data to answer questions that they

In this hands-on lesson, students will utilize Beebots and the app iClips on the iPad to create a film about bees. Students will create their own storyboards and props and will analyze each other's

In this hands-on lesson, students will design, construct, and defend their hummingbird feeder design.

This is lesson 4 of the Life Science Unit. Students will evaluate and identify how the features of a young animal offspring and parent are similar (not identical) and different. They will code the

This is lesson 3 of the Life Science Unit. Students design a habitat for an organism using earth material. Links to all lessons and optional fiction read-alouds, picture sorts, STEM hands-on

This is lesson 1 of the Life Science Unit. Links to all lessons included! In this lesson, students engineer a bird feeder to help birds access resources to survive. Optional fiction read-alouds

In this lesson students use a picture book to look for cause and effect relationships between biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystems using systems thinking strategies. Students create a

This lesson expands upon ASU's Ask a Biologist "Monster Manual" Activity to include CAD (Computer-Aided Design). Students learn about DNA and how we inherit traits through an analogy of decoding a

This hands-on lesson asks students to design and build a storage system that utilizes excess rainwater for the purpose of reuse in a garden. Students explore science, math, and engineering principles

In this lesson, students will learn about the history of flight and the technological advancements that led to modern aviation. Students will learn about how the study of birds and other flying

In this lesson students will learn about water filtration and how to filter simulated Martian water. Students will build water filters and use the engineering design process. This is the 2nd lesson in

Students use GIS and analyze another digital map before constructing a model to explain human impacts on different biomes across the globe.

This is a four part STEM project that incorporates several of the fifth grade math & science standards. Time allowance is one-two weeks. Students are given the opportunity to research an animal

Students play a game to model and graph the effects an invasive species on a local ecosystem before analyzing a case study and completing a research project.

Using "The Yummy Alphabet Book" as a read aloud/ discussion starter, students will investigate the growth and taste of cilantro by growing it from seed to compare/contrast the function, size, and