Grades:
5th Grade
In this creative lesson, students will create a simple machine to retrieve objects through a makeshift storm drain. There is a potential literacy integration and a focus on the engineering design
Grades:
6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade
In this meaningful lesson, students use creativity, imagination, and engineering skills to create a water conservation model that can be scaled up and used in a garden. Students are encouraged to
Grades:
6th Grade
Students will be thinking like engineers as they design their marble roller coasters using the principles of kinetic and potential energy.
Grades:
6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade
In this hands-on lesson, students will consider what they think about several different closed systems. Then students will design and carry out investigations of living things to inform their closed
Grades:
4th Grade
In this hands-on lesson, students will construct a model of a volcano and produce lava flows. They will also observe, draw, record, and interpret the history and stratification of an unknown volcano
Grades:
3rd Grade, 4th Grade
This hands-on lesson is based on the book, "If I Built a House". Students use recyclables to create a 'dream' house which is based on their likes and interests. Using the Engineering Design Process as
Grades:
6th Grade
This is the first lesson is a series of 2 for the egg drop challenge. Students will work in groups to design and test an egg drop capsule. Students will keep a budget and fill out a data and
Grades:
4th Grade
Students will be able to design a method of protection for the Earth’s land that would withstand the impact of rainfall on soil and prevent erosion. Students will discover that the soil with
Grades:
5th Grade
In this lesson, students comprehend basic physics concepts that are applicable to constructing a device that protects an egg from breaking when dropped. Team building and self-reflection are key
Grades:
4th Grade
In this STEM Challenge, the student’s task is to build a car that is powered only by the force (push or pull) of a pair of magnets. Students experience push and pull first-hand as they construct their
Grades:
Kindergarten, 1st Grade
Students build the tallest beanstalk they can with the provided materials. They then measure it and compare their beanstalk heights. This pairs perfectly with a read aloud of Jack and the Beanstalk!
Grades:
6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade
In this engaging lesson, students will examine the surface of the Moon to consider hazardous conditions that NASA may find there. Then, they will investigate several hazards (dust, boulders, and
Grades:
Kindergarten
This is a hands-on lesson about shapes! After listening to Jack and the Beanstalk, students will look at a collage of castles and try to identify shapes that they see in the construction of the
Grades:
5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade
Building on the programming concepts explored in part 1, this lesson asks students to re-imagine the ‘spiral-out’ program to be a spiral-in program instead. Designed to be a stepping-stone activity to
Grades:
6th Grade
This is the second part of the egg drop challenge. Students will improve on their original design and make a new design to test and analyze.
Featured
My Very Own Game Controller
Grades:
4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade
In this engaging lesson, students will design a working game controller using cardboard, conductive materials, and a Makey Makey. The product will coincide with students' prior knowledge of closed
Grades:
5th Grade
In this STEM lesson, 5th grade students will apply what they have learned about the affect gravity and friction have on an object’s mobility by engineering simple machines to change the ending of the
Grades:
9th Grade, 10th Grade
In this hands-on lesson, students work with a partner to construct a functioning, usable sprinkler. Students use basic principles of engineering to create this prototype and test it out for adequate
Grades:
3rd Grade
This lesson is the initial planning, sorting, and planting lesson to get Our Plot of Sunshine Curriculum started within a 3rd grade classroom. Can be modified for other grades, but math within this
Featured Lesson Plans
Check out these notable lesson plans.
Featured
Shelter From the Sun
Grades:
Kindergarten
Kindergarten students explore earth materials to find out how the sun and other heat sources change their temperature. The students use what they learn in order to choose earth materials that would be
Featured
OMG! Empirical Formulas
Grades:
9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade
Students will discover the Empirical Formula for the synthesis of Magnesium and Oxygen through a laboratory experiment in which they will react Magnesium Ribbon with atmospheric Oxygen by super
Grades:
6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade
In this lesson, students will explore the concepts of gear ratios and proportions. They will construct a working gear system and observe how the ratio between gears affects their motion. They will use