STEM Lesson Plans

This lesson teaches students how and why it rains. They will have student-to-student interactions and hands-on learning opportunities. They will also be practicing their counting skills during the

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.

Including themes of natural resources, art, and geography; this engineering lesson introduces students to the idea of mass conservation. While using the phenomena of the water crisis in Arizona,

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

Students in 4th grade learned about natural disasters through this interactive STEM lesson focused on the creation on a 'tsunami-proof' home. Students used the Engineering Design Process to create a

Students will be able to learn how the hydraulic system works. With this in mind, you will be able to design a hydraulic marble game using materials provided. At the same time, they will be able to

Students will learn about water availability in Arizona and design and build a prototype/model of a rain-catchment/recycling system to provide water for a school garden.

In this unit, students will use their knowledge of weather and climate patterns to construct, place, and collect data from a rain gauge for one month. The beginning of the school year would be the

How old is Earth? How big is 1 million years compared to 1 billion years? Students will use three models to organize geologic time and practice cross multiplication to solve for a variable.

Students learn about the Colorado River watershed and the impact of water rights and usage. They will read about the past and present water flow data, build a model of the watershed, calculate data

A review of types of rocks and the rock cycle and tectonic movement. The creation of minerals. Using Associative Geology, legends, and probabilities, hunt for possible locations of the Lost Dutchman’s

Three day lesson on garbage, recycling, and composting. Day 1: Students are provided a garbage bag and no instruction on recycling. *Collect all of your disposable garbage for 24 hours. Bring it back

This is a hands-on, collaborative lesson that allows the students to include art and presentation skills in the project. The students research various aspects of a selected planet and then presents

In this engaging and interactive lesson, students explore adaptation and creative problem-solving. Inspired by "The Great Turkey Race," students will engage in a hands-on engineering lesson to design

Students will explore the drought in Arizona and design a solution for it. They will create their design in a 3D design program, write an informational paper, and present the design and information to

Students will read the story "If I Built a House" and then record their elements of the story on index cards. Next they will design and build a House of Cards using index cards.

This lesson is to be used as a follow up activity when learning about the water cycle. Students are able to play a game either digitally or physically to demonstrate their own journey through the

This is a smaller part of a larger Digital Citizenship Unit. Students will spend time understanding the concept of a Digital Footprint and the long term consequences of a negative Digital Footprint

Students will use geometric reasoning and the engineering design process to construct solar ovens while learning about renewable energy.

The "From Farm to Table" unit will provide 2nd grade students with an understanding of the journey food takes from the farm to their tables. Students will explore the water cycle, plant life cycle

Students create a city and a plan for a route for a Thanksgiving parade with floats coded by robots. The students build the buildings along the parade route using area or addition/subtraction houses

This interactive 4th-grade lesson plan focuses on erosion and weathering, key concepts in understanding Earth's geology. In "Dynamic Earth," students use an interactive simulation to explore how

This lesson is an activity to see what an angle is and how is can be used to approximate the time of day or even navigating vessels by measuring other celestial bodies. Students will use sextants to

Using the book "Those Darn Squirrels" by Adam Rubin, students will design and create a bird feeder to let the birds IN and keep the squirrels OUT! Communication, collaboration, and creativity are key