STEM Lesson Plans

Students will research and use math calculations to set up a classroom worm compost bin to compare to a classroom non-worm compost bin to be utilized for observation throughout the school year for

This lesson uses magnets, playing cards, metal washers, and a PhET simulation to model the effects of mass and distance as acting forces on objects in our solar system.

In this lesson, students will embark on an investigative journey to explore the geological history of their local community. Through hands-on activities and research, students will analyze rock layers

Students use Play-Doh to model deposition of rock layers and then folding and faulting. This is to help students understand relative ages of rock layers and introduces the ideas of the laws of

Students will combine science and art by using an alternative photographic process called cyanotypes or sun prints. After a short introduction to the history of cyanotypes and the process of creating

An Arizona 3rd grade standard is to learn about Arizona tribes' ways of living and how they depend on their environment to shape their world. In this hands-on lesson, students will use their hands

In this engaging lesson, students will use an online planetarium and participate in a kinesthetic model activity in order to develop and revise a model explaining the apparent motion of the stars in

This is a 5E lesson plan for teaching middle school students (grades 6-8) how to use sensors to control motors and interact with objects on a field using block code with a system like LEGO Mindstorms.

This lesson is about the Petrified Forest National Park here in Arizona. It teaches students about the National Park. It also has a lab showing students how things like wood become petrified!

Over the course of three class sessions, spanning 90 minutes each, students will engage in an immersive project focusing on the outdoor air quality prevalent in four states situated in the

What would you do if you were dropped into the wilderness, with nothing but what you could fit into a backpack, and had to survive harsh weather, a hostile location, and possibly aggressive wildlife

This lesson is in collaboration with the National Park Service and contains additional activities from the Jr. Ranger program. Using the NPS brochure guide/map and Plantnet app, students will identify

This hands-on lesson introduces students to gardening and the sustainability of food. Students will grow small gardens and manage them.

In this hands-on lesson, students study and record water quality readings by gaining an understanding of the significance of the readings along with the use of the correct vocabulary.

In this engaging lesson, students move the learning from within the classroom to outside its walls in order to study and record air quality readings (with no tech and tech applications). Students gain

Students will create an engineering notebook that documents their progress through the engineering design process as it applies to their choice of project, either creating a toy from “trash” or a

This is an introduction to exoplanets and their discovery. In the hands-on activity, students make a lightcurve for an exoplanet transit using data from the DIY MicroObservatory Telescope Network.

This is a virtual 360° Tour of Coronado National Memorial Cave. Students can take the tour and follow along with the resources embedded in both the tour and the lesson. Students will locate the key

In this engaging lesson, students will use Sphero robots and a Solar System map to learn intermediate level solar system geography. Students program the robots to move from one location on the map to

In this engaging lesson, students will develop an understanding of how solar panels convert sunlight into electrical energy. They will investigate factors affecting the amount of electricity generated

This hands-on lesson digs deeper into the study of weathering and erosion. It should be taught after students have an understanding of the sun’s energy and some of the ways it impacts the Earth. The

Students will build and use an anemometer to calculate wind speed and then use the wind speed to determine the affect wind has on temperature and the temperature that you feel (wind chill). Students

This lesson will allow students to measure the health of the water from sources in their community or everyday life. Students will measure the pH from different sources using test strips and a color

In this engaging lesson, students use real-world data to explore criteria for air pollutants. If students continue to the next lesson in this series, they create data-based art to deepen and