STEM Lesson Plans

In this 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 demonstrate their

This lesson is designed because kids love to compete and it primes them to use the Engineering Design process to build a boat and revise their design as needed. Students must use at least one rubber

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

Students read the story "Just a Second" to introduce students to geologic time. Next, they are given an activity to understand how long is 4.6 billion years. Then students complete a lab that allows

In this 3 day lesson plan, students will discover the relationships between the sun, earth, moon, solar/lunar eclipses and the tides.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to the concept of solar angle and how Earth’s tilt on its axis and revolution around the sun are responsible for seasonal changes in temperature, daylight

Students use an interactive map and ArcGIS software to analyze the impacts of climate change on global populations.

This lesson walks students through the movement of air in the atmosphere and the energy that drives it. It contains a PowerPoint, activity, worksheet and assessment.

In this lesson, students will be creating a working model demonstrating Earth’s rotation and revolution. Students will be able to explain the differences between Earth’s rotation and revolution

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

Students will research what techniques engineers use to help a building withstand an earthquake and implement two researched strategies into a cardboard structure that will survive a medium sized

Students will focus sunlight through a pinhole onto a sheet of paper. Knowing the distance between the projection and the pinhole allows students to calculate the diameter of the Sun using ratios.

Within this lesson students will present their master-planned community to a test audience and potential clients. Focus on presenting to the client rather than reading information off the slide

Students will use published scientific data and current evidence to identify the phenomenon known an urban heat island effect. Students will first analyze temperature data as well as land-use data

Students will continue from their research and start an investigation to help with their solution. They will first learn about compost and what it does. They will then develop and investigation and

Student partners or teams build a model of a watershed with topographical features; tributaries, mountains, lakes, rivers and valleys. Students experiment to see where the water goes when “rain” falls

This is a week-long unit which includes the following lesson objectives: -Explain that a watershed is an area that collects water and delivers it to a specific area like a lake or an ocean. -Show how

In this lesson, students will build on what they understand about heat/energy transfer to research, design, and construct solar cookers.

This lesson will introduce students to the phases of the moon and how they are created by the position of the Earth, moon, & sun during the month. There is an embedded hands on activity that is

This two-part lesson models STEM instruction in the context of an ELD classroom. In part 1 (this lesson), the goal is to promote scientific academic discourse in an ELD classroom. Students use a

In this lesson students will create a model to investigate how a location's temperature may change during an El Niño year. Students will construct landforms in a tray and then fill the tray with water

~Students apply the engineering design process as they learn the advantages and disadvantages of the greenhouse effect. ~Students will work collaboratively to construct a miniature greenhouse to

The lesson covers the definition of a mountain, how continent boundaries are determined (specifically in reference to Europe and Asia), how we measure the baseline of a mountain, and finally the