STEM Lesson Plans

Investigate how red wigglers rebuild soil by processing food scraps and depositing their casts into the soil. Student groups will have their own worm bins to care for and they will gather data about

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 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

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

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 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 lesson students model a fast change to Earth's surface by creating a landslide and a slow change to Earth's surface by simulating coastal erosion.

Students create a scale model representing earth's history in order to analyze how life has changed on earth over time.

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

This investigation provides a fun and engaging way for students to learn about data collection, graphing, and proportional relationships while exploring the power of renewable energy. By applying

In this lesson, students will work in groups to design a model that will demonstrate the best erosion techniques for the model of a road experiencing flooding or heavy rainfall. Students will be given

This lesson combines math, science and art in a sparkling and engaging activity. Student will learn about rock classifications and draw an example using geometry. Students will gain an understanding

This lesson allows students to explore why volcanoes are shaped differently and why they erupt differently. Students will investigate viscosity, silica content of igneous rock samples, and perform

Students identify the problem with drinking water contamination due to pesticide, prescription medicine, and hormones. They design solutions for a real-world problem that negatively affects the

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

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.

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.

This lesson plan has three main objectives. The first is that students will be able to recreate a map of the canal with 3D structures along the way. The largest structure being Casa Grande, or the

This lesson plan consists of two parts. The beginning of the lesson will introduce students to the 4 parts of the water cycle. During this time, they will be able to identify at which part the water