STEM Lesson Plans

This lesson and accompanying activity are designed to introduce students to the celestial coordinate system used for location objects and locations in the sky. This lesson will also introduce students

An introduction to Kepler's 1st Law and ellipses. The lesson includes some guided notes for students as well as a hands on activity where students will draw, measure, explore, and conduct calculations

This two-part lesson models STEM instruction in the context of an ELD classroom. In this lesson (part 2), students pose a research question about clouds, weather, and/or climate, and address it with

Students will learn about the atmosphere and what causes it to form layers. Then, students will identify how the atmosphere interacts with the geosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Students design an

This engaging lesson is an introductory lesson regarding the size and scale of the Universe and objects within. This was designed for high school Astronomy but is easily useable with ages down through

In this engaging lesson, students determine the period of rotation for the flying pig toy using formulas derived throughout the circular motion unit.

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

By 2028, NASA plans to send a mission to Mars to retrieve samples collected by rovers and return to Earth. Student teams are challenged to build a rover and design a way to retrieve as much cargo as

Students will design paper gliders to develop an understanding of the principles of flight. This is a low-tech lesson that does not require extensive/expensive supplies. It can be scaled up or down

This lesson is a STEM performance task after the students learn how solar power and solar panels work. Students draw attention to solar energy, as it is not only helpful with our power systems but can

In this engaging lesson, students use their knowledge from the 2 previous lessons to design, draw blueprints, and build a load bearing bridge. Link to view all lessons is included!

In this engaging lesson, students explore different types of bridges and then practice building them with K'Nex sets. This is the 1st lesson in a series of 3. Link to view all lessons and helpful

In this hands-on lesson, students explore designing bridge prototypes with spaghetti to find weak points and redesign a new prototype. This is the 2nd lesson in a series of 3.

In this lesson, students explore glow-in-the-dark materials using regular flashlights and UV flashlights. They then add phosphorescence and the emission of EM energy to previous models of light and

Classes will build three different types of rockets, guess which style will have the highest altitude, launch and calculate results based on right triangle math!

Students will design a balloon rocket. They will then create a fish line track for the rocket to follow. The track will be able to me modified to test different angles of ascent. This will allow

Understanding and studying energy transfer produced by molecules collisions can be difficult and abstract for them. To make it easier for them to visualize, creating a Newton's Cradle will help them

This multi-day activity is designed for introductory 5th grade STEM after school club. On Day 1, each student will build and test a simple roller coaster following the teacher’s instructions. Students

This multi-day activity is designed for introductory 5th grade STEM after school club. On Day 1, each student will build and test a simple straw rocket following the teacher’s instructions. Students

This multi-day activity is designed for introductory 5th grade STEM after school club. On Day 1, each student will build and test a simple straw rocket following the teacher’s instructions. Students

This multi-day activity is designed for an introductory 5th grade STEM after school club. On Day 1, each student will build and test a simple mousetrap car following the teacher’s instructions

In part 1 of this investigation, groups were challenged to design for speed and collect data to find the fastest car in the class. Using those designs, part 2 will test the mass of a car vs the power

This is the 3rd part of the lesson series where students will determine the thrust and stability of their water bottle rockets to answer their essential question: Using the Design Process how can we

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