STEM Lesson Plans

Biologists have noticed that the saguaro mortality rates have increased in Central and Southern Arizona. They don’t know why - but they have some ideas. In this unit, students will learn more about

This is a lesson that shows how mutations can cause evolution and speciation. Students will also create graphs by using their data.

The purpose of this project is to have students use their knowledge of series and parallel circuits to create an electronic greeting card or an electronic game. This lesson should be given after

The students in this lab activity will play a competitive game with a small bouncy ball. The students will analyze the motion of the ball and apply projectile motion concepts. This activity requires

This lesson provides the opportunity for kindergarten students to develop a mock oil spill and develop methods to help ocean life after an oil spill. Student will hypothesize methods that can

In this lesson students will get the chance to mine for ore but then work on the processing phase and manufacturing phase of mining. Students will mine their ore (peanuts), process their ore (shell

In this lesson plan students will continue to explore and understand the mining process. Students will have a budget and have to purchase land and equipment to be able to mine it. Students will get a

This lesson is intended to expose students to information about Environmental Changes and how Solar Energy affects living things. Students are challenged to design and build a shelter for a dog to

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.

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.

Students physically manipulate a couple of springs and then collect data from a spring force Phet simulator, graph the data, calculate the area under the curve of their linear line and then, hopefully

Students calculate their own physical power output by walking, and then hustling/running, up a flight of stairs. The change in potential energy (changing height) is the work they do (fighting gravity)

How do light rays reflect and refract? Does light travel at different speeds in different mediums? This lesson reviews how light waves can be reflected and refracted, and how light waves can change

In this hands-on lesson, students create solid fuel rockets to explore the idea of parabolic motion and outside factors which can affect the path of a rocket. This lesson has enrichment involving the

In this engaging lesson, students will connect the path of a straw rock to the arc of a parabola. By changing the angle of the launcher, they will discover the relationship between distance and height

This lesson is about exploring Arizona's state bird, the cactus wren, that lives in the desert, has special body parts and behaviors that help it survive in its harsh environment. Students will learn

This lesson plan helps students understand exponential functions by using an LED circuit. LED luminosity decreases at an exponential rate as more are added in series. As students add more lights to

In the novel Shiloh, Marty must leave Shiloh in the woods overnight. He quickly finds materials in his shed to build Shiloh a fence and structure to protect him from elements in the woods behind his

This is an introduction to the Engineering Design Process described in Engineering Standard 2.0. This lesson guides students on learning rate of change and average rate of change as described in

Using my backyard chickens as inspiration, this 5th grade lesson asks children to graph egg production and build a model of a chicken coop and run.

Students use a 2-D physics sandbox, called Algodoo, to simulate the factors that might affect the period of a circular orbit of a planet about a star. Students develop Kepler's 3rd Law conceptually by

In this unit, students will explore the interdependencies in a system and uncovers circular causal connections. Students will use a stock-flow game, specifically the “Mammoth Game” to simulate how

In this unit students will observe how elements within a system changes over time, generating patterns and trends that affect the ecosystem of bees. Students will use Stock-Flow Maps to show the

Students will learn about hibernation and adapting to the winter cold. They will build shelters with different insulating materials so that their animals do not get cold. They will then do a gallery