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

An introductory lesson regarding the size and scale of the Universe and objects within. Designed for high school Astronomy but easily useable with ages down through 7th grade.

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 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

This lesson provides students with examples of the different types of plate boundaries, the movement at each type, and the driving mechanism for the phenomenon. It includes a hands-on activity in

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

In this lesson, students will be given a region where they will need to research and collect data with their groups to determine patterns and formulate predications about the types of disasters that

Students will learn about the history of the National Parks Service and the different biomes and environments within the United States. Then, they will choose a National Park to research and present a

This is a culminating project for the end of a Space Science unit. Students will each research a unique star, then work in a group to research the constellation of their star. In groups, students will

~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

Oil Spill; Students are challenged to clean up an oil spill in a river environment. Students create the river environment in a container and add water, plants, sand, and animals. They will spill 1/4

This design challenge was open for any interested students from grades 9-12. Students met afterschool over the course of the second semester. This is the 3rd sequence lesson in a set of 4. This lesson

In this 7 week unit, students will utilize resources around them to create a garden for a culminating taco party! Students will work on science, math, and ELA within the unit. Feel free to host this

Students will be identifying the unknown minerals by looking at cleavage, fracture, luster, streak, hardness, and density. This is a hands on activity where students will place their data on a data

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

Students will utilize the engineering design process to create a rover using legos, a GoPro, a mini flashlight, and the Edison robots to explore an uninhabited planet in search of signs of life

Why do you think you use more or less water than the national average? Why do you think you use more or less water than people in other nations?

In this activity, students will complete a Web Quest to find the diameter of the Earth, Moon, and Sun AND will observe how the Earth orbits around the Sun and how the moon rotates around the Earth by

In this lesson, students will read about volcanoes (using teacher chosen books and Readworks.org passages) as well as watch videos to see them in real life. They will then create their own volcano and

Students are left stranded on an alien planet and must wait for rescue. In the meantime they have found some valuable resources from a previous space craft crash. Students encounter the aliens and are

Students will identify the most common types of volcanoes, analyze how volcanoes are formed, share with groups to compare design ideas, and demonstrate how to test our volcanoes for effectiveness.