QR Codes

NASA education is awesome and full of resources for students and teachers!

NASA Explorations

Roller Coaster Energy!

This was probably the most fun STEM lesson I have done. Students complete the SEPUP Energy unit, learning all about Gravitational Potential Energy and Kinetic Energy. Students need to create a roller coaster out of limited materials that will slow down a marble at the end to have it land softly into a Styrofoam cup.

Online Textbook

This is a great engineering and technology activity. Students used the laptops to build and design a roller coaster using a Brainpop game. Students used trial-and-error to figure out the balance between GPE and KE to be successful.

Visit this website to try and design a roller coaster with just enough energy to stop safely at the end. 

http://www.brainpop.com/games/coastercreator/

Crash Testing an Egg- Force and Motion STEAM Project- Grade 8

CRASH TEST EGG

Design Requirements:

You are an engineering team that needs to build a vehicle that will that will keep a raw egg from cracking and/or breaking when crashed into a barrier.

·         Only allowed to use the materials provided

·         The egg cannot be taped onto or into the cart  

·         The egg must be able to exit the cart to be examined

·         Keep costs and overall mass of vehicle as low as possible

*incorporates science and algebra topics of force, motion, speed, distance, rate, time calculations, center of mass, velocity, angles, slope, inequalities

Pre-Lab Assignment

Student Lab Packet 

STEM Professional Development Plan

As a final project for my instructional design graduate class, I designed a professional development plan for integrating STEAM education into the Stamford middle schools.

Click here for my ideas and professional development plan for STEAM integration

STEM Scaling

As part of a STEM scaling lesson, we have students first scale heights of commonly known buildings in Stamford, as well as the distances between the buildings. Then, we have the students scale the diameters of the planets in our Solar System by drawing them on the classroom floor in washable marker. The next day, students draw a scaled map of the Solar System on a piece of computer paper.

Not exactly an engineering lesson, but students enjoy relating real life scaled maps to the Solar System unit.

Scaling Distances

Stamford Distances

Spaghetti Earthquake Challenge STEM Project

Challenge: 
Earthquakes and other natural disasters can damage or destroy man-made structures. Imagine that you and your team work for a company that specializes in building disaster-proof structures. 
For this project, you have been asked to design a skyscraper that will be built in a city where earthquakes sometimes occur. The city planners would like to see your design along with the designs of other companies and they will select the best design for the construction of the skyscraper. 

Student Packet

Building an Artificial Heart Valve- 7th Grade STEM project

This STEM project corresponds to the SEPUP bioengineering unit. This lab can be used to supplement any biology circulatory system curriculum.

During the experiment, students must create a prototype for an artificial heart valve for a patient with Marfan Syndrome. The prototype must work like a real life heart valve, allowing water to flow through freely in one direction, but not flow backwards.

Student Lab packet can be found below:
Student Packet

Bioengineering Unit- Grade 8

During the bioengineering unit, students are introduced to the difference between the scientific method and the engineering design process.

They are given a patient with Ewing Sarcoma (a bone cancer). The patient is a 3 year old boy that needs an artificial bone built that is lightweight, yet strong and flexible. Students use different types of tapes to make a straw strong enough to hold 70 grams of pennies. Students are in groups of 4. Each student designs a prototype, but not all are successful. As a group, they need to calculate the cost of materials, if they were successful, and did they meet the design requirements. Students engineer a prototype, utilize science and math knowledge in calculating cost and efficiency, and create a company poster/report to share their results to the class. A great STEM project!

View the resources below for the final paper, group templates, and design requirements.

Sample Bone Builders Company Report

Student Lab Packet

Pre-Lab Reading

Go Animate!

Go Animate! is an easy to use website that allows students to use technology to create their own animated video clip. Students can apply what they learned in the classroom to create their videos. A great creative outlet for middle school students.

Below is a short example on the topic of Nutrition.

Click here:
Goanimate nutrition example