After reading about polar bears and other arctic animals, students will use building materials to build a den that a polar bear can stand up in.

Students work in teams to follow criteria and constraints to design their own container that holds pompoms (popcorn). When this is completed they need to test and record how many pom-poms their container will hold. Students find that counting and organizing groups of ten is the best way to do this. They record their information on a data analysis sheet and the following day they compare their numbers and amounts.

Design & build a car using that will go the furthest on one breath of air.

Students are to measure the distance and record. The teacher will measure time using the stopwatch.

How can we build a model catapult to launch items like candy pumpkins and how would we modify it so it would launch actual pumpkins?

Students will use the materials that are given to move a “Super bounce ball” from point A to point B. After day one, the teacher will introduce a new constraint that will incorporate other directional words.

Students can work in small groups to design/make a birdhouse from recycled materials. The students will use their knowledge of what animals need for survival as well as information regarding recycling and helping the environment

Students can work in pairs or solo, if you want to let them take them home afterwards, to design/make a birdhouse from recycled materials. The students will use their knowledge of what animals need for survival as well as information regarding recycling and helping the environment

After reading or listening to Ricky the Rock That Couldn’t Roll, students will engineer a slope/hill and see if they can get a non-spherical rock to roll the length of it. Students will be given 4 (fake) dollars to buy materials according to their plan.

This is a sample survey that could be used with 4th and/or 5th graders. It is highly recommended that you utilize this or some version of it to gather baseline data before rolling out your plans with students (and then annually thereafter in order to track changes).

This link will force a copy so that you can add, remove, or edit questions however fits your district needs. Some options worth considering:

-Adding a name field in order to follow up with individual students regarding their interests in STEM
-Adding a race field in order to better track success with subgroups
-Adding or revising the list of STEM Careers to include ones that you would like to generate more interest in within your 6-12 schools (ie, if you have a CTE Drone program, add "drone pilot")

This is our planning document, with goals and timelines for the 23-24 school year.

This is an ongoing collection of potential grants that NC STEM Teachers can consider applying for in order to obtain materials and resources for their STEM labs.

This is the link to send to other STEM Teachers so they can join the collaborative!

This is a document created by active NC STEM Teachers- to help describe some best practices/job description of what an elementary STEM Teacher should be doing within their schools.

This is an ongoing list of potential materials and resources to consider as part of a K-5 STEM lab.

Students will work individually to design and create a pet’s house that will help their pet during 1 of the 4 seasons. After completion students will present their pet houses to the class to present what elements of their design helped their pet survive during their season.

Students will work individually to design and create a doghouse that will help their pet during 1 of the 4 seasons. After completion students will present their pet houses to the class to present what elements of their design help their pet survive during their season.

The chair built must be attractive enough for Goldilocks to want to sit in it.  The chair must hold Goldilocks up without falling.

After Reading “The Best Nest”, by Mueller and Neidigh, students are asked to build a nest that will keep a bird and 3 eggs safe.  Nest must hold a bird and 3 plastic eggs and balance on tree branch.