First Lego League gives students the opportunity to engage in hands-on STEM experiences. Yes, students will develop skills in programming but FLL connects STEM concepts to real-world examples.

Link to presentation slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-Ri8tVQcHvFvr-GZn_ylsVFPR3gBNmxKX3BxIRmdvyA/edit

Using an Arduino microprocessor, students will build an automated fish food feeder so fish can be fed when no one is at school?

This project involves learning how to do simple wiring of an LED, a buzzer, and a servo (motor) to a simple-to-use Arduino microprocessor.

After reading the novel, “The Outsiders”, by S.E. Hinton, students will follow the engineering design process to build  fire truck vehicles that will transport water from a starting line, 20 feet, to a finish line to put the “fire” out.  The students' fire trucks will be powered by a Sphero robot and driven using the Sphero app. Students will work in groups of 3-4.  Students will be supplied with a 3 oz cup to represent a fire bucket and a 16 oz cup to represent the fire.  The cup that represents fire will have a high water mark drawn on it and students must fill their cup to the mark to successfully complete the challenge.

Students will listen to a close reading of Harry the Dirty Dog  over the course of 3 days.  (The book is accessible via NC Kids Digital Library.   Personal copy or online versions can be used.) After each read aloud, students will have the opportunity to engage in The Engineering Design Process to create a maze using various materials to construct different ways for Harry to move through the maze .  Students will write to tell about their maze using sentence frames and an anchor chart for support.  Finally, students will present their maze and read their informational writing to reflect their knowledge of the Force and Motion standard, specifically the different ways objects move.  Maze creation and student informational writing should reflect multiple modes of movement per the NC Kindergarten Science Standards.

This project applies the concepts of Friction, Gravity, Newton's Laws, Potential and Kinetic Energy, Speed, Distance vs. Time Graphs, and integrates them into a culminating project. Students work in pairs to create a marble run using basic classroom supplies and a standard tri-fold board. The goal is to create a marble run that takes as long as possible for the marble to complete without getting stuck. The project includes a data analysis section and a content questions component. There is also a scoring rubric included. The standards that this project covers can be found on the final page of the document. No special materials or tools are necessary.

 Students are tasked with moving a 20 gram (or other low denomination) weight a distance of one meter using a “Sphero*” remote controlled robot.  Students use available materials to design and build a structure that will allow the sphero to push or pull the weight, while allowing for factors such as friction, direction, and gravity.   *Note: Although students can issue specific commands in the Sphero software, this activity only requires that they be able to “drive” the Sphero, thus providing the force to move the weight. 

In this lesson, students will work collboratively to tackle a water conservation issue at home or in their school.

Students will work in groups to design a wheel-less vehicle that will be sent across different surfaces to test what friction does to materials. The goal of the build will be to make a vehicle that will move as quickly as possible over different surfaces. By using different types of surfaces the student will have to test and decide which building materials are best to cause the best movement.

Are you ready to break down the walls of your classroom & Go Global with STEM? Join Carrie as she shares how students are collaborating with peers on a global platform, & how tools like Seesaw, Flipgrid, Padlet, and Wakelet are helping students share their learning with families & teachers in their own building & beyond

Link to session slides - bit.ly/globalstem20

Students work in groups of 2 to create an anchor out of a collection of materials provided by the teacher. Students will test their anchors in an aquarium periodically to determine if their anchor has too much surface area, thus making it buoyant, or if the materials are combined in a way that is denser than the water causing the anchor to sink. The ultimate goal is to balance the forces being applied to the boat.  The anchor is attached to a 3d printed boat, or a boat of the teacher's choosing. A fan is directed at the boat after the anchor has been attached and dropped in the water. In addition to the wind, the teacher will create waves by tapping the side of the tank. Students will observe if the anchor holds under these circumstances or not. Ultimately, they will try to prevent the boat from moving at all. Distance traveled for each test will be taken by a meter stick or tape measure fixed to the side of the tank. Students will strive to keep the boat frozen at 0 centimeters.

During this unit, students will learn about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. They will read about the GPGP and then prepare a presentation with their findings and solutions.  Lastly, they will create a prototype to help with the ocean cleanup and use Spheros to maneuver the prototype to pick up trash in water.

This 1-2 hour activity was developed by Science Friday educator collaborative for middle school science. Students will "reverse-engineer a solar circuit to build a simple, inexpensive, and lightweight device that is powered by the sun’s light...in order to...integrate their circuit into a moveable origami structure so that the movement of the origami serves as the switch to the circuit."

Simple dollar store solar stake lights can be used for the disassembly which can be demonstrated by the teacher or completed in small groups. By reverse engineering the solar light, students explore the components and how they work together. The second activity has them sketching and explaining what they discovered.

Resources are included that explain solar cells and circuits more in depth (including a text webpage from American Chemical Society, a video from SciToons on YouTube, and an online circuit simulation from PhET, among other choices for your class' needs).

The student engineering "notebook" and rubric are downloadable in Powerpoint and Word form, not just pdf.

In this STEM lesson, students follow the engineering design process to design and build a crane out of cardboard. They will determine methods to reinforce the crane's arms so it doesn't collapse under a heavy load. This activity is based on Robotics applications.

In this STEM lesson, students use balloons to demonstrate concepts applied by jet and rocket engines to supply thrust for movement. They will observe how unequal pressure creates power, explain how air power can help airplanes fly, and construct a working model of an air engine-balloon-powered rocket to launch the greatest payload possible to the classroom ceiling.

In second grade students will learn to compare different versions of the Gingerbread story. They focus on how the story elements change with each story, but the basic theme stays the same. Then  in writing students are tasked with creating their own gingerbread rendition. In doing so, students often get lost in the middle of the story where the gingerbread character passes other characters and repeats the refrain. This project will help students use temporal words to provide sequence to their story as they define the places and people that are passed. Students must clearly describe 3 -4 places in a sequence (first, next, then, finally), as well as, provide an ending to their story. Once they have completed their story students are allowed to take a previously made gingerbread character and tape it to a small Dixie cup. Then the cup is placed over a mini-sphero. Students use premade landmarks that say first, next, then, finally  to navigate their character through their own sequence of events! This is a highly motivational and fun way to celebrate their hard work in creating a story and making it come to life!

After reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas, students will work together to build a sleigh for the Grinch so he can take the presents and decorations from the Whos.

Students will use recyclable materials to design and create a wearable flip flop that prevents heat transfer from the hot summer sun.

In this lesson, students will watch the PBS NewsHour video, “Could genetically engineered mice reduce Lyme disease?” and learn how Impact Inventing might help solve this public health problem.

This session will discuss how outdoor learning spaces and gardening provide opportunities for students to participate in inquiry-based learning and meaningful activities to enhance critical thinking skills. Using the garden and outdoors as a source for content-based activities, students can use design thinking to solve authentic problems.

Students will design a car that is powered by air and write a resource book article on how they did it