I love connecting STEM Challenges to other content areas, especially unexpected ones, like social studies.  After learning all about the continents, oceans, and lines of latitude and longitude, we created these Balloon Globes.

This STEM Challenge requires pretty easy to find and cheap materials.  Students just need punch balloons (I got a great deal on them at Amazon) and black sharpie markers.  We started by marking the equator and prime meridian, then I pretty much let the kids go to work.

They all turned out great and it was a hands-on, engaging way to check student understanding of these topics.  They also look fantastic hanging up in the hallway!

Looking for this STEM pack?  Click here!

I love finding opportunities to connect STEM Challenges with the books we are reading in class.  We read, "The One and Only Ivan", by Katherine Applegate.  This book is simply amazing.  It is the story of a silverback gorilla that spends 27 years of his life in a shopping mall as an attraction.  It is based on a true story.  We did a lot of discussing and a lot of persuasive writing with this book.

We also did a lot of STEM...

Of the five STEM challenges we did with this book, this was my students' favorite one.  They each got five straws, a piece of cardboard, some air-dry clay and a plastic zoo animal.  Their goal was to create a cage for their animal that could hold the most weight.  These pictures show our animal cages AFTER we tested them.

We had quite a few different ideas.  Students always get SO excited when we extend our reading into STEM challenge lessons.

Click here for the STEM Challenge Pack to go with "The One and Only Ivan".

Each month I organize a STEM Challenge pack for the classrooms in my school.  These challenges are more long-term in nature.  (The baggies on the window are our bean seeds sprouting.)  Our October Challenge, was based on the question:

How tall can your class grow corn plants on an ear of Indian corn in only a pan of water?

The kids were so excited to get started on this challenge in my classroom.  We placed the ears of corn into tubs of water and then we waited.  After a few days, we already had sprouts!  Amazing!  After two weeks, we placed soil into the containers in order to continue growing the corn.

Some are growing better than others, but they are all growing.  We used one ear of Indian corn per table group.  We observe them weekly and water them as needed.

For each monthly STEM challenge, we pair a book or two.  For this challenge we used these books.

                      

My students were fascinated with the information in both books.  We jigsawed the second book and students created informational posters of a two page spread of the book and then shared the information with the rest of the class.

You can buy the STEM challenge pack here!

Who doesn't love Star Wars?  Well, you can do some Star Wars engineering and a great day to do it is...May the 4th!

Our Star Wars engineering question was...

How many identical paper clone troopers can your group make in 40 minutes?

Students had many different ideas and strategies to complete this STEM Engineering Challenge.  We completed the challenge and then recorded our data.  We had several other classes also complete the challenge, so we were able to compare data.

Is it time for you to use the force to get some engineering inspiration?

I am often asked about the science behind the STEM challenges and while I could write a quick blurb to explain it, I feel like we may be losing an authentic opportunity to give students the chance to do some real research based on what they are actually learning!  Talk about real-world learning, rigor and critical thinking!  All three are wrapped up in this natural extension of doing a STEM Engineering Challenge.

I think we are moving away from the teacher being the one with all of the knowledge and all of the answers.  Our students are more than capable of doing a lot of the WORK, so why not let them do it? When we finish a STEM Challenge, I ask the students to go to work on our Google Chromebooks to find the science behind the challenge and you know what...they kinda surprise me every time by doing such a great job!

Here is the sheet that we use to record our research.  It is pretty easy to follow and we usually hang them up with our STEM Challenge data sheets (another part of the challenge that the kids design and create themselves).

Why not let your students do some of the work by finding the science behind the STEM challenge?  We share our results and then defend them as necessary with evidence.  The kids are immediately engaged and they retain the concepts much easier than if I just explained the science to them after the lesson.

My students always have trouble coming up with testable questions.  I am always looking for labs that naturally generate a lot of questions and this one is a good one!

Students need the following materials:

- coffee filters
- assorted markers (not permanent)
- plastic cup with about an inch of water

Just draw some designs on the coffee filter with different colors of markers.  Then fold the coffee filter in half and then in half again.  Place the triangular end into the cup of water and wait...

The water travels up the coffee filter and....WOW!  Can you believe it?  The kids go crazy!

Now for the fun part, ask the students to start writing ANY questions they may have down on a large sheet of white bulletin board paper at each group.  Once you have a bunch of questions generated, you can discuss the difference between testable and non-testable questions.

As an extension, you can have students conduct some of the tests.

Here is a link to the google doc of the STEM break sheet!

With some cheap and easy to find materials, you can get a lot of questioning done!

My favorite thing about STEM Breaks is that teachers have the freedom to do them at any time and it gives them the chance to see how to use cheap, easy to find materials in STEM ways!

As I have mentioned before, I love the Dollar Tree!  I found packs of pipe cleaners there for $1 each. For this STEM Break, each teacher got one pack of pipe cleaners.  Super easy!  We have been on our millionth (that may be a bit of an exaggeration) day of indoor recess and these STEM Breaks are an engaging way to spend that indoor recess time!

All of my STEM Breaks can be extended with additional materials. They are designed to be a starting point!

Click here for the google doc of this STEM Break sheet!

These pipe cleaner towers look great displayed outside the classrooms!  We have a display case in the front hallway of our building and we put them there for everyone to enjoy!