30 STEM Curriculum Team Building Activities Fun Science Projects Challenges

STEM activities are a great way to integrate math and science into meaningful, hands-on learning! This bundle includes all 6 of my "Stem With A Storyline" themed-packs. By completing each set of challenges, students will:

• help a stranded sailor escape a deserted island
• help a group of explorers stuck in the arctic
• help a pioneer family brave the wild west
• help a prehistoric clan find a new cave
• help a Roman slave earn his freedom
• help a team of space explorers escape a doomed Earth

Each challenge solves a problem faced by the characters in the story. Exciting and fun!

Includes the following:

• The Great Desert Island STEM Challenge
• The Great Arctic Circle STEM Challenge
• The Great Pioneer Town STEM Challenge
• The Great Stone Age STEM Challenge
• The Great Roman Empire STEM Challenge
• The Great Journey to Jupiter STEM Challenge

These include a total of 30 different challenges:

• Water Filter
• Cabin Construction
• Tower Building
• Solar Water Heater
• Rock Mover (pulleys)
• Igloo Design
• Floating Raft
• Waterproof Container
• Insulating Blanket
• Snowball Shooter
• Parachute Design
• Hut Building
• Bridge Building
• Coconut Catapult
• Tower Design
• Digging Tool
• Woven Basket
• Bow and Arrow
• Working Ax
• Waterproof Cooking Pot
• Travel Trunk
• Fishing Net
• Windmill
• Solar Oven
• Aqueduct
• Rocket
• Landing Device
• Crater Crossing
• Supply Drop
• Living Pod

Each STEM challenge includes teacher instructions, student challenge sheet, planning and design pages, and scoring rubrics. There is a set of team member role cards, design process cards, a master score sheet to find out which group is the most successful at helping the explorers, and associated NGSS standards.

These STEM challenges use common materials that you probably already have in your classroom. They incorporate concepts of linear measurement, area, forces and motion, kinetic and potential energy, simple machines, volume and capacity, data, and scientific process.

All 6 packs are provided in both standard and metric versions. Several of them also come with an introductory "Movie Trailer" to build anticipation: STEM Movie Trailers

Not sure where to start with STEM?

➡ How to Choose the Best STEM Challenges for Your Students

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FAQ

How long does each challenge take to complete?

This somewhat depends on the age of your students. I have found that the older students spend more time brainstorming and really planning their designs. They are also more careful when building and testing. Each challenge includes reading part of the storyline. This may take 5 minutes or 15, depending on if your students engage in conversation about it. Then students will need to brainstorm, plan, and collect their materials. The actual building and testing portion of the challenges usually takes about an hour. If you want your students to go back and make improvements to their designs, that will add more time. Overall, I would plan on using two class periods to complete each challenge from start to finish.

Why don't you list specific quantities for each material?

It is important to remember that STEM is a process that requires brainstorming, hypothesizing, planning, designing, and testing. If you tell students how much to use of certain items, they will use exactly that much. This completely defeats the purpose of STEM and turns it into doing a craft. We want students to think about what would work best to meet their goal. When you tell them exactly what to use and how much, you're doing the thinking for them. You can certainly limit how much students can take of each material. The challenges are very flexible. They include a list of suggested materials and note which ones are actually required. You can eliminate, limit, or add any other materials you like.

NOTE: This resource may NOT be used for commercial purposes such as Outschool.

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• STEM Supply Labels