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Hello, my name is Olivia Flores and I'm a senior at Dominican University studying elementary education. My class and I are looking for ideas for practice stem lesson plans and I would appreciate any help I could get! I've never actually done a stem lesson and would love to hear any lessons that have worked for teachers in the past regarding the topic. 

Hi Olivia, 

I am part of the FunScienceDemos team which is a youtube channel aimed at making science learning fun and easy. The channel has over 250 videos for every topic and many STEM activites and experiments that simplify and explain scientific concepts. There is also a website for teachers, https://www.funscience.support/. The website has readings, math activities and other helpful resources that I think will be useful in helping you develop your lesson plans for science topics. Please check them out as there are videos different topics. I hope this helps! Thank you and good luck. 

Hi Olivia, the term STEM has become so popular it can sometimes feel like a daunting task to promote STEM and be a good STEM supporter.  STEM has the potential to be amazing, kids love hands on and project based learning which in simple terms is what STEM is all about, pulling together science technology engineering and mathematics to solve problems.  Stem helps promote creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, and a general love for science.  To help foster this love and connection I recommend some of the following lesson plans:

*tower building challenge; students would choose from a variety of pastas and marshmallows to build the tallest most stable tower

*solar ovens; students can use cardboard, foil, an plastic wrap to create a solar oven and make smores by use of the solar energy

*airplane design; students can experiment with different folds and designs in paper to see which one flies the farthest

*nature hunt; by having students go on a nature scavenger hunt connects them with the outdoors and encourgaes observation skills

I hooe your school year is going well and you can encorporate some of these ideas into your class!

Hi Olivia,

Does your school have an Engineering Design Process (EDP) yet? If so, use your EDP to support your lesson and student engagement. Another pointer that I suggest as an Academic Coach of a STEM Elementary School is to look for natural ways to integrate two or more content areas first. STEM is not totally about building and designing but also about how students can make meaningful connections between interdisciplinary content areas. Definitely try integration first which will assist you in developing Project Based Learning (PBLs) and completing your lesson plan. I hope this helps and your students grow to love STEM.

Hi! I've found cool ideas using Teachers Pay Teachers, Pinterest and some cool apps I've used are How it Works? , Star Walk Kids: Astonomy Game and when teaching about the planets we love to find them using the free SkyView Lite app.