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I am a pre-service teacher interested in teaching upper elementary and middle school. What are your go-to favorite STEM activities you have used in your classroom? I am looking for creative and engaging ideas.

Hi Alison! I am currently student teaching in a 5th grade classroom. We have done a couple of different activities where students get different types of supplies and they try to build the tallest structure they can in a given amount of time. We have used paper, straws, pipe cleaners, clothespins, and popsicle sticks to build a tower. We have also done this building the tallest tower activity with the students only having index cards and they have to build a freestanding tower. The students enjoyed this hands-on, critical thinking, problem-solving activity. 

You should check out our STEM lesson plan database. Over 2300 STEM lessons:

https://stemteachers.asu.edu/stem-lesson-plans