This is a highly adaptable outline for how design thinking could be introduced to your learners over a multi-day project. This plan works best if students are divided up into groups of 3-4 for all work except the introduction to each concept at the beginning of class. Learners should stay in the same group for the whole class.

Includes pre-work links, general instructions to guide planning for each day, design thinking student handouts, and multi-grade NGSS standards linked to design thinking.

In this lesson, students will embark on a journey of discovery by researching a specific biome of their choice, such as rainforests, deserts, or coral reefs. They will delve into the unique characteristics, flora, and fauna that define their chosen biome, gaining insights into its environmental challenges and adaptations. Using Tinkercad, students will then design and create a miniature 3D model representing their biome, incorporating elements like plants, animals, and geographical features. Through this hands-on activity, students will not only enhance their digital design skills but also deepen their understanding of ecosystems, biodiversity, and the delicate balance within different biomes. This lesson fosters creativity, scientific inquiry, and a holistic appreciation of the natural world in STEM education. 

Students learn how to use wind energy to combat gravity and create lift by creating their own tetrahedral kites capable of flying. They explore different tetrahedron kite designs, learning that the geometry of the tetrahedron shape lends itself well to kites and wings because of its advantageous strength-to-weight ratio. Then they design their own kites using drinking straws, string, lightweight paper/plastic and glue/tape. Student teams experience the full engineering design cycle as if they are aeronautical engineers—they determine the project constraints, research the problem, brainstorm ideas, select a promising design and build a prototype; then they test and redesign to achieve a successful flying kite. Pre/post quizzes and a worksheet are provided.

In the aluminum foil boats challenge, elementary students learn about buoyancy by creating boats from aluminum foil. They experiment with different shapes to see which can hold the most weight before sinking. This fun activity teaches them about balance and how things float. The lesson ends with a competition, where students add weights to their boats and discover which designs work best.

Design challenge: Strong, light structures are necessary in constructing buildings (especially in areas with extreme weather) as well as air and space craft.

In this activity, students investigate different methods (aeration and filtering) for removing pollutants from water. They will design and build their own water filters.

This is a STEM activity to learn how different colors absorb light better than others. Vocabulary and investigating questions are included to facilitate discussion, and a rubric is provided for assessment.

The "Double-O-STEM" (educator guide) curriculum consists of STEM problem-solving activities. The curriculum is designed around projects that empower learners to apply STEM to creatively problem-solve community issues. These include designing bike lanes, community gardens, and other exciting STEM problems.

The activities are designed for both librarians and STEM educators. The curriculum is especially aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS (engineering; grades 3-5) and American Association of School Librarians (AASL) standards.

Please note the student version can be found using the following link:
https://www.oercommons.org/courses/double-o-stem-learner-guide

The "Double-O-STEM" (learner guide) curriculum consists of STEM problem-solving activities. The curriculum is designed around projects that empower learners to apply STEM to creatively problem-solve community issues. These include designing bike lanes, community gardens, and other exciting STEM problems.

The activities are designed for both librarians and STEM educators. The curriculum is especially aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS (engineering; grades 3-5) and American Association of School Librarians (AASL) standards.

Please note the educator guide can be found using the following link: https://www.oercommons.org/courses/double-o-stem-educator-guide

Students learn how engineers construct buildings to withstand damage from earthquakes by building their own structures with toothpicks and marshmallows. Students test how earthquake-proof their buildings are by testing them on an earthquake simulated in a pan of Jell-O(TM).

Student teams are challenged to navigate a table tennis ball through a timed obstacle course using only the provided unconventional “tools.” Teams act as engineers by working through the steps of the engineering design process to complete the overall task with each group member responsible to accomplish one of the obstacle course challenges. Inspired by the engineers who helped the Apollo 13 astronauts through critical problems in space, students must be innovative with the provided supplies to use them as tools to move the ball through the obstacles as swiftly as possible. Groups are encouraged to communicate with each other to share vital information. The course and tool choices are easily customizable for varied age groups and/or difficulty levels. Pre/post assessment handouts, competition rules and judging rubric are provided.

Students build small-sized prototypes of mountain rescue litters rescue baskets for use in hard-to-get-to places, such as mountainous terrain to evacuate an injured person (modeled by a potato) from the backcountry. Groups design their litters within constraints: they must be stable, lightweight, low-cost, portable and quick to assemble. Students demonstrate their designs in a timed test during which they assemble the litter and transport the rescued person (potato) over a set distance.

This unit covers the broad spectrum of topics that make-up our very amazing human body. Students are introduced to the space environment and learn the major differences between the environment on Earth and that of outer space. The engineering challenges that arise because of these discrepancies are also discussed. Then, students dive into the different components that make up the human body: muscles, bones and joints, the digestive and circulatory systems, the nervous and endocrine systems, the urinary system, the respiratory system, and finally the immune system. Students learn about the different types of muscles in the human body and the effects of microgravity on muscles. Also, they learn about the skeleton, the number of and types of bones in the body, and how outer space affects astronauts' bones. In the lessons on the digestive, circulatory, nervous and endocrine systems, students learn how these vital system work and the challenges faced by astronauts whose systems are impacted by spaceflight. And lastly, advances in engineering technology are discussed through the lessons on the urinary, respiratory and immune systems while students learn how these systems work with all the other body components to help keep the human body healthy.

In this unit, students wonder about the physical drivers of ocean movement, explore density differences, and take a look at some tiny creatures who struggle to keep their place in the water column in the midst of all that ocean motion.
Each unit of the Explore the Salish Sea curriculum contains a detailed unit plan, a slideshow, student journal, and assessments. All elements are adaptable and can be tailored to your local community.

The moon is more explored than the ocean, and that includes the Salish Sea. Where it is inconvenient or even impossible for people to go, we can engineer technology to go there for us, like the Mars Rovers, space probes, automatic unmanned vehicles, drones, and in this unit, remotely operated vehicles (ROV’s). Ocean Tech revisits the engineering process, but this time it requires physical, mechanical, and electrical engineers working together as a team to achieve a student-driven mission.

Chapter 5, Life in the Deep: The Subtidal World, is our first look into the amazing life forms that live their whole lives underwater. Is there access to the subtidal world near your school? If you can get to one (even if it is a pond or a pool), your students’ engineering efforts will find their reward. What mystery or problem will your students explore with their own ROV? Dive in!

In this strawberry DNA extraction lesson, students will explore the fundamental building blocks of life by isolating DNA from strawberries. Using simple household materials, they will follow a step-by-step procedure to break down the strawberry cells and release the DNA. This hands-on activity will allow students to see and touch DNA, making the abstract concept of genetic material tangible and engaging. Throughout the lesson, students will develop their scientific inquiry skills, including making observations, forming hypotheses, and discussing their findings.

Students model and design the sound environment for a room. They analyze the sound performance of different materials that represent wallpaper, thick curtains, and sound-absorbing panels. Then, referring to the results of their analysis, they design another room based on certain specifications, and test their designs.

Using plastic straws, wire, batteries and iron nails, student teams build and test two versions of electromagnets one with and one without an iron nail at its core. They test each magnet's ability pick up loose staples, which reveals the importance of an iron core to the magnet's strength. Students also learn about the prevalence and importance of electromagnets in their everyday lives.

Students engage in the second design challenge of the unit, which is an extension of the maze challenge they solved in the first lesson/activity of this unit. Students extend the ideas learned in the maze challenge with a focus more on the robot design. Gears are a very important part of any machine, particularly when it has a power source such as engine or motor. Specifically, students learn how to design the gear train from the LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT servomotor to the wheel to make the LEGO taskbot go faster or slower. A PowerPoint® presentation, pre/post quizzes and a worksheet are provided.

Students learn the purpose of a fever in the body's immune system and how it protects the body against germs. The students continue to explore temperature by creating a model thermometer and completing a temperature conversion worksheet. They come to see how engineers are involved in designing helpful medical instruments such as thermometers.