This template supports STEM teachers and librarians in working collaboratively to create lessons that build science practice and STEM inquiry skills in alignment with state and national science standards, and that address the Common Core literacy shifts around close reading and building textual evidence.

This unit consists of five lessons covering architecture and structural engineering. Each lesson includes goals, anticipatory set, learner objectives, guided practice, procedure instructions, closing activities, and extensions. Student handouts and worksheets are also included.

Lesson 1: Animal Structures
Lesson 2: Homes
Lesson 3: Stability
Lesson 4: Local Towers & Bridges
Lesson 5: Schools

NGSS: K-2-ETS1-1, K-2-ETS1-2, K-2-ETS1-3, 3-5-ETS1-1, 3-5-ETS1-2, 3-5-ETS1-3

Materials: blocks or other building toys, ruler, book or ball (for weight), graph paper, pencils, and floor plan of school or hand-drawn approximation featuring highlights.

Students will use the Design Process to build and test multiple wind turbine designs in order to generate electricity.

Students will use the Design Process to build and test multiple wind turbine designs in order to generate electricity.

In partnership with the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, the NC Forestry Association, and the Weyerhaeuser Corporation, agricultural education students will understand sustainable forestry practices and the forestry industry. Students will explore the pertinence and value of the forestry industry in North Carolina, while also learning skills that are used in today’s forestry industry. The agricultural education curriculum will also lead students through the exploration of forest ecology, tree identification, and the many practices involved with sustainable forestry and the forestry careers.

In this project, students will assume the role of citizen scientists—helping researchers answer questions about how dandelions acquire beneficial symbiotic microbes from different soil types. Students will collect and transplant dandelions, conduct experiments on dandelion growth and microbe growth, and then submit data to scientists at the Genomics and Microbiology Research Lab at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The researchers will use these data to supplement DNA and RNA sequencing efforts. Students will receive results from the genetic analyses from a limited set of classrooms whose dandelions had previously been sequenced. By maintaining a connection with researchers, students will have an active, hands-on role in current science. Besides aiding scientists with research, students will also create their own inquiries.

This document serves as the Teacher's Guide for the lessons authored by me or accessible via https://sites.google.com/view/stem-camp-lessons-for-all/home 

How can the language you use and the stories you tell encourage and engage girls and women in STEM subjects? Explore techniques for fostering an inclusive environment in the STEM classroom.

What does the first female astronomer at an observatory do when there are no women's restrooms? Hear the story of Dr. Vera Rubin, a trailblazer in astronomy.

This participatory seminar focuses on the knowledge and skills necessary for teaching science and engineering in higher education. It is designed for graduate students interested in an academic career, and anyone else interested in teaching. Students research and present a relevant topic of particular interest. The subject is appropriate for both novices and those with teaching experience.

This Open Access Educational textbook, "Teaching Early and Elementary STEM", was written to support pre-service early childhood and elementary teachers in their journey to become facilitators of science, technology, engineering, and math, or “STEM,” and "integrated STEM" in their future classrooms. Students who read and use this text will deepen their understanding of “STEM” and “integrated STEM,” learn what early childhood and elementary students need to know and be able to do in relation to STEM, and understand ways to create activity plans and implement current research-based approaches to teaching and pedagogy. This text arose out of our Early/Elementary STEM Collaboration project, which started in 2017 with the intention of increasing the quality of teacher preparation in STEM across early childhood and elementary education. The team is composed of math and science education professors, classroom in-service teachers, and pre-service teachers in pre-school through fifth grade. We are driven by the values of collaboration, strengths-based approaches to teaching and learning, constructivist philosophy of teaching and learning, and applied STEM experiences to increase access and equity. Our model of preparing pre-service teachers has been published elsewhere in more detail (Robertson, Nivens, & Lange, 2019). We built this open access product to include the following: 1) completely new content that includes input from our team as well as examples of integrated STEM learning experiences; 2) adaptations of existing resources, and; 3) compilations of existing free resources (e.g., Next Generation Science Standards).

In this lesson students create a model beaver dam and demonstrate changes in the ecosystem community pre- and post-dam. Students hypothesize about changes that they would expect to see to the ecosystem after the beaver dam is built.

NGSS: 5-ESS2-1, 3-5-ETS1-3

Time: one or two 50-minute class periods

Materials: ecosystem cards (included), seed trays or long Tupperware containers, wood/popsicle sticks, sand, rocks, and clay

The Challenge:
The challenge is to design and build a water filtration device using commonly available materials. To meet this challenge,
students use an iterative repeating process as they build, test, and measure the performance of the filtration
device, analyze the data collected, and use this information to work towards an improved filtration design. It is the
same design process used by engineers and scientists working on ECLSS for NASA. Although students will work in
teams of two–three, they are encouraged to think of their entire class as a single design team working cooperatively
and learning from the efforts of all members in order to produce the best water filtration device.
Students measure the effectiveness of their filtration device using pH test strips. Detailed plans and a complete materials list are provided.

The Challenge:
The challenge is to design and build a water filtration device using commonly available materials. To meet this challenge, students use an iterative repeating process as they build, test, and measure the performance of the filtration
device, analyze the data collected, and use this information to work towards an improved filtration design. It is the
same design process used by engineers and scientists working on ECLSS for NASA. Although students will work in teams of two–three, they are encouraged to think of their entire class as a single design team working cooperatively and learning from the efforts of all members in order to produce the best water filtration device. Students measure the effectiveness of their filtration device using pH test strips. Detailed plans and a complete materials list are provided.

The Challenge:
The challenge is to design and build a water filtration device using commonly available materials. To meet this challenge,
students use an iterative repeating process as they build, test, and measure the performance of the filtration
device, analyze the data collected, and use this information to work towards an improved filtration design. It is the
same design process used by engineers and scientists working on ECLSS for NASA. Although students will work in
teams of two–three, they are encouraged to think of their entire class as a single design team working cooperatively
and learning from the efforts of all members in order to produce the best water filtration device.
Students measure the effectiveness of their filtration device using pH test strips. Detailed plans and a complete materials list are provided.

The Challenge:
The challenge is to design and build a water filtration device using commonly available materials. To meet this challenge, students use an iterative repeating process as they build, test, and measure the performance of the filtration
device, analyze the data collected, and use this information to work towards an improved filtration design. It is the
same design process used by engineers and scientists working on ECLSS for NASA. Although students will work in teams of two–three, they are encouraged to think of their entire class as a single design team working cooperatively and learning from the efforts of all members in order to produce the best water filtration device. Students measure the effectiveness of their filtration device using pH test strips. Detailed plans and a complete materials list are provided.

This unit consists of five lessons encouraging younger learners to engineer increasingly better towers using blocks and recycled materials. Each 30 minute lesson ("phase") includes goals, discussion, activity instructions, extensions, and student worksheets.

Phase 1: Paper Cut-Outs Activity
Phase 2: Building Blocks Activity
Phase 3: Number of Blocks Activity
Phase 4: Building within a Space Activity
Phase 5: Recycled Tower Activity

NGSS: K-2-ETS1-1, K-2-ETS1-2, K-2-ETS1-3

Common Core ELA: RI.2.1, W.2.6, W.2.8, SL.2.5

Common Core Math: MP.2, MP.4, MP.5, 2.MD.D.10

In this lesson, students will investigate how trees change by the season. Includes discussion of techniques for identifying trees, journaling changes that take place over time for the same tree throughout the school year, a list of vocabulary, a field guid to identifying trees, and a tree journal worksheet for students.

NGSS: Partially meets 2-LS4-1

Common Core: W.2.7, W.2.8, 2.MD.D.10

Social Sciences: 3.12, 4.12

Time: 1 hour initially, then 30-40 minute lessons through the seasons

Materials: "The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree" book, My Tree Journal pages (included), pencils, colored pencils, and clipboards.

Students will create a route for their ozobot to travel using parallel, perpendicular and intersecting lines. They will also create a "trap" to catch the turkey on the route.

Students will create a route for their ozobot to travel using parallel, perpendicular and intersecting lines. They will also create a "trap" to catch the turkey on the route.