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Think Like a Beaver (4th - 6th Grade) Ecosystem Activity

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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

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Author: Oregon State University

What if There Were No Bees? (4th - 5th Grade) Activity & Game

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In this lesson students will learn how dependent orchards are on pollinators and discuss the implications of bees dying. Includes discussion questions, activity instructions, and rules for the Beebuzz game. Time: 45-50 minutes Materials: "What if There Were No Bees" or other book about bees and our dependence on them, beehive photos, 15 dice, brown paper, scraps of green paper, pink tissue paper, scissors, glue, white paper

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Author: Columbia Gorge STEM Hub

Design Thinking Crash Course (3rd - 12th Grade) Adaptable Lesson Plan Outline

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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.

Material Type: Lesson Plan, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Columbia Gorge STEM Hub

Build a musical instrument

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Every musical instrument is different, but they all have one thing common: they convert energy from motion into sound by causing a part of the instrument to vibrate. These vibrations cause waves in the air that, when sensed by our ears, are interpreted as sound. Sound waves travel at different speeds depending on the source of the vibrations. The faster a sound wave moves, the higher the pitch of the sound.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: STEM Bites are a project of the Oregon STEM Hub network. This lesson contributed by Umpqua Valley STEAM Hub

Exploring Light

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Different objects allow different amounts of light to pass through them. Objects can be transparent (light passes through them), translucent (some light passes through, but some light is diffused), or opaque (light does not pass through them). The opacity of different objects can make them more or less useful for certain real-world purposes.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: STEM Bites are a project of the Oregon STEM Hub network. This lesson adapted from a contribution by the St. Helens Public Library and the Northwest STEM Hub.

Surface tension K-2

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Surface tension is caused by neighboring water particles being very slightly attracted to one another — this allows water to bead and lets water strider bugs walk on water. But there are limits to the attractive forces between water molecules, and the strength of those forces can be changed by changing the temperature of the water or by mixing other substances into the water. In warmer water the molecules are moving more, so the surface tension is less. That is why warm water is used for cleaning.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: STEM Bites are a project of the Oregon STEM Hub network. This lesson adapted from a contribution by the St. Helens Public Library and the Northwest STEM Hub.

Frozen Bubbles

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Fluids flow from hot to cold at an interface such as the surface of the bubble. As the bubbles begin to freeze, the still-liquid part of the bubble keeps moving, ripping ice crystals off the growing freeze front and tossing them around. Those ice crystals each create their own freeze front, making the bubble’s surface solidify faster.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: STEM Bites are a project of the Oregon STEM Hub network. This lesson contributed by GO-STEM and Columbia Gorge STEM Hub.

Sound and Spoon Chimes

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You hear sounds when vibrations go inside your ears and stimulate your nerves to send electrical signals to your brain. For instance, when the spoon is bumped against an object, it vibrates. As it vibrates, it sends out sound waves that bump into air molecules and cause them to bounce to and fro. Those bouncing air molecules bump into other air molecules and start them moving. This chain reaction of moving air molecules carries sound through the air in a series of waves that we call sound. Inside your ear, moving air molecules push on your eardrum and cause it to vibrate.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: STEM Bites are a project of the Oregon STEM Hub network. Lesson contributed by GO-STEM.

Build an Aluminum Foil Boat

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When an object is placed in water, there are two primary forces acting on it. Buoyancy is the force exerted on an object that is wholly or partly immersed in a fluid. The force of gravity is a downward force and buoyancy is an upward force. The gravitational force is determined by the object's weight, and the buoyancy force is determined by the weight of the water that is displaced by the object. If an object weighs less than the amount of water it displaces, it floats; if it weighs more, it sinks.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: based on a commonly shared lesson idea., STEM Bites are a project of the Oregon STEM Hub network. Lesson submitted from GO-STEM

Rube Goldberg Machine

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As the item moves through the contraption, energy is transferred from one object to the next, moving each one. Designing something that works often takes many attempts, tests, and redesign. The final creation is often a combination of aspects of those many previous designs.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: STEM Bites are a project of the Oregon STEM Hub network. This lesson adapted from a contribution by Saturday Academy and Portland Metro STEM Partnership.

What do Animals Eat?

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Different animals eat different foods, based on their needs, environment, and what their bodies are able to digest. There are similarities across animals, some are herbivores (eat only plants), some are carnivores (eat only other animals), and some are omnivores (eat both).

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: and inspired by resources from PBS., STEM Bites are a project of the Oregon STEM Hub network. This lesson contributed by the Columbia Gorge STEM Hub

Mimic Bird Beaks

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Different birds have specialized beaks to eat different types of food. For example, owls do not drink nectar from flowers, and hummingbirds cannot crack open nuts. Activity will use common household tools to show how different beak shapes function to collect various kinds of food.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: STEM Bites are a project of the Oregon STEM Hub network. This lesson adapted from a contribution by: Clean Water Services cleanwaterservices.org/education and the Portland Metro STEM Partnership.

Parachute Design 3-4

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Parachutes slow down the fall of an object by creating more air resistance for the falling object. All objects fall at the same speed, regardless of their mass. But, more air resistance can slow them down. So, as a parachute is made larger, it will have more air resistance and slow down the object more.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: and originally created by Hood River County 4-H. See original file here. Adapted for this use by Columbia Gorge STEM Hub and GO-STEM., STEM Bites are a project of the Oregon STEM Hub network. This lesson contributed by Oregon 4H

Fibonacci Sequence in Nature

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Students are discovering how the Fibonacci Sequence occurs in nature while collecting and interpreting data. Students will also compare a specific item from nature and consider what types of variation exist in items of that sort.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: STEM Bites are a project of the Oregon STEM Hub network. This lesson adapted from a contribution by: Math Gamers© 2020 and the Portland Metro STEM Partnership. More resources from Math Gamers can be found on their website www.mathgamers.net

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