These Back-to-School STEM / STEAM challenges are a great way to build community, establish procedures, and get to know how your kids tick! Plus, they’re a great intro to forces and interactions and Newton’s three laws of motion, which are part of 3rd, 5th grade and middle school NGSS standards! (3PS2-1, 5PS2-1, MS-PS2-1, and MS-PS2-2)
The basic premise:
Students work in partners or groups against criteria & constraints lists to design and build solutions to design challenges using symbols of the season: apples and school supplies! Modification suggestions are included to make these challenges engaging and productive for students in grades 2 – 8.
Bring the joy back to your classroom with collaborative, hands-on, brain-busting work (disguised as fun)!
Note: This is the printable version. If you are in a 1:1 / paperless classroom, you will want to check out the digital option for use with Google Slides instead.
If you have questions about which version is right for you, please feel free to leave me a question using the product Q&A below.
There are five STEM design challenges included in this bundle:
This bundle saves you 40% off the cost of buying each challenge separately. What a bargain! ☺
Materials you’ll need to do the activity are easily modified. Materials lists can be found in the product descriptions for each individual challenge linked above.
Resource includes:
• Overall STEM Tips
– Suggestions on timing and whether or not to treat these challenges as competitions
– What to say (and what not to say) during STEM Challenges
– 5-event Data Tracker handout
Plus, each challenge comes with:
• NGSS aligned standards, Grades 2 – 8
• Teacher Tips
– Links to STEM Challenge How-to Videos
– Links to individual challenge walk-throughs (videos will post between April 20 – May 5)
– Materials and timing
– Criteria & Constraints (including modifications to increase difficulty for older students)
– Measuring results
– Post-design extension activities list
• Student Handouts
– Criteria and Constraints list (color and B&W; editable)
– Results and Design Analysis (color and B&W)
– Discussion Questions (color and B&W)
• Extension templates
– Process Flow Map
– Math Extension
– Plus, other design-specific handouts (see each individual challenge resource description page for more details)
You can find more details by clicking on the individual challenges titles at the top of each preview slide or on this page. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions!
Benefits of STEM Design Challenges:
– Focus on critical thinking, problem solving, and application of learning
– High levels of student engagement
– The potential to hit upon all NGSS ETS standards depending on the depth and number of iterations you choose to implement in your classroom (modifications included)
– Highly flexible and differentiated for materials, timing, grade levels, and rigor.
Each design iteration should be planned for approximately 60 – 90 min. Again, I recommend working on STEM Design Challenges in multiple iterations to get the full value.
What are teachers saying about this bundle? (Reviews from TpT store)
“I loved this resource. I used it with my STEAM classes in middle school and they had a great time and were 100% engaged!”
“My Class loves these challenges! So easy to put to use in the classroom. I also am thankful for the videos. Thank you!”
“I learned I was teaching a year-long STEAM class the day before classes started. This bundle was a life saver. I am currently breaking it down into a 5 week challenge and used someone else’s suggestion of calling it the Fall Apple A-lympics. The PDFs and editable PPTs are easy to read and adapt. Materials can be found around the house or in the office, which is great for someone like me who was given last minute notice and doesn’t have a huge budget. The students are working on the Apples Afar challenge right now and they are enjoying it. Thank you for your wonderful work.”
“I plan on using this as Apple A-lympics for the first week of school. I love how differentiation is worked in the labs and different levels of difficulty are recommended.”
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