STEM Outside

Get your 4-6 grade students analyzing patterns and identifying mathematical relationships with this STEM math inquiry challenge exploring trapezoid area with a scaffolded assignment based on the Stanford University Youcubed task: Trap the Zoid! Students get a brief introduction to mathematical relationships and area with rectangles before they are challenged to develop a mathematical relationship to describe the area of trapezoids. Students analyze example trapezoids and test their ideas against

In this mini-project, students will get practice calculating the volume of a rectangular prism, performing unit conversions and creating a bar graph to answer the question "How Much of Your Home Water Usage Could be Supplied by Rainfall?" I love that this question also gets students wondering and curious about water sustainability, water barrels and their own water usage. Over the course of this mini-project, students will read about the Cape Town water crisis of 2018, plan how they will collect

Get students moving outside, collecting a few fall leaves! When they return, students carefully observe the leaves with a magnifying glass and measure them with a ruler. This is a great opportunity for students to examine the properties of matter and consider the similarities and differences between the examples of leaf matter they find! This Google Slides activity includes background information on leaves, space for students to plan what properties they want to observe and how to observe them,

Students can work individually or in small groups, at school or at home, to create a new hopscotch game that helps players practice their number facts. Two examples for addition to 10 and multiplication factors are provided, but students are encouraged to design their own rules and course. Space on the handout are provided for students to write their rules and draw their course to plan their game. Afterwards, there is a short reflection students can do after they have drawn and played their game