Need some support or ideas of how to entertain middle schoolers or what clubs to bring into your school?  Let this excellent 40-page resource guide with links and step-by-step directions on STEM activities guide your decision.

Dressing for success is not always about looking sharp. Sometimes it is about staying warm and dry. Present your class with an activity that challenges groups of pupils to design a layered material for blizzard conditions. The teams test...

Teams must determine the size of cavern needed to house the citizens of Alabraska to protect them from the asteroid impact. Using scaling properties, teams first determining the number of people that could sleep in a classroom and then...

Great literature discussions are a consequence of carefully crafted questions, interpretative questions that permit more than one response, and responses supported by specific evidence from the text. The discussion questions in a guide...

Engineering design projects serve as great opportunities for collaborative problem solving. In this case, students work in small groups designing, building, and eventually testing a structure that meets a teacher-specified objective. It...

Slip sliding away. Groups investigates the two types of friction by running an experiment that allows them to calculate the coefficient of static friction and the coefficient of kinetic friction. The experiment uses a box, a...

Groups use a marble to determine the viscosity of household fluids. The procedure calls for pupils to measure the amount of time it takes a marble to fall a specified distance in the fluids. Using unit conversions and algebra, the teams...

Here is an activity that merges technology with life skills as individuals use Google Earth to explore the differences between coordinate systems and map projections. The self-guided learning exercise is the fourth segment in a nine-part...

Whose home is it anyway? Design teams plan a housing development in which they must also protect a native species. The teams consist of a project manager, civil engineer, environmental engineer, and graphic designer. Teams present their...

Save the soup! Scholars devise a flotation device using straws, balloons, foam, corks, and other objects. A can of soup must stay afloat for at least a minute with this device—your dinner might depend on it!

Does everything in the trash can belong there? Conduct a waste audit with your class by collecting a day's worth of garbage, separating it into recyclables, non-recyclables, or food waste, and properly distributing what they find into...

Math rocks! Cavern design teams determine the rankings of rock types based upon desirability points. The points are connected to the properties of the rocks and their usefulness in building a cavern. 

What are the trade-offs when looking to get the most benefit from an energy source? Small groups compare the cost-to-emission levels of several energy sources by looking at the information graphically. The groups utilize this...

No study of World War II would be complete without an in-depth examination of the events of June 6, 1944. Pascal Vuong's D-Day Normandy:1944, is the perfect vehicle to convey the sheer magnitude of the events that have been called...

Class members are challenged to design a device that will move a circus elephant into a train car. Groups brainstorm ideas that use simple machines to load the elephant. They then choose one of their ideas, sketch a plan, and present it...

Individuals create a GIS data layer in Google Earth that displays information about where one might find seven different cryptids. The class members research to find data on cryptid sightings they can include in their data...

The beauty in this resource is the lengthy list of highly charged, controversial-issue research topics. Categories include issues of race, politics, law, environment, education, athletics, gender, and technology. After selecting a topic,...

West Side Story and Romeo & Juliet—two classics in their own rights that help young literature lovers better analyze different works. Learners research and compare the characters and story elements of West Side Story and Romeo...

Technology or engineering teams are given a task to design, construct, and test the efficiency of a structure that will foster an even temperature throughout an entire sunny day. Intended as a long-term project, pupils research, plan,...

Explore the relationship between sports and physics in a cross-curricular lesson. Middle and high schoolers prepare a multimedia presentation based on a chosen sport. They answer five physics vocabulary questions about how the laws of...

Rolling for momentum. As part of a study of mechanical energy, momentum, and friction, class members experiment rolling a ball down an incline and having it collide with a cup. Groups take multiple measurements and perform...

Challenge your class to use their understanding of the engineering design process to design and build a small-scale, off-road prototype for an assistive technology device. Teams select materials to build their scale models, and, using...

Teams use the design process to design, build, and test a model levee to protect the town from a wall of water. A handout provides a price list for the materials learners can use to build their levee within a budget.

Here's your chance to save the world. The eighth lesson in a 25-part Energy Systems and Solutions unit has young scientists come up with ideas for individual or group projects. They identify ways to solve the energy crisis. Hope they...