JoinAll Resources
Book Chapter
In this problem, students explore how forces change the direction of motion of a spaceship moving between asteroids. They simulate the scenarios by using puffs of air delivered through straws to move balls through a maze made up of an “asteroid fie...
Book Chapter
In this problem, students compare the end velocities of cartoon characters that jumped up from, jumped down from, or fell from a cliff and landed in a river. Students are asked to design experiments to test the impact velocities of falling objects. T...
Book Chapter
This problem focuses on force, acceleration, direction, and mass, and is set in the context of a rescue team. Students figure out how to balance three forces to suspend a person in a particular position. They balance three forces of different strengt...
Book Chapter
In this problem, students work in teams to design a new type of roller coaster ride. Students act as engineers to design a model roller coaster with “cars” (marbles) that are launched using elastic potential energy. The problem specifies that the...
Book Chapter
Rube Goldberg machines are comical machines with many parts. This problem focuses on engineering energy transformations to make a functioning Rube Goldberg machine. The function of the machine, the materials used, and the number or type of energy tra...
Book Chapter
During a long trip in the car, a student wonders whether the expensive travel mug used for iced tea keeps drinks hot or cold better than the foam cup holding coffee. In this problem, students explore the insulating ability of several kinds of cups wi...
Book Chapter
In this problem, students investigate how to construct a simple circuit from a battery, flashlight bulb, and items that might be found in someone’s pocket. Teams of students engineer a simple flashlight using a flashlight bulb, two AA batteries, an...
Book Chapter
In this problem, students wire the lighting in a miniature house to meet preset specifications. These specifications can be altered to make the problem more or less complex. Students wire circuits with batteries, bulbs, and different numbers of switc...
Book Chapter
In this problem, students are asked to build a battery-operated, personal fan from household materials. This entails building a small electric motor. It is not expected that students will figure out how to make a motor without guidance. Electric moto...
Journal Article
Enter the Nation’s First Student Chief Science Officers
Students vote for one of their peers to become a STEM advocate in their school. These Chief Science Officers select and promote STEM programming, connect with STEM organizations to bring STEM programming to their communities, or participate in loca...
By Jeremy Babendure, Nagib Balfakih, Susan Farretta, and Becky Hughes
Journal Article
The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education hosts resources for designers, evaluators, and researchers of informal STEM learning experiences and settings....
By Jamie Bell and Ashley Gary
Journal Article
Delving Below the Surface With the Montana Groundwater Academy
The Montana Groundwater Academy is a high school program that integrates classroom and field-based experiences to teach the fundamentals of groundwater science. ...
By Beth Covitt, Agatha Podrasky, Deb Fassnacht, Rebecca Paquette, and William Woessner
Book Chapter
In this lesson, children will use observation skills to describe the physical features of roly-polies. They will make comparisons with other animals to identify similarities and differences to infer which animal roly-polies are most like. Assessment ...
Book Chapter
In this lesson, children will use vocabulary and drawings to represent detailed observations of crickets and use these observations as a basis for making inferences about the function of crickets’ external parts. Assessment criteria and connections...
Book Chapter
In this lesson, children will observe and describe characteristics of earthworms and compare them to other animals. Students will investigate how various conditions affect the earthworms. Assessment criteria and connections to standards are provided....