Featured Activities
STEM Activities for Your Classroom
Bubble Bonanza!
We are bubbling with enthusiasm about this activity. Let’s have some fun as we blow bubbles and wonder about them.
1- Work with a partner. Each of you should blow some bubbles with “store bought” bubbles and wands, and truly observe them
- Record your observations in a lab notebook or journal.
- If you have a camera with video capacity, record some of your blowing.
- What do you wonder about these bubbles and bubble blowing?
- Each partner should jot down thoughts and wonderings.
2- Discuss your observations, thoughts and wonderings with your partner.
- Pick some of your wonderings to investigate, that is, try to answer some of your own questions by designing and carrying out experiments.
- Make certain to listen to each other and collaborate, maybe you’ve asked similar questions, or perhaps you can attempt to answer one question that each of you have posed.
3- Experimental Considerations
- Make a plan, so you don’t waste time and/or materials.
- When you blow the bubbles, be as consistent in your blowing technique as possible. It’s probably best to have one person in your pair do the bubble blowing. Why would this be important? What’s a “fair” test?
- Do several trials. Why is this important?
- Record observations. Write down notes. Take photos and videos. Make measurements. Why is this important?
- Think about how you can communicate your results to your classmates.
- Share, and clean-up after yourself.
30 Minute STEMtastic Activities
Geared towards middle school students, these activities can be adjusted for grade level and learning outcomes. They were developed at the request of teachers who wanted interesting activities that could be done at home, while online with their class, or at school. Other goals for the activities were flexibility, possibility for extensions, and the use of minimal supplies that students would not have to share. The DuPage ROE STEM Team goals for the learners are that they engage their critical thinking, problem solving, questioning, and experimentation skills, and that they learn in an enjoyable and authentic context. In the spirit of the Illinois Science Learning Standards and the Common Core State Standards in Mathematical Practice, we believe these activities will provoke questions as students work, and discuss their work with you and their classmates, and that those questions will motivate and drive their search for answers.
We plan to add more activities to this collection. If you have feedback on any of these lessons, please share at stem@dupageroe.org.
No Special Supplies: Activities in this section require limited supplies that are typically found in a student’s home. Students may need a handout that could be sent to them electronically and printed at home.
- Water Holder: This is an engineering design challenge.
- Whirlybird from Paper: An engineering design challenge integrating aerodynamics.
- STEM at the Breakfast Table: Use breakfast cereal to learn about measuring tools, nutrition, and nutrition labels.
- At Home Scavenger Hunt: STEM is everywhere! Have your students look for it in their homes in a friendly competition, and then discuss their findings.
- Paper Airplanes: Reverse engineer paper airplanes to determine how each paper airplane flies the way it does.
- Balance Bird: Discover what it means when something is balanced.
- Honeycomb Lab: Observable characteristics of polygons explain why honey bees use hexagons to build their combs. The geometric concepts of tiling and area are applied to our natural world.
Request Supplies: Activities in this section require items that most students would not have at home. Contact the DuPage Regional Office of Education STEM Coordinator, Dr. Mary Biniewicz, mbiniewicz@dupageroe.org to request supplies. The supply of these items is limited and will be provided on a first-come-first-served basis.
- Make a Simple Microscope: Using just two simple magnifying lenses, students construct a microscope and explore the world around them.
- The Joyful Light Spectrum: Use diffraction grating glasses to motivate study of the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
- Drops of Water on the Head of a Penny: Students investigate the behavior of water drops on a penny, make and test predictions, and construct explanations for their observations.
- How Strong IS That Magnet?: Use common items around the house to test a magnet’s strength.
