This is a highly adaptable outline for how design thinking could be introduced to your learners over a multi-day project. This plan works best if students are divided up into groups of 3-4 for all work except the introduction to each concept at the beginning of class. Learners should stay in the same group for the whole class.

Includes pre-work links, general instructions to guide planning for each day, design thinking student handouts, and multi-grade NGSS standards linked to design thinking.

In this assignment, you have an opportunity to identify one aspect of your personal diversity
and consider its overlap within someone in STEM. The following are examples of the personal
descriptions that make you a diverse member of this class:
● Age and Gender
● Sexual Orientation
● Culture/Nation of Origin
● Race
● Religion
● Physical or Mental ability

Biotechnology is one of the largest and fasted growing science-based industries in North Carolina. In this lesson students will have an opportunity to research some different Biotech companies in North Carolina. Secondly, students will grow live yeast cultures to model the cell culture development essential to the success of biotech companies. Students will manipulate different limiting factors such as temperature and the amount of media to measure the impact on cell growth/viability. The third part of this lesson will have students graphing, performing data analysis, and comparative analysis to modeled-data from Biogen Idec’s cell culture development.

The "Double-O-STEM" (educator guide) curriculum consists of STEM problem-solving activities. The curriculum is designed around projects that empower learners to apply STEM to creatively problem-solve community issues. These include designing bike lanes, community gardens, and other exciting STEM problems.

The activities are designed for both librarians and STEM educators. The curriculum is especially aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS (engineering; grades 3-5) and American Association of School Librarians (AASL) standards.

Please note the student version can be found using the following link:
https://www.oercommons.org/courses/double-o-stem-learner-guide

The "Double-O-STEM" (learner guide) curriculum consists of STEM problem-solving activities. The curriculum is designed around projects that empower learners to apply STEM to creatively problem-solve community issues. These include designing bike lanes, community gardens, and other exciting STEM problems.

The activities are designed for both librarians and STEM educators. The curriculum is especially aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS (engineering; grades 3-5) and American Association of School Librarians (AASL) standards.

Please note the educator guide can be found using the following link: https://www.oercommons.org/courses/double-o-stem-educator-guide

This Super Lesson utilizes Project Based Learning to assist learners with designing, building, and testing flying contraptions as an introduction to Engineering. The goal of this project is to engage students in collaborative team work and to introduce students to the Science and Engineering Practices: Asking Questions and Defining Problems, Planning and Carrying Out Investigations, and Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions.

We have offered this Super Lesson as an 8-week elective course, developing and strengthening student interest in applied Math and Science topics. It could also be offered within upper elementary or middle school Science and Math courses. In addition, each week’s topic could be used as a stand alone mini-lesson if time is limited. We have worked to include multiple options within this unit to make it accessible to both general education and special education programs, including recommendations for modifications and extensions.

Welcome to Chemistry Applications: Pharmacology, Biotechnology and Forensics, a high school curriculum. Included in this curriculum are many lesson plans that are aligned with the North Carolina Chemistry and Biology Standards, in addition to the National Science Standard. Students will learn to be critically thinking, problem solving individuals who will relate science to the real world.

This project is a science based unit that incorporates using a makerspace. Students work together to research a local bird species and design and build a birdhouse to meet the specific needs of their species.

Student teams are challenged to navigate a table tennis ball through a timed obstacle course using only the provided unconventional “tools.” Teams act as engineers by working through the steps of the engineering design process to complete the overall task with each group member responsible to accomplish one of the obstacle course challenges. Inspired by the engineers who helped the Apollo 13 astronauts through critical problems in space, students must be innovative with the provided supplies to use them as tools to move the ball through the obstacles as swiftly as possible. Groups are encouraged to communicate with each other to share vital information. The course and tool choices are easily customizable for varied age groups and/or difficulty levels. Pre/post assessment handouts, competition rules and judging rubric are provided.

This hands-on lesson introduces students to the engineering design process. It connects to the story The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Students will use the design process to create a bridge that will keep the Billy Goats Gruff safe and complete the Engineering Design Process Journal.

Date of this Version
Spring 2019

Document Type
Portfolio

Citation
Sharpnack, Mia and Adam Schneider. "Engineering Explorers." After school club lesson plans. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2019.

Comments
Copyright 2019 by Mia Sharpnack and Adam Schneider under Creative Commons Non-Commercial License. Individuals and organizations may copy, reproduce, distribute, and perform this work and alter or remix this work for non-commercial purposes only.

Abstract
After school club that introduces students to the basics of engineering while giving them practice with teamwork and problem solving.

This unit uses roller coaster design as a method of teaching students about energy types, energy conservation, and the design process. At the end of this Unit, students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills should be strengthened.

Learners will understand the problems and actions needed to solve the issues of plastics in our environments.

A lesson for learners to understand and take action on the plastic issue in our envrionments.

Intellectual Outputs from Erasmus+ DELTA project, offering teaching programmes about the use of inoffensive drones and Wrok based learning approach to boost STEM didactics in VET secodary education

In this lesson, students will learn what erosion is and how human actions influence erosion. Includes introduction, demonstration instructions, and questions for wrap-up discussion.

NGSS: 2-ESS2-1

Time: 50 minutes

Materials: plastic containers with sand and gravel, sponges, and plastic cups

In this lesson, students will learn what erosion is and how human actions influence erosion. Includes introduction, demonstration instructions, and questions for wrap-up discussion.

NGSS: 4-ESS2-1

Time: 55 minutes

Materials: plastic containers with sand and gravel, sponges, and plastic cups

In this lesson, students will learn what erosion is and how human actions influence erosion. Includes introduction, demonstration instructions, and questions for wrap-up discussion.

NGSS: K-ESS3-3

Time: 50 minutes

Materials: plastic containers with sand and gravel, sponges, and plastic cups.

The text presents a series of activities to be carried out in groups on the theme of color. The activities involve art, science and technology and present a "hands on" approach that can be used as a starting point for structuring "project based learning" activities.

Il testo presenta una serie di attività da svolgere in gruppo sul tema del colore. Le attività coinvolgono l'arte, la scienza e la tecnologia e presenta un approccio «hands on» che può essere utilizzato come punto di partenza per strutturare attività di «project based learning».

The purpose of this lesson is to research artificial selection. During this lesson, we will use fast growing plant crossing to model traditional agricultural practices and we will use Punnett squares to predict plant crossing outcomes. We will also use online simulations to learn about current biotechnology techniques used to make genetically modified crops. We will compare traditional agriculture to current biotechnology techniques that are being used to create pest resistant crops. We will discuss how artificial selection such as selective breeding and genetic engineering can impact organisms over time.