3D rendering and images of the space shuttle, Discovery. Discovery was the third Space Shuttle orbiter to fly in space. From 1984 to 2012, Discovery flew 39 Earth-orbital missions, spent a total of 365 days in space, and traveled almost 240 million km (150 million mi) —more than the other orbiters.

How can we alter the design of chip packaging to be more sustainable while protecting the product? Students will design a better way to package potato chips that will be less harmful to the environment and protect the product from being crushed during shipping. The potato chip. It’s crispy. It’s salty. It’s delicious. And you can’t eat just one! As consumers, we often devour a bag of potato chips without giving a second thought to what happens to the bag when we throw it away. Did you know that the average potato chip bag is nearly impossible to recycle? That’s because most bags used for this purpose contain up to 7 layers of plastic! Currently, there is no way to separate those layers, so the bags end up in landfills.

This is a 60 to 90-minute lesson that includes a self-paced interactive module and classroom activities. The teacher guide includes a challenge sequence (timeline), relevance to standards, materials list, assessment, evaluation rubric, and learning extensions.

Lesson objectives: (1) Research and analyze green materials that can be used in product packaging. (2) Investigate 3-D shapes and how they might be used to protect products from damage. (3) Create a design for green packaging that will contain food products.

How might you use an object’s gravitational potential energy to move an object? This challenge will explore how differently shaped objects store potential energy and are affected by gravity. We can see the energy of motion around us every day. From how we run to school or work to driving in our cars, the energy of motion can be seen (and experienced) everywhere. Exploring the energy of motion is one of the easiest ways to understand how energy transfers since we can see it so concretely! Analyzing energy use can help us recognize how we might design and develop sustainable energy systems in the future.

This is a 120-minute lesson that includes a self-paced interactive module and classroom activities. The teacher guide includes a challenge sequence (timeline), relevance to standards, materials list, assessment, evaluation rubric, and learning extensions.

Lesson objectives: (1) Students recognize that mechanical energy includes: Kinetic energy (KE)- the energy of motion, and Potential energy (PE)- the energy of position. (2) Students recognize that stored energy is potential while moving energy is kinetic.

The Engineering Design Process has been such a crucial part of STEM education for the past few years. With schools pushing to become more engaged and involved with problem based learning, the design process is seen as a great starting point. In this content package for upper elementary grades, educators will find lesson plans and ideas on how to teach the design process, eBooks and digital texts with some studies on how to implement design thinking, ready-to-use activities and interactives to encourage real-world learning for students, and videos and multimedia to help students visualize different applications of the Engineering Design Process. 

This website, maintained by elementary STEM consultant Bob Claymier, contains:
1) A list of over 40 STEM resources for grades K-6 ( construction materials, books, curriculum, websites) related to elementary STEM.

2) a list of over 40 robotics and coding resources for grades K-6

3) A free set of standards-based science lessons for grades K-6, all with an engineering component

4) A free monthly elementary STEM newsletter (current and archived editions) that contain information on resources, events, and articles pertaining to elementary STEM.

This activity is a lab investigation/teacher directed inquiry, in which a student discovers the pathway of an electric current from a battery source, through a light bulb's inner structure, and then back to the battery source to complete a simple circuit.