Investigating STEM Skills

This unit investigates how engineering is used within the medical field. Students investigate advancements in medical technologies, sanitation, and genetic engineering. Students get to design and construct their own medical instruments, track a virus being spread in the classroom, and grow bacteria in petri dishes.

This unit introduces students to the history of engineering by highlighting major discoveries and famous engineers and inventors. Students reflect on these ground breakers and write a report on the greatest engineer. They get a chance to model a historical weapon by designing and creating their own catapults.

This unit introduces sustainability and helps students reflect on their own impacts on the environment. Students research sustainability and come up with a vision for their future highlighting the importance of sustainability. They distinguish the difference between needs and wants and participate in simulations. Students use an online tool to calculate their personal ecological footprint and discuss how their locus of control might influence their life.

Time: 5 Hours

Students learn about different forms of energy, energy sources, how energy is measured, and the first two laws of thermodynamics. This unit explores how energy is used in the US and what types are used around the world. Students investigate and measure how they use energy at home and school and create a proposal for an energy management plan.

This unit explores changes in birth and death rates, factors that determine the relative well-being of a region, impacts of inequitable resource distribution, and the production of food. Students investigate how the production of food, ingredients in their food, and their own food choices impacts others while growing and experimenting with their own mutant corn. They collaborate in teams to educate others on sustainable food choices.

This unit introduces factors in the design process and takes students through designing and modeling a solution to a problem. Students design, create, and draw pictogram directions for building a container that will hold and protect 25 pieces of fruit.

Students use instructional videos to learn about drag-and-drop programming, loops, and the basics for creating a 3D game. Their new skills are tested through completing the Microsoft Kodu Grand Challenge where they have to create their own game based on the challenge’s criteria.

This unit explores agribusiness, biotechnology, environmental conservation, and artificial ecosystems. Students investigate by designing and constructing a package that will preserve food, an insulated cup that will regulate temperature, and a conveyor belt for transporting food.