Our Favorite STEM Activities for Middle Schoolers
f you teach STEM in middle school, you know how important it is to give students the opportunity to learn through hands-on experiments. Looking for some new activities to use in your classroom? Here are 5 of our favorite STEM activities for middle schoolers.
1. I Breathe What?
This activity from STEM Education Guide is a great way to get students thinking about the air they breathe. Students will create “pollution detectors” and explore pollen, dust, and other particulates in the air. During this activity, students will place the detectors in multiple spots around campus and analyze the differences in air quality. After comparing results from different locations, students will consider what causes the differences and the importance of air particulate matter in the field of engineering. This activity can be completed in two 50-minute class sessions.
2. Whack-A-Mole Coding
This activity comes from Unruly Splats, a STEM learning tool that allows students to create their own coding games and play with classmates. Unruly splats combine physical activity and block-coding to help kids learn fundamental coding skills through a hands-on approach. To play Whack-A-Mole, students will code Splat buttons to light up at different times. Once the code is created, students will start playing the game. As each button lights up, students race to stomp the button. This game will keep students engaged through coding and physical challenges.
3. Mission to Mars
Want to get your students excited about space exploration? Check out this fun activity from TPT! This activity requires students to complete various STEM challenges like engineering straw rockets, designing landing devices, and completing a Coke and Mentos experiment. As students complete their mission to Mars, they will work together and learn about engineering design, science, and math. The activity involves 10 total STEM challenges as students design rockets, calculate their landing on Mars, and collect samples using a pneumatic device.
4. Design a Bridge
Adventures in Mommydom provides directions and a review of a fun engineering challenge for kids. For this activity, students will try to build a bridge that can hold 100 pennies for at least 30 seconds. You’ll need straws, scotch tape, paper clips, scissors, index cards, and a lot of pennies! Start out by teaching your students about the different kinds of bridges like the truss, suspension, and arch bridge. Once students understand the engineering behind each bridge, they can begin constructing their own. Students can work in teams or individually if you have a small class size. Once everyone’s finished, test each bridge by adding 100 pennies.
5. Explore the Law of Inertia with Fidget Spinners
Teaching physics? Here’s a fun way to explore the law of inertia with your students. From Engineer to Stay at Home Mom reviews this activity on her blog. During this experiment, students will explore how different weights effect the duration of spinning on a fidget spinner. Students will measure the inertia of fidget spinners as the add or remove weights. Start out by explaining the law of inertia then explore the concept in real life with this activity.
Wrapping Up
Teaching STEM in middle school can be so much fun. These activities help students better understand STEM concepts by seeing their application in real life. Get started today by picking out your favorite activity!
Check out our stem Maker Kits!
