
These are perfect for a quick STEM activity at science centers, in small groups, and for after-school assignments. Which is where these printable weight STEM challenge cards come in handy! If you can take the mystery out of STEM, it suddenly starts to make sense – to us and to our students. So I’m all about the simple STEM challenges at home and in the classroom. If you’re new to teaching STEM, introducing it to students can feel like learning to speak a new language.įor those of us who started teaching years ago, combining science, technology, engineering, and math is a completely different way of teaching than we’re accustomed to using. Try some of these other ideas for teaching STEM to elementary students! Scroll down to get your set of these Build A House STEM Challenge Cards – free! Then introduce the “Build a house with…” cards to challenge them to add new features, such as a working door, a swimming pool, and more.

This will give them some time to practice designing and building a 3D structure. You may want to start by having students choose one of the “Build a house using…” cards. The kids can’t wait to correct my idea with something better! One of my favorite techniques is to suggest something ridiculous that would never work. Stimulate their creativity by asking questions such as: “If I wanted to build a house with index cards, how could I get started?” “Should I begin by forming the walls or the roof?” “How do you think we can get the house to stand up?” If you have students who are new to STEM, they may feel overwhelmed and not sure where to begin. It’s important to help students remember that they are not required to use only the building material on the card.īut the item listed should be the primary material.įor example, if they are working on the card that says “Build a house using construction paper”, they’re welcome to use fasteners, such as glue, tape, paper fasteners, etc.
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They’re given eight ideas for building a house with specific materials and eight ideas for building a house with specific features.Ī blackline version of the cards is included too! How to Use These Build A House STEM Challenge Cards with Students

This set of STEM activity cards features 16 different design challenges for students.

Which means designing structures, three-dimensional shapes, and so on by using scientific principles, math concepts, and construction techniques.

STEM education can feel a little overwhelming at times.Įspecially if you’re an English major (like myself).īut STEM is really just about applying science, technology, math, and engineering into a hands-on concept.
