The Best STEM Challenges for Elementary Students in 3rd 4th and 5th Grade

I get a lot of questions about teaching STEM. What exactly is STEM? How do I start? Where do I get materials? How much time does it take? What are some easy STEM activities to start with?

Today I’m going to show you how to choose the best STEM challenges for elementary students because that is the number one most important thing. The rest is just details.

Why focus on 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade upper elementary students, you ask? Well, most younger students aren’t quite ready for the full engineering design process. They are definitely ready to explore science concepts and learn about the scientific method which are the building blocks of a real stem activity.

So for those younger kids in 2nd grade and below, a simple experiment is a great way to introduce them to the basics of science.

So now, what are some good STEM lessons for your young scientists in 3rd grade and up? Let’s look at how to get started…

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STEM Challenges for Elementary Students Must Have A Purpose

What does that mean? Well just like any other subject, when teaching STEM, your activities need to have a clear reason behind them. Why? Because…

1. A reason gives you an end-goal and that is how you tell whether your students were successful or not.
2. Learners who are given a meaningful reason for learning will naturally learn more.

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Why spend valuable class time on something if you and your students don’t really know why they are doing it.

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What STEM is not…

Okay, so this is a big one and some people might take issue with what I’m about to say…

• STEM isn’t stacking a bunch of cups on top of each other to see who can make the tallest tower. That’s a fun activity or a contest.
• STEM isn’t making a butterfly with popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners. That’s an art project.
• STEM isn’t making a kaleidoscope out of a toilet paper tube. That’s a craft.
• STEM isn’t copying 3-D shapes with toothpicks and gumdrops. That is following directions.

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“Whaaaaaaat?” you say. “But I see those things all over the internet!”

Yeah, you do… and they aren’t STEM. They don’t follow the engineering design process. Even a simple science experiment isn’t STEM.

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STEM Is About Solving Real World-Problems

Now that you know what is STEM is not, let’s think about what it is so you can plan some high quality and FUN stem activities for your students.

STEM involves many important concepts and problem-solving skills such as:

• thinking about a real-life problem
• brainstorming what to do about it
• coming up with a detailed plan
• designing a solution
• testing your design
• revising your design and testing again
• predicting, estimating, measuring, reflecting

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It is a problem solving process that requires students to first identify the problem, something that needs to be fixed. None of the examples above present students with any kind of problem, and that goes back to point one… STEM challenges for elementary students need a clear purpose.

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STEM Follows A Process

A true STEM challenge follows the engineering design process. It doesn’t stop short. And what is that process?

• Define the problem.
• Brainstorm solutions.
• Plan your best solution.
• Make a model.
• Test your model.
• Reflect and revise.
• Test your model again.
• Share your results.

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I see many, many, many STEM challenges for elementary students that stop after step 4. But is that what real scientists and engineers do? Stop without finding out if their ideas work, if their hypothesis was right?

Of course not! So why should your students?

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Back to the Purpose of STEM

Ideally, a STEM challenge will present students with a very clear problem to solve and something that makes them WANT to solve it. Knowing how their ideas might be applied in the real world can turn disinterested students into highly motivated problem solvers.

A good example is a house building challenge. Students could either…

• Build the strongest house they can or
• Design a house that can withstand hurricane force winds for a family living in Haiti

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Now, which do you think is more motivating? Which has a clearer purpose? Which has specific requirements that could be tested? You know the right answer. I’ve actually designed several sets of STEM challenges for elementary students that all share a common theme and purpose like designing items that will help a stranded sailor escape a deserted island.

Here are a few other ideas that could be the basis for some excellent stem challenges:

• Design an effective method for cleaning up oil spills in the ocean
• Build a device that can remove fallen rock quickly after an earthquake
• Create a waterproof capsule that could be used to send supplies to a trapped submarine

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Choosing a Quality STEM Challenge

Now that you know what good STEM challenges for elementary students should include, it will be a lot easier to find or design one for your class. To help even more, I’ve designed this quick little checklist:

Does the challenge…

• Present students with a problem to solve?
• Include suggested materials?
• Have clear parameters or requirements?
• Require students to measure or test their results?
• Provide an opportunity to revise and retest?

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If you can say yes to each item on the list, you know you’ve got a real challenge that will develop your students’ critical thinking skills.

I encourage you to steer away from the term easy stem challenge when searching for activities for elementary kids. The word easy tends to bring up fun activities that might involve a bit of science but don’t fit the criteria of STEM learning. You really want something that will challenge your young learners to think creatively.

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Getting Started with STEM Education

Before incorporating STEM challenges for elementary students into your lesson plans, you’ll need to collect a variety of materials. Keeping a stash on hand makes doing engineering projects a lot less overwhelming.

Here are some ideas for materials that always come in handy:

• paper clips
• rubber bands
• string
• tape
• plastic spoons
• craft sticks
• newspaper
• cardboard
• paper towels
• plastic wrap
• paper cups
• aluminum foil

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Your students will also need some tools like rulers or measuring tape, timer, scissors, and pencils. They can also use technology to research their ideas or gain background knowledge (like, how does a catapult work?), so tablets or laptops are helpful as well.

A good way to get basic supplies without spending a bunch of money is to just ask your students to bring some junk in from home. You can also send a letter to parents asking for donations of simple materials.

Here’s a free done-for-you parent letter that you can use to request supply donations for your STEM challenges.

⏬ Click the image to download.

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Now what are you waiting for? Get out there and start using STEM with your third, fourth, and fifth graders!

Looking to save time with some fully-planned STEM challenges for elementary students? Each of these sets includes 5 exciting challenges centered around an engaging theme. All the planning is done for you and the activities can be completed in collaborative groups or by individual students.