The curricular materials below have been developed by ITEST projects and shared for dissemination to broader audiences through STELAR’s resource library. ITEST projects work with PreK-12 youth in a variety of STEM disciplines and settings. Additional information is included within each entry, including information about the project’s focus and audience, as well as PDFs and/or URLs to the original resource. These materials are made available for public use through the National Science Foundation’s public access policy, which encourages funded projects to share all materials generated over the course of the grant. Unless otherwise noted, these curricular materials are free to use with appropriate credit to the organization/authors.
ASSISTments Assignments
Curricular Materials"Stories of Algebra" is a series or activities in the ASSISTments platform where students pose, solve, and share algebra problems related to their interests. Stories of Algebra created an experience where students receive activities personalized to their career interests (e.g., healthcare, IT), and/or personalized to their everyday interests (e.g., sports, video games). They have created these activities to a wide variety of types of mathematical functions - including linear, exponential, logarithmic, and power - and have targeted their activities to algebraic courses from 8th grade math, to
GIS-Infused CTE Business Course: Mapping My Community
Curricular MaterialsYour mental map is a representation of your own personal geography that you carry around with you and draw on as you make everyday decisions about where to go and how to get there. Everyone’s mental map is different. Mental maps reflect the spatial information we use in our daily lives, like where we know and where we don’t know, and they are influenced by things like personal experiences, transportation, safety, and accessibility.Maps are models of the world around us. Creating a map requires selecting what information is important, filtering out what is not important, and simplifying how
Teacher Training Guide: Problem-based Learning in STEM
Curricular MaterialsProject STEMulate utilizes a Problem-based Learning model and approach to stimulate STEM interest, knowledge and skills of Hawai’i’s high school students. Specifically, providing a STEM curricula that actively engages students in real-world, technology-based problem solving and learning. Project STEMulate seeks to transform the learning experience for high school students to motivate and prepare them for the STEM careers of tomorrow by supporting today’s teachers.Project STEMulate created, implemented, and iterated the design of a Problem-based Learning in STEM Professional Development and
Make Way for Trains! Holding Back Earth Materials
Curricular MaterialsA Community-Connected Elementary Geotechnical Engineering UnitIn the “Make Way for Trains” unit (MWT), students explore key concepts of geotechnical engineering in the context of a train track expansion for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA): as railway corridors are widened, the sloping earth material surrounding the tracks must simultaneously support existing structures and not fall onto the tracks. Developed specifically for the Boston, Massachusetts, context, the unit begins with a look at how MBTA workers employ science and engineering for the geotechnical support for
Teaching Coding in Grades 5-8 with Scratch Encore
Curricular MaterialsOverview: This course prepares learners to teach coding in grades 5-8 with the Scratch Encore curriculum and was designed to be completed over the course of 6 weeks. Each week learners are introduced to a new computer science concept and the Scratch Encore module that teaches that concept. Many coding and debugging scaffolds that have been used and refined in classrooms are introduced.Week 1: Scratch Basics Introduction to the Scratch Encore curriculum, the Scratch programming environment, and the Scratch Basics moduleWeek 2: Events Introduction to the Events module, helpful Scratch skills
Artifacts in Space (Grades 3-5)
Curricular MaterialsArtifacts in spaceEssential Question: How can I increase students’ knowledge about astronauts of color and expose them to careers in aerospace and engineering?Learning Objective: Students will be able to develop listening, reading, and comprehension skills by hearing and reading stories about contemporary astronauts and make a model of a space shuttle. Lesson 1: Astronauts of Color and the Space ShuttleLesson 2: Culturally Relevant Artifacts for Space LaunchLesson 3: Mission Mars
Invasive Species Chutes & Ladder Game
Curricular MaterialsProtect Belle Isle from Invasive Species!Invaders are taking over Belle Isle! We need your help to protect the island from invasive species. In this game learn what you can do to prevent the spread of nature’s enemies. The fate of Belle Isle is up to you!Chutes and Ladders BoardCharacter CardsInstructions
Integrating Computer Science for All with Visual Arts
Curricular MaterialsThe Computational ThinkersWith the permission of Computing at School’s Barefoot initiative (https://barefootcas.org.uk/), we have adopted both the concepts implicated in computational thinking and the approaches most likely to be adopted fruitfully by an individual who is engaged in computational thinking.Computational Thinking (CT) Concepts While adopting the Computing at School’s Barefoot initiative’s concepts and approaches, we have opted to use a different set of icons to associate with each. For each element of the curricular activity system, we designate which of the processes we believe
Dream2B
Curricular MaterialsWhat is a unit fraction? Why is one-half of one-fourth of one whole the same value as one-eighth of the whole? Why can three-fourths of one whole also be expressed as one-fourth of three wholes?These are questions that fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students, including students with learning disabilities and math difficulties, encounter and wonder about. Through our design, development, and testing of a game based curriculum called Dream2B, we hope to support students to develop a deep understanding of fractions.Our curriculum addresses six big ideas that extend across third through sixth
SEBA Curriculum-5E lessons
Curricular MaterialsAirplane EngineeringWhat A Drag!: Presentation, LessonConservation of EnergyPart I: Conservation of Energy: Lesson, Egg Drop ExperimentPART II: Energy Transformations: Presentation, Lesson, Card Sort, EvaluationPART III: Roller Coaster Energy: Lesson, Worksheet, EvaluationDNAPart I: Presentation, Lesson, DNA Bracelet Activity, DNA EvaluationPart II: Lesson, Build a DNA LadderPart III: Presentation, Lesson, Berry Full of DNA - Exploring properties of Strawberry DNA, Berry Full of DNA - Strawberry DNA Extraction, DNA Evaluation, DNA Evaluation KEYElectricityIntroduction: PresentationCircuits