Research and Explore This!

From science fair projects to engineering design and citizen science opportunities, learn about options for engaging students in hands-on, real-world science and engineering. With a particular focus on the Southern Arizona Research, Science, and Engineering Fair, this workshop will prepare educators to engage their students in a variety of STEM competitions and projects.

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum: Who Dung It

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum: Who Dung It

Program for Grades K-5 and Lab for Grades 6-8 Although it may be difficult to see some desert animals, they do leave many clues behind. The challenge is to figure out who left those clues ...
BBC: Who Dung It

BBC: Who Dung It

Can you match the poop with the poopetrator? Paleontologists sometimes find fossilized feces called coprolites. See if you can match a coprolite with the ancient animal that is most likely to have created it ...
Designing Science Inquiry Claim + Evidence + Reasoning = Explanation

Designing Science Inquiry Claim + Evidence + Reasoning = Explanation

Claim + Evidence + Reasoning = Explanation, from Edutopia ...
Envirothon

Envirothon

The NCF-Envirothon is an annual competition for high school-aged students conducted over five consecutive days every summer during July or August. To expose students to diverse environmental issues, ecosystems, and topography the North American Envirothon ...
Exploravision

Exploravision

The ExploraVision competition for K-12 students engages the next generation in real world problem solving with a strong emphasis on STEM. ExploraVision challenges students envision and communicate new technology 20 years in the future through ...
Hollow Flashlight Invented by 14-Year-Old Girl

Hollow Flashlight Invented by 14-Year-Old Girl

Meet Ann Makosinski, a 15-year-old who invented a flashlight powered by thermal energy from her hand - no batteries necessary - EVER! Use this video to introduce your students to a young inventor who won ...
Hypothesis Cubes - Best Nature of Science Lesson of ALL TIME!

Hypothesis Cubes – Best Nature of Science Lesson of ALL TIME!

Hypothesis cubes is the BEST nature of science lesson of all time. Engage students to use evidence to support their claims and then demonstrate the way science works by leaving the "answer" unsettled in the ...
IDC (not IDK) how to turn absolutely anything into a science experiment

IDC (not IDK) How to turn absolutely anything into a science experiment!

Notice something interesting! Wonder how it works? Use this process to turn absolutely anything (well almost) into a science experiment. Learn about independent, dependent, and control variables. Brainstorm independent variables which can be systematically manipulated ...
Nature of Science Lessons

Nature of Science Lessons

In order for evolution, climate change (and many other science topics) to be properly understood as a science, ENSI maintains that a thorough introduction to the real nature of modern science is a necessary prerequisite ...
teachers doing science is... science is not... lesson

Science is… Science is not…

A fantastic lesson about the nature of science. This lesson addresses many misconceptions about science. Adapted from Evolution & the Nature of Science Institutes lesson called Sunsets, Souls, and Senses which is included below. The ...
STEM Competitions

STEM Competitions

An exhaustive but not complete annotated list of STEM competitions ...
photo of a journal made with the STEMAZing hack

STEMAZing Journal Hack

Make graph paper STEMAZing journals that require no staples or tape using an old bookbinding trick ...
Understanding Science: How Science Really Works

Understanding Science: How Science Really Works

A searchable resource library with nature of science lessons ...

Looking for something specific? Type keywords into the search bar to locate resources you could use.