Once upon a time … Students will participate in an active story time with the fairy tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and then apply science, technology, and math skills to solve an engineering challenge that they can do from home with simple materials.

How is a shadow created? Experiment with light sources, shapes and filters to create a variety of shadows that demonstrate light transmission, projection or blocking. Observe how colored filters can be used to manipulate light and add a touch of color within a shadow.

Students become animal investigators as they explore an amazing adaptation that enables animals to survive in the environments that they live in…their ears! Explore the relationship between predator and prey, and how different animal ear shapes influence hearing by designing and testing their own set of animal ears.

Explore the science of sports through a series of interactive activities. Discover the relationship between kinetic and potential energy and why balls bounce as high as they do. Participate in physical activity to test your reaction time and learn how to improve your performance in sports activities.

Delve into the mysteries of color and light to learn about the visible spectrum, color-absorption and reflection. Observe objects under unique monochromatic color filters and discover how colors can be blocked to create secret messages. Investigate a device that utilizes a diffraction grating lens to observe the spectrum of light.

Experiment with various optical illusions and learn how the brain can deceive the eye. Conduct investigations on depth perception and create your own optical illusion toy.

Using an assortment of simple materials, participate in a series of challenges to build and design strong stable structures. Test weight, durability and ability to with- stand extreme environmental conditions and analyze ways to improve on your design.

Explore how animals adapt to their environments. Study, sort and classify the form and func- tion of a variety of mammal skulls. Investigate how to apply these techniques to identify a mysterious skull.

Experiment with various optical illusions and learn how the brain can deceive the eye. Conduct investigations on depth perception, and create an optical illusion toy.

Compare and contrast the structure and function of a human eye with a cow’s eye dissection. Explore how the brain and eyes work together to filter light and create images for your brain to interpret.

Get inspired by gliding animals and your knowledge of forces and motion to design a gliding wing suit out of everyday materials.

STEM Institute courses focus on science content units that demonstrate effective strategies for creating interactive lessons in virtual classrooms and utilize low cost accessible materials for students. Instructors will model a series of hands-on activities that can easily be replicated virtually or in person and methods for engaging students with multiple learning styles. Participants will leave the workshop with a toolbox of strategies and lessons to use in their own practice.

Elementary School Topics

Weather
Astronomy
Interdependence
Energy Transformations
Changes to Landforms

Middle School Topics

Ecosystems
Diversity of Life
Energy and Matter
Forces of Motion

Design challenges can be a powerful and exciting way to engage students in STEM problem solving both in the classroom and at home. In this workshop, educators will participate in two design challenges related to force and motion and then review strategies for creating their very own standards-aligned design lessons using a Design Challenge planning tool.

Explore how the materials in your students' homes can be used for a variety of fun, high quality STEM investigations. In this workshop, participants will engage in standards-aligned, hands-on activities related to light and magnification and discover how the properties of common materials can be leveraged in multiple ways to support learning across the curriculum.