Plans for a Better Tomorrow: Back-to-School STEM Challenges

The new school year is just around the corner. For some, that realization is met with excitement at the possibilities a clean slate offers; for others, the new school year might bring along pangs of anxiety or even sadness. Maybe you're still feeling burned out from last year. How could the summer already be ending?!

Most teachers have probably felt this way heading back to school at least once. For me, discovering STEM challenges reinvigorated my enthusiasm for teaching. There is something so powerful in facilitating challenges and observing your students become resilient, self-reliant problem-solvers that just makes you feel good. (Spoiler alert: that's why my new website is called Feel-Good Teaching. Keep an eye out; it should go live before the end of the summer! This site will redirect there when it's ready.)

Back-to-School STEM / STEAM Challenges are the perfect ice-breaker. Get students engaged in brain-busting work disguised as fun. These challenges work well to introduce and explore Newton's laws of motion and come with modifications for grades 2-8.

Everyone could use more feel-good teaching moments into their classrooms, so why wait? Back-to-school is the perfect time to introduce STEM challenges for so many reasons! (Top 10 Reasons to Start the Year with STEM Challenges)

Here are five STEM challenges you can start with that are perfectly themed for the season. They even use school supplies and apples as the main materials. Plus, they're a great way to introduce and explore Newton's laws of motion!

Here's a quick overview for you:

Music Credit: "Electrodoodle" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

For more information on each challenge, click on the challenge titles below. Each has its own blog page where you can learn more details and watch videos of challenge walk-throughs.