problem solving challenges for middle school

20 STEM Projects That Are Great for Middle School

Krystal DeVille

February 15, 2024

Middle schoolers experience a great time of exploration and learning during these formative years. Explore these middle school STEM projects, designed to enhance STEM education by engaging students in hands-on learning. Pick which ones you want to try first.

Simply click the title of each lesson in the list to get the full lesson plan for these great STEM challenges that align with lessons for middle school science, technology, engineering, and math objectives. Alongside these projects, we also offer a variety of easy STEM challenges that can serve as introductory activities for beginners.

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Table of Contents

STEM Activities for Middle School Students

1.  i breathe what.

Students enhance their problem-solving skills and understanding of the scientific method by exploring air quality through pollen, dust, and particulates using their homemade ‘pollution detectors.’ They will hypothesize what causes the differences and explain why engineers look at the particulate matter when they observe air quality.

2. Design a Bridge

This is a fun way of using simple machines and various materials, students design bridges that can hold 100 pennies for 30 seconds without collapsing, teaching them fundamental principles of physics. Review engineering concepts such as load and force with your classes before they get started. Consider using craft sticks as one of the materials, which are great for learning about weight distribution and structural integrity.

3. Spaghetti Soapbox Derby

In this science experiment, pairs of students design, build, and test model vehicles made from dry pasta and hot glue, with the goal of rolling along a ramp and coasting as far as possible. This STEM activity focuses on using somewhat challenging materials in the best ways possible.

For an added challenge, students can use rubber bands to enhance the propulsion of their pasta vehicles.

4. Trail Planning Using Topographic Quadrangle Maps

This earth science activity first calls for familiarity with US Geological Survey quadrangle maps. Working within set guideline requirements, students then use these maps to design a good route for a new recreational trail.

5. Bikini Bottom Genetics

Students apply an understanding of genetics in an analysis of sea creature genotypes that live in SpongeBob SquarePants’ neighborhood. They predict traits of offspring with the use of Punnett squares.

6. Design a Wristwatch for the Visually Impaired

Help your students review the engineering design process. They will then research, model, test and evaluate wristwatches for individuals with visual impairments as an exercise in applying engineering skills in the areas of bioengineering and biomedical engineering.

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7. Use Your Shoe!

Teachers collect shoe size data from the class. As a group, they use the data to determine the mean, median, and mode. Students then use that information to make inferences about average shoe size and broader populations. This activity provides a review of how to calculate mean, median, and mode, along with methods to make inferences based on the sample.

While this article focuses on middle schoolers, we also recommend fun and educational STEM projects suitable for elementary students .

8. Mission to Mars

Following a storyline, task your students with completing various STEM challenges, including understanding chemical reactions through a Coke and Mentos experiment as part of a Mars emergency. Teamwork, engineering design, and the use of science topics in real life are all addressed.

9. Snack Time!

Using nutritional information labels from various packaged foods, students will organize and describe that info to show the data in a box-and-whisker plot, bar graph, and pie chart. This activity touches on both math and science standards.

10. No Valve in Vain

Teams of students employ the engineering design process to use tape and plastic tubing to create heart valve models. For this activity, the class reviews the engineering design process and the workings of a one-way valve.

For older kids, particularly high school students looking for more advanced challenges, please check out our article, The Best Science Sets for Teens .

11. Marble Speed Traps with Lego Mindstorms

Students review the formula for velocity . Using drag and drop programming, they code the speed traps to measure the distance between the sensors and time it takes the marble to travel between them. They design the course, write the code, convert units, evaluate, and make changes as needed.

12. The Million Dollar Project

Students imagine inheriting and spending 1 million dollars with specific guidelines of how they may use that money. They research on the internet, record all purchases, learn to write checks, and track all their spending, which reinforces various mathematical concepts.

13. Explore the Law of Inertia using a Fidget Spinner

Review the equations for torque and inertia with students. By removing lights (weight) from spinners, they can explore how the amount of time the device will continue spinning is affected by the mass.

14. Backyard Weather Stations

Working in groups, students describe the current weather and predict future conditions by observing cloud formations. They design backyard weather stations that could gather data for actual forecasting. Technologies for forecasting would be explored, along with weather basics.

15. Leaning Tower of Pasta

Review compression and tension in structure stability with your class. Students use math and engineering concepts to design and build structures with long, dry spaghetti and marshmallows, to find which ones can withstand the largest amount of load.

16. Cleaning the Great Lakes

What better way to understand environmental science than by having students use limited materials to discover how to filter pollutants from dirty water? Teachers may use this challenge activity along with earth science units about water pollution or those concerning local lakes.

17. Soil Biosolarization: Sustainable Weed Killer

Serving as agricultural engineers, students explore the effectiveness of this sustainable weed control technique that uses organic waste instead of poisons. By using seed starter pots, they plant “weeds” and test the use of organic matter, like oatmeal, to see if it kills the weeds, assessing the impact of products and systems.

18. Renewable Energy: Power Your School

In pairs, students use real data to assess the possible use of solar or wind power generation at their school. Using science, math, and engineering concepts, they explore the differences between these two methods, use maps for an analysis of potential, and look at factors related to the feasibility of renewable energy at their location.

19. Generate Your Own Ocean Currents!

Encourage critical thinking and understanding of real-world applications as students design and construct ocean models to study wind-driven currents. Through this challenge project, they will explore circulation patterns, the Coriolis effect, and the transfer of heat from the global ocean convection cycle.

20. Scaling Up Candy Wrappers

Students bring in their favorite candy bar wrappers, choose a scale factor (larger than 5), and enlarge their wrappers to that scale in a drawing on grid paper. Scaling up candy wrappers is not just educational, but also a lot of fun, teaching kids about the math concept of scale factor. They can then color and display their finished projects!

21. Rube Goldberg Machines

What is a rube goldberg machine.

A Rube Goldberg machine is a deliberately complex contraption in which a series of devices perform simple tasks linked together to produce a domino effect, ultimately accomplishing a simple goal in a highly complex manner. Named after the American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, these machines are fantastic tools for teaching students about physics, engineering, and critical thinking.

Why Include Rube Goldberg Machines in Middle School STEM?

• Encourages Creative Thinking : Building these machines requires students to think outside the box and use their imagination to solve problems.
• Teaches Basic Physics Principles : Concepts like energy transfer, motion, and simple machines come to life in a Rube Goldberg project.
• Enhances Teamwork and Collaboration : Students often work in teams, learning to communicate and collaborate to design and build their machines.
• Develops Problem-Solving Skills : Students learn to troubleshoot and iterate, key skills in any STEM field.

Implementing Rube Goldberg Machine Projects

• Introduce the Concept : Start with a brief history of Rube Goldberg and show examples of Rube Goldberg machines, either through videos or illustrations.
• Define the Project Scope : Set clear goals and parameters. For example, each machine must have a minimum number of steps or complete a specific task.
• Materials : Encourage creativity by allowing a wide range of materials, from household items to recycled materials.
• Documentation : Have students document their design process, challenges, and solutions. This can be in the form of a journal, video, or presentation.
• Presentation and Reflection : Allow students to present their machines to the class. Encourage them to discuss what they learned and how they overcame obstacles.

22. Egg Drop Challenge

What is the Egg Drop Challenge? An engaging physics experiment for middle schoolers, the Egg Drop Challenge involves designing a device to protect a raw egg from breaking when dropped from a height. It’s an excellent way for students to apply concepts of gravity, impact force, and material properties.

Why It’s Beneficial:

• Encourages creative problem-solving.
• Demonstrates physics principles like momentum and shock absorption.
• Promotes teamwork and collaborative skills.

Implementing the Challenge:

• Materials: Offer materials like straws, balloons, and craft sticks.
• Design and Build: Students design and construct their egg-protecting devices.
• The Drop: Test the devices by dropping eggs from a set height.
• Analysis: Discuss the outcomes, focusing on physics concepts and design strategies.

Curriculum Alignment: This challenge complements the middle school physics curriculum, applying theoretical concepts practically.

23. The Index Card Tower Challenge

What is the Index Card Tower Challenge? The Index Card Tower Challenge is a straightforward yet engaging activity that introduces students to basic principles of physical science and engineering. Using only index cards, students are challenged to build the tallest possible tower. This activity is the best way to demonstrate concepts like balance, gravity, and kinetic energy, making it perfect for kids of all ages, including younger kids.

Why It’s Essential in STEM Curriculum:

• Introduces Physical Science Concepts: Focuses on basic principles like stability and kinetic energy.
• Encourages Creative Problem-Solving: Challenges students to think innovatively using simple materials.
• Accessible to All Ages: Easily adaptable for different age groups, making it suitable for both younger kids and older students.
• Prepares for Future Careers: Develops foundational skills useful in various STEM fields.
• Materials: Provide students with a stack of index cards.
• Build the Tower: Students experiment with different construction techniques to build their towers.
• Discussion on Physical Science: After the activity, discuss how forces like gravity and kinetic energy influenced their designs.
• Real-World Connection: Relate the activity to real-world structures and engineering challenges.

How It Fits Into STEM Courses: The Index Card Tower Challenge is a versatile activity that can be integrated into various STEM courses. It encourages students to apply scientific principles and think critically about engineering challenges, making it a valuable addition to any STEM curriculum.

How To Make The Most Of These Fun STEM Activities for Middle School Students

Whether in STEM labs, at home, or in the classroom, engaging students with discussion questions throughout these hands-on activities is vital.

To connect with students’ interests, some of these STEM activities offer different ways, including the design or analysis of simple video games, blending technology with creativity.

We rounded up these projects specifically because they align with learning objectives and lessons for 6th to 8th-grade students. Ask how this applies to what they’re currently learning in class? What did the project demonstrate?

Let us know in the comments what your favorite Middle School STEM projects! We’d love to hear them.

2 thoughts on “20 STEM Projects That Are Great for Middle School”

I taught bridge building to sixth grade students. The only thing I taught them was information and diagrams about trusses. They had to take notes for their own use during construction. Gave them the materials, formed groups and gave them them help without interfering with their own ideas. The amount of enthusiasm I have seldom seen in middle school. They were so excited they told their other teachers about the project. The bridges were beautiful and so strong. It was great to see the application of the trusses! I am all for STEM activities!

These are some great activities thanks for sharing and I’ll use them at my school.

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50 Best STEM Projects for Middle School Kids

Science Activities for Middle Schoolers

Technology activities for middle schoolers, engineering activities for middle schoolers, math activities for middle schoolers.

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STEM projects for middle school are an excellent way to engage young minds and spark their curiosity in science, technology, engineering, and math. Research supports that STEM activities positively impact the scientific creativity of middle school students. These exercises give students an enjoyable learning experience and promote critical thinking and problem-solving abilities .

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Additionally, middle school STEM programs help foster interest in these subjects, develop skills, improve future job prospects, encourage creativity and innovation, and promote diversity and inclusivity. However, before delving into the exciting projects, it’s essential to understand why STEM programs in middle school are crucial for a student’s academic journey.

5 Essentials Of Middle School STEM Programs

In the modern work market, STEM education has increased. Students in middle school are at a pivotal point in their development, and exposure to STEM education can greatly impact how they grow academically and professionally. The following justifies the necessity of STEM programs in middle schools.

1. Fostering Interest in STEM

Middle school STEM programs offer an interactive and immersive approach to STEM education by providing hands-on opportunities for students to engage in projects and experiments, which can lead to deeper comprehension and enthusiasm for these subjects. The Journal of Pedagogical Research suggests that a STEM-focused learning environment can positively influence academic achievement in science. Moreover, STEM education provides students with practical applications of these topics in the real world, which fosters a heightened curiosity and drive for learning. 

2. Developing Critical Thinking Skills

Problem-solving and critical thinking abilities are emphasized in STEM education. Students’ minds are still developing throughout middle school. Thus, STEM education can aid in the development of the abilities necessary for success in the real world. 

3. Improving Future Job Prospects

Middle school STEM education can provide students with the essential abilities and skills necessary to pursue high-paying professions in the rapidly-growing STEM sectors of the contemporary economy. 

4. Encouraging Creativity and Innovation

Middle school STEM programs have been known to be a catalyst for fostering creativity and innovation among students. This is because these programs equip students with the necessary skills to design, build, and test their projects, which can be quite perplexing. By undertaking middle school STEM programs, children can develop the courage and aptitude to take risks, think outside the box, and solve problems in novel and unexpected ways.

5. Promoting Diversity and Inclusivity

The benefits of STEM education extend beyond just individual development, as it can also promote diversity and inclusivity among students. Regardless of background, all students have equal opportunities to learn and succeed in STEM. By introducing students to a wide range of STEM occupations and showcasing the achievements of underrepresented groups in these industries, middle school STEM programs can inspire kids from diverse backgrounds to pursue their interests in these disciplines.

What Does STEM Education for Middle Schoolers Look Like?

Middle school STEM education is a way of teaching that focuses on science, technology, engineering, and math. It’s exciting and interactive, aiming to help students become skilled in these subjects. The main goal is to give students the knowledge and abilities they need to handle the many challenges of our ever-changing technology-driven world.

“STEM education is not just about learning scientific concepts and principles; it’s about developing critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills that will benefit students throughout their lives.” – Arne Duncan, former U.S. Secretary of Education.

Students are introduced to the fundamentals of STEM disciplines in middle school through practical, project-based learning . They investigate the scientific method, study the fundamentals of engineering and design, and become aware of the wonders of math and technology.

Middle schoolers can develop critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and creativity through STEM education. Research suggest that STEM activities effectively develop positive views toward interdisciplinary education and 21st-century skills such as creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and problem-solving. By engaging in STEM activities , students can also improve their science process skills, STEM career interests, motivation, and views about STEM education. 

50 Best STEM Activities for Middle School Kids

Engaging in STEM activities for middle school kids, students can gain valuable skills and knowledge that will assist them in success in high school, college, and beyond. So, without further ado, let’s explore these best STEM activities for kids!

“STEM learning is vital for the future success of our students and our country. By engaging students in hands-on projects and encouraging their curiosity, we can inspire the next generation of innovators.” – Mae Jemison, former NASA astronaut and founder of the Jemison Group.

Science is essential to STEM education and can be incredibly engaging and exciting for middle schoolers. Here are some science-related STEM activities for middle school kids that can inspire young minds to discover the world around them.

• Chemical Reactions: Mix baking soda and vinegar to observe the fizzy reaction. Try other combinations like lemon juice and baking soda.
• Solar Oven: Cut a flap in a cardboard box and line it with foil. Place food inside and keep it in the sun to cook.
• Egg Drop Challenge: Gather materials like straws, paper, and tape. Create a protective structure around an egg and drop it from a height.
• Rock Candy Experiment: Dissolve sugar in hot water and grow crystals on a string suspended in the solution.
• Volcano Eruption:  Build a clay volcano around a small bottle. Mix baking soda and vinegar inside the bottle for an eruption.

• Hovercraft: Glue a balloon to a CD, then inflate the balloon and place the CD on a smooth surface to create a hovercraft.
• Slime Making: Mix glue, water, and borax solution to create slime. Explore different ratios for varying consistencies.
• Bottle Rocket Launch: Fill a plastic bottle partially with water, then quickly attach a cork and pump air inside to launch the rocket.
• Sundial Crafting: Place a stick vertically in the ground, and mark the shadow cast by the sun at different times of the day.
• Plant Growth Study:  Plant seeds in pots with varying amounts of sunlight, water, and soil to observe their growth over time.

• Static Electricity: Rub balloons against clothing to create static charge. Test its effect on objects like paper and hair.
• Dissecting Owl Pellets: Purchase owl pellets and use tweezers to carefully dissect them, identifying the bones of small animals.
• Microscope Adventures:  Collect samples from ponds or leaves, place them on slides, and observe under a microscope to discover tiny organisms.

Now that we’ve explored some exciting science-related STEM ideas for middle school kids, let’s look at engaging technology activities to help students develop important coding, programing and digital literacy skills.

Technology activities for middle schoolers are designed to introduce students to coding, programing, and digital design basics. These hands-on activities are a great way to build technical skills while fostering creativity and innovation. Here are a few technology-related STEM activities for middle school kids.

• Coding Basics: Use online platforms like Scratch or Code.org to start learning coding concepts through interactive tutorials and projects.
• Robotics Challenge:  Provide robot kits with instructions and coding software. Students follow the instructions to assemble the robot and write code to make it perform tasks.

• App Design: Utilize app development tools or platforms like MIT App Inventor to design and prototype mobile apps. Students can create simple apps and explore different features.
• 3D Printing: Teach students how to use 3D modeling software to design objects. Then, print the designs using a 3D printer.
• Website Creation: Introduce HTML and CSS coding languages to build a basic website. Students can experiment with customizing their site.
• Video Game Design: Use game development software like GameMaker or Unity to design and create simple video games with characters, levels, and gameplay.
• Augmented Reality (AR) Exploration:  Explore AR technology using AR apps or platforms. Students can create interactive experiences by overlaying virtual objects on the real world.

• Green Screen Projects: Provide a green screen and video editing software. Students can record themselves against the green screen and use the software to replace the background with any image or video.
• Electronic Circuits: Use a circuit kit with components like LEDs, resistors, and wires. Students follow diagrams to build circuits and learn about electronics.
• Digital Storytelling: Use digital tools like PowerPoint or video editing software to create multimedia stories with text, images, and audio narration.
• Internet Research Challenge: Assign specific research topics, and guide students on using search engines and reputable websites to find relevant information.
• Cybersecurity Awareness: Conduct discussions and workshops on online safety, creating strong passwords, and protecting personal information from online threats.
• Virtual Field Trips: Utilize virtual reality headsets or online platforms with virtual tours to take students on immersive journeys to museums, historical sites, or outer space.

Now that we’ve explored some exciting technology-related STEM projects for middle school kids, let’s shift our focus to engineering. These activities are designed to introduce students to engineering and design principles and provide hands-on opportunities to create and build.

Engineering activities are a great way for middle schoolers to explore design principles, problem-solving, and creativity. These activities help develop important skills that benefit students in all aspects of life. Here are a few engineering-related STEM projects for middle school kids that are both fun and educational.

• Popsicle Stick Bridges: Provide popsicle sticks and glue. Instruct students to design and build bridges using the sticks, aiming to make them sturdy enough to hold weight.
• Hydraulic Lifts: Provide syringes, plastic tubes, and water. Students build a hydraulic lift system using syringes and water to lift objects.
• Spaghetti Towers: Offer uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows as building materials. Challenge students to construct tall and stable towers using the two items.
• Water Filtration:  Teach students about water filtration concepts. Provide various materials like sand, gravel, and cotton balls for them to build their filtration systems and test their effectiveness.

• Egg Parachute Drop: Provide materials like plastic bags, strings, and cushioning materials. Have students construct a parachute to safely drop an egg from a height.
• Catapult Challenge: Gather materials like popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and plastic spoons. Instruct students to build a working catapult and launch small objects towards targets.
• Mini Wind Turbines: Provide students with materials like cardboard, straws, and small motors. Guide them in creating miniature wind turbines to generate electricity from wind energy.
• Simple Machines Exploration: Set up stations with different simple machines like pulleys, levers, and inclined planes. Allow students to experiment and learn how these machines work.
• Sustainable Building Designs: Introduce sustainable building practices to students. Let them design and sketch eco-friendly and energy-efficient buildings or houses on paper.
• Bristlebot Robots: Provide toothbrush heads, small vibrating motors, and batteries. Show students how to assemble these components into tiny robots called Bristlebots that move around.
• DIY Waterwheel: Provide materials like popsicle sticks, cups, and a small water source. Students design and build a waterwheel to harness water energy.

While engineering activities focus on design and problem-solving, math activities for middle schoolers aim to build a strong foundation in mathematical concepts and practical applications. Let’s look at some engaging and hands-on math activities that middle schoolers can enjoy and learn from.

Middle school math activities are made to help kids develop a solid mathematical foundation while also exposing them to real-world applications of mathematics. Through these exercises, students can improve their ability to think logically, solve problems, and appreciate the beauty of mathematics. A few math projects and activities are listed below for middle school students to try out.

• Math Scavenger Hunt: Create a list of math-related items or problems for students to find and solve around the school or outdoors.
• Fraction Pizza: Use construction paper to create “pizza slices,” and have students color in fractions to represent different toppings.
• Math Board Games:  Introduce math-based board games like “Math Bingo” or “Math Jeopardy” to reinforce skills in a fun way.

• Math Art: Have students create geometric art using shapes, angles, and symmetry.
• Math Puzzles: Provide various math puzzles like Sudoku, logic puzzles, or tangrams to challenge problem-solving abilities.
• Real-World Budgeting: Assign students a hypothetical budgeting project to plan for expenses like groceries, entertainment, and savings.
• Data Analysis with Graphs: Present students with real data sets and guide them in creating different types of graphs to analyze the information.
• Math Escape Room: Design a math-themed escape room with puzzles and problems that students must solve to “escape.”
• Geometry Construction: Teach students how to use a compass and straightedge to construct geometric shapes and angles.
• Math Relay Race:  Divide students into teams and create a relay race with math problems they must solve to pass the baton.

• Mathematical Storytelling: Have students write stories or scenarios that involve math concepts and solve problems within the narrative.
• Measurement Olympics: Set up a measurement-based competition, like seeing who can estimate and measure the length of various objects most accurately.
• Math in Nature: Take students outside to explore the environment and find examples of math concepts like patterns , symmetry, and angles in nature.

Engaging in hands-on learning through math activities and projects can help middle school students develop a deep understanding and appreciation for mathematics. Having explored a variety of fun STEM activities for middle school, it’s worth considering how we can integrate STEM learning into other aspects of a student’s daily experience, including during recess or on the playground.

4 Ways To Integrate STEM Activities Into Middle School Playgrounds

Middle school is a pivotal developmental period for students, marked by a strong desire for knowledge acquisition and exploration. In this phase, students indulge in both physical activity and cognitive stimulation, and incorporating STEM projects for middle school can substantially enhance their educational experience. Thus, it is imperative to investigate why STEM activities should be included in the middle school playground, and one promising answer is through interactive learning stations.

1. Interactive Learning Stations

These learning stations offer a unique opportunity for students to learn while simultaneously enjoying themselves via experiential education. Specifically, students can engage in hands-on activities such as building miniature wind turbines or constructing solar-powered vehicles, which can enhance their problem-solving skills and deepen their understanding of STEM concepts.

2. Outdoor Laboratories

Students may conduct experiments and gather data in outdoor laboratories because they are situated in a natural setting. Weather stations, gardens, and animal habitats can all be included as part of these laboratories. Kids can develop a passion for science and receive real-world experience by participating in these events.

3. Technology Enhanced Playgrounds

The utilization of technology-enhanced playgrounds represents a novel opportunity to combine fitness and STEM activities, thereby improving student engagement in the form of augmented reality activities, interactive displays, and sensory tools. The resultant learning experience is distinctive and enriching. By integrating technology into gardening , students can augment their digital literacy in a enjoyable and educationally valuable manner.

4. Innovative Equipment

Innovative tools can be utilized to design fun STEM projects for middle school that pushes kids to think creatively. Programable robots, 3D printers, and virtual reality headsets are a few examples of this equipment. With the use of this equipment, kids can enhance their creativity and problem-solving abilities while learning more about STEM principles.

The academic achievement, physical health, and general well-being of children can all be dramatically impacted by including STEM activities in middle school playgrounds. By giving children the chance to participate in practical STEM activities, we can help them acquire crucial abilities that will set them up for future success.

Middle school completion is an indispensable prerequisite for reinforcing students’ aptitude and mastery in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). STEM challenges for middle school students are boundless and varied. We must encourage them to face challenges and in order to ensure that students are equipped for future prosperity, we must proffer them with diverting, interactive, and engaging STEM-related activities. Integration of STEM education within the middle school curricula can be accomplished through various methods such as interactive learning stations, avant-garde tools, and outdoor laboratories.

By providing middle schoolers with the best STEM activities, we can encourage and kindle their passion, empowering them to create a better future. Let us, therefore, take the initiative and encourage our schools to allocate sufficient funding toward STEM education. This will help our children realize their full potential and have a transformative impact on the world.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Can middle school stem instruction aid pupils with learning disabilities.

STEM instruction can be modified to meet the needs of children with varying learning preferences and aptitudes. All pupils can benefit from the promotion of problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities.

At what age can you start STEM?

STEM education can start as early as preschool and continues through elementary, middle, and high school. Introducing STEM concepts early helps foster curiosity and lays the foundation for future learning and exploration in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Does incorporating STEM activities into middle school playgrounds come with any risks?

When incorporating STEM activities into playgrounds, safety should always come first. It’s critical to correctly identify risks, train staff members and teachers, and maintain equipment.

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• STEM By Design / Teacher Preparation

Real-World STEM Problems

by Anne Jolly · Published 12/16/2012 · Updated 10/27/2021

A MiddleWeb Blog

Links checked and updated January 2019. See Anne’s recent posts for more real-world STEM.

STEM teachers pose problems and combine problem solving with project-based learning across disciplines. They work together with students on activities to develop students’ critical thinking, communication, assessment, and inquiry skills.

That’s an impressive job description; however, one source describes the teacher preparation system for STEM teachers as “chaotic, incoherent, and uncoordinated, filled with ‘excellent programs, terrible programs, and many in between.’” That’s not surprising, since the STEM acronym has only been around for a few years. But it certainly needs to improve.

What Good STEM Lessons Do

While things seem a bit muddled on the STEM teacher preparation front, we do know some things about STEM curriculum. We know, for example, that a good STEM lesson accomplishes these things:

• Helps students apply math and science through authentic, hands-on learning
• Includes the use of (or creation of) technology
• Involves students in using an engineering design process
• Engages students in working in collaborative teams
• Appeals equally to girls and boys
• Reinforces relevant math and science standards
• Addresses a real-world problem

Providing students with real-world problems and asking them to brainstorm solutions will bring their higher order thinking skills into play. But for me, identifying real-world problems that students can solve is one of the hardest parts of creating STEM lessons.

They have to be problems that students can reasonably grapple with. And those all-important problems may need to synchronize with a specific set of math and/or science standards from the school system’s pacing guide. Hopefully you don’t have that constraint, but realistically you probably do.

Sites for Real-World Problems

I’ve located some sites that help me come up with real-world problems, and I’m always on the look-out for more. I’m going to share several sites I’ve identified, and I hope that you’ll share some as well. I invite you to click on these sites and mull over the possibilities.

In the Greening STEM section on this site you’ll find ideas for relevant problems. Most environmental topics can fit under standards for either life or physical science, so these may provide you with some real “kid-catchers,” or ideas that snag students’ interest.

Topics include areas such as:

•    Oil spills •    Water pollution •    Air quality •    Endangered species •    Environmental Health

Another favorite site of mine is the Design Squad Nation . They have some real-world problems there that I find intriguing. For example student teams might invent these:

•    Band Instrument •    Electric Gamebox •    Confetti Launcher •    Solar Water Heater •    Speedy Shelter

How cool are those ideas? As a middle school science teacher, I found STEM to be a natural fit for most of the topics I taught. Math, however, seems to be a different matter.

The Problem with Math

One issue I hear repeatedly is that math teachers find it difficult to identify real-world problems and implement STEM projects in math classes. (Note that these math teachers are not able to work collaboratively with science teachers to develop/implement lessons, and must therefore “go-it-alone.”) However, the math teachers who mentioned this are looking determinedly for ways to implement STEM lessons.

The Common Core Standards state: “Mathematically proficient students can apply the mathematics they know to solve problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace.” This adds urgency to the search for real-world problems that bring in appropriate math standards.

Math standards addressed by the lessons on this site include these and more:

•    Fractions, decimals, percents •    Ratios and proportions •    Estimating and predicting •    Rates and unit rate •    Modeling problems with graphs, tables, and equations •    Comparing, graphing, and interpreting data •    Scale factors •    Geometry and measurement •    Probability •    Proportional reasoning

Another site that links math to real problems is Middle School Math and Science . Students solve problems involving train races, global sun temperature, amount of water usage, and so on. Most of these are Internet-based, so you may want to design some of them as hands-on projects for students. (UPDATE: This Ohio State University site is now an archive, but you’ll still find plenty of useful resources.)

Teach Engineering

No list of real-world problem ideas would be complete without mentioning the Teach Engineering lessons. As you peruse these, read the summary of the lessons rather than relying on the titles. Look for projects that include hands-on ideas, such as those involving microbes, rocket-powered boats, solid fuel reactants, the fisheries bycatch problem , and so on. Notice that many of the lessons have hands-on “Associated Activities.” These generally hands-on investigations bring the “E” in STEM to your students.

I hope these sites will be of value to you, and will assist you in brainstorming ideas for real-world problems. Feel free to share comments or sites of your own. We’re inventing a new specialty and need all the help we can get and share!

For even more STEM lesson ideas, read Anne’s 2018 posts:

How to Make or Find Good STEM Lessons and Design Squad Global’s Super STEM Resources

and her 2020 post:

Need a Real World STEM Project? Try Plastics Pollution

You’ll also find teaching ideas at Anne’s STEM by Design website

Click & use code MWEB1 for 20% off!

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Tags: STEM curriculum STEM real-world problems STEM teacher preparation teaching STEM

Anne Jolly began her career as a lab scientist, caught the science teaching bug and was recognized as an Alabama Teacher of the Year during her long career as a middle grades science teacher. From 2007-2014 Anne was part of an NSF-funded team that developed middle grades STEM curriculum modules and teacher PD. In 2020-2021 Anne teamed with Flight Works Alabama to develop a workforce-friendly middle school curriculum and is now working on an elementary version. Her book STEM By Design: Strategies & Activities for Grades 4-8 is published by Routledge/EOE in partnership with MiddleWeb.

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Hello Anne. As a new STEM coordinator, I have to give a STEM presentation to principals for my charter schools. Can you suggest and lessons, books. power points,etc. that would be advantageous? Fondly, Linda Schwerer Pinellas Academy of Math & Science

Hi, Linda – I have a couple of ideas . . . If you contact Susan Pruet – Director if Engaging Youth through Engineering (you can google it) she will send you a copy of a free STEM launcher. It’s a lesson intended to demonstrate the STEM process. You could lead your principals through it if you think they really need a better understanding of the difference in STEM and science experimentation. You could also distribute it to your schools for teachers to use as a launcher into the STEM way of thinking. It has PowerPoint slides with it.

An online document that you might like to look at is “STEM Teachers in Professional Learning Communities: From Good Teachers to Great Teaching.” You can google this document online as well as a National Academies Press document titled “Successful K-12 STEM Education: Identifying Effective Approaches in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.”

I’m not sure if you’re trying to introduce these principals to the idea of STEM and convince them that they need to do this, or if you’re trying to show your principals how to do this. Those are two separate presentations – at least.

Good luck with your preparation! You have a lot of research to back up the need for STEM!

Thank you so much Anne! I will get to work! Your advice is very helpful!

I realize this comment is 3 years old, but I came across it just now. I would like to know if Susan Pruet is still available to get that free STEM launcher you mentioned – a lesson intended to demo the STEM process. I would love this.

Harry – thanks for asking. This is still a popular post at MiddleWeb! Anne Jolly’s January 2017 blog post shares the Launcher activity: Launch the New Year with STEM Mini-Lessons!

Thank you! Much appreciated from a fellow Alabaman. (correct use of that word? :) )

I love the STEM idea. But, as a 7th grade math teacher, I don’t see a place in STEM programs to ensure that students understand the basic math skills required by educational standards. For many kids, it takes a long time to understand and be able to apply math concepts. With STEM programming focusing on the project-based approach, where does mastering basic skills fit in?

Mastering math skills and applying them through STEM isn’t actually an either-or situation. If kids see reasons for what they are learning, they tend to learn more deeply and quickly because they are actually engaged in the content. I’ve worked with STEM courses that made use of math that the kids had already learned. I’ve also worked with STEM projects that taught the math kids needed in order to solve the problem. Both were effective. The real purpose of STEM is to ensure that math and science students learn their content more deeply. If that isn’t working, then we’ll need to keep adjusting until we get there. Thanks for asking!

Hi Ann, I am a third grade teacher and currently co-chair a curriculum committee to develop a summer program for Kindergarten through 3rd grade. I am having trouble finding age appropriate STEM lessons for kindergarten through 3rd grade. Do you have ideas or suggestiosn as to where I can start? Thank you.

Hi, Mary! So glad you’re working on developing a summer program. I know someone who’s been there, done that, and I’m going to put you in touch with her. Her name is Susan Pruet and her email is [email protected] . Please shoot her an email and she’ll be happy to tell you about what materials, etc. she uses.

I’d also take a look at the Engineering is Elementary (EiE) curriculum from the Boston Museum of Science. Those are quite thorough and good.

Hi Ann I am a seventh grade science teacher and we are in the early stages of implementing STEMS at our school site.Can this program incorporate all content areas, history, language arts, math and science all in the science classroom? This is not my understanding of how it should be taught. I understand the math and science but to include what the history and language art teacher is teaching doesnt seem to work. I am hoping you can clarify this for me.

Hi, Darren. Wow. You’re gonna be sorry you asked me this . . . my answer won’t be short!

For me personally, STEM includes an indepth, integrated focus on science and math, and on using the engineering design process to solve real-world problems. Technology may be used to help with the solution, or teams of kids may create technology as part of the solution. (Anything made by humans to meet a want or need is designated as technology). This in-depth focus on science and math through STEM has come about as the result of a 21st Century workforce with an increasing need in STEM fields and a lack of STEM-prepared workers. The math and science deficits are sending our industries abroad to find workers qualified for our 21st century workforce.

Now to your question. I see a place for art in the STEM product design – it could be used to make the product teams produce more appealing and desirable – although that may be for the art teacher to work with if it’s going to involve knowing art design principles.

Likewise, you have to use some form of language arts in the communication process (communication is part of the engineering design process); however, it’s used naturally as teams work together to solve the engineering (STEM) challenge and to publicize their solutions. It’s not used try to accomplish specific language arts objectives.

History might be incorporated if you need to set some sort of context for the engineering challenge. But I can’t visualize incorporating specific history objectives during a STEM challenge unless they happen to be a natural fit. And unless you need a historical context for the challenge.

Doing a “force fit” with other subjects doesn’t make much sense to me. Not to mention – class time is already at a premium. STEM work, with its inquiry-based approach, already requires more time than a traditional science (or math) class.

The fact that all subjects are not taught directly in an engineering challenge doesn’t lessen the value of those other subjects. Again – it goes back to the need we’re attempting to meet by going deeper in math and science content through an engineering process.

So for me, in a STEM project students focus on using science and math to solve real world challenges, and they use the engineering design process to bring structure and process to doing that. Language arts and history are always appropriate to the extent that (and if) they add value to the STEM challenge. They shouldn’t be add-ons just for the sake of adding them on.

Remember, however, that there is an intense focus on the science and mathematics objectives in a solid STEM program. And this works best when these two subjects are integrated and the math and science teachers work together on teaching STEM projects.

Now, aren’t you sorry you asked? Seriously – remember this is MY opinion and STEM has other looks as well. I’d advise you to listen openly to the need for including other subjects as explained by your principal or other decision-maker. Then – rather than pushing back – in a positive manner explain how these subjects could fit naturally during the course of the STEM projects. Also explain what you expect to accomplish for your students through STEM and note the limited time you already have. Let me know how it goes. :-)

I am looking for STEM lessons that I can incorporate in my middle school Math Enrichment program which is for advanced math students in grades 6-8 and meets for approximately 10 weeks during the school year. I have been given the charge of creating a Math/STEM enrichment program/curriculum and am looking for resources to help. Currently, our school is implementing STEM curriculum/projects in the Science classrooms, but I need to find more of a mathematical slant. Thanks for your help…..I am so glad I found this website!

Hi, Sharon,

Math is one of the under-resourced areas in terms of lessons that apply real, grade-level math. I’ve seen so many lessons that ask students to “find the average” (my math teachers say it should be “find the median”), and then the writer feels that math has been sufficiently covered. NOT! Some areas of math that I’ve seen successfully developed into STEM lessons include applying what middle school students have learned about flow rate, unit rate, scaling and proportion, and statistics, to name a few.

Susan Pruet – a real math guru – will be writing a post for this blog in August. She’s going to address how math teachers can be STEM teachers, and will give some examples.

Some of the better math lessons I’ve found and adapted are from the Design Squad. This one – making cardboard furniture ( http://pbskids.org/designsquad/build/paper-table/ )- uses geometry. Try browsing around there for ideas. The Design Squad site also has links to other sites as well.

I’m SO glad that you, a math teacher, are taking on this task. Applying math will eliminate forever kids asking “Why should I learn this?”

Keep us posted, and stay in touch.

Thanks for your reply. I will be looking for the post in August and I will look at the Design Squad site as well. I too feel that Math takes a back seat to Science when STEM programs are created and implemented. I hope to change that! I will keep in touch and again, I appreciate your reply and support!!

You are providing amazing resources – thank you! I am starting a STEM program for all 6th, 7th and 8th grade students in our middle school. They will have STEM on three consecutive days (3 – 45 minute blocks) for 12 weeks. This will be a very exciting introductory year for us! My challenge is to design the curriculum this summer, though. I am searching for any type of “canned” curriculum to purchase as a start and then to develop from there. Can you provide any suggestions? Thanks so much!

I, too, have been given the charge of STEM curriculum writing for grades 6-8 in mathematics during the summer. If I find anything useful, I could let you know. It is a daunting task!!

Hi Sharon, Yes that would be excellent, and I will do the same! Nancy

I found a great resource for STEM projects on TeachersPayTeachers.com It is: 21st Century Math Projects. The emphasis is on Math, but STEM oriented. Check it out!

I checked it out, too, Sharon . . . I can’t see to what extent it mirrors STEM lessons, but it certainly seems to do so from what I read. And I love the fact that it’s written from a math perspective. Thanks for pointing out this resource!

Wow. What a feat to accomplish over the summer, Nancy!

Several “For purchase” STEM packages are out there, but I can’t recommend any in particular because I don’t know enough about them. You want your STEM program to integrate math, science, and technology, and to follow an engineering design process. (It’s the engineering piece that many would-be STEM curricula leave out.)

I’ll put out the feelers and see if any show up on the horizon. Check my Twitter feed at @ajollygal – I may get some responses there.

Thanks so much, Anne! I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment, but simultaneously excited about bringing STEM to our school! I appreciate any help or guidance – I will check twitter as well.

I am a parent of a 3rd grader who has been given the task of doing a stem project, and I have no idea how to help her, or what I am looking to do. I do not understand what this curriculum is. Can you please explain to me what I’m supposed to be doing with her

STEM curriculum helps kids apply the science and math they learn in a real world situations. Parents can help a lot with the STEM skills kids need. Here are some posts that contain information I wrote mostly for parents. See if these can give you the information you’re looking for. http://www.middleweb.com/3569/10-stem-tips-for-parents/ http://www.middleweb.com/15579/ideas-activities-stem-summer-slide/ http://www.middleweb.com/22787/reinvent-summer-learning-make-it-up/

Thanks for your question, and for looking for ways to help your daughter in STEM!

please suggest me some hands on activity on maths for 10-15 yrs of age

I am a technology teacher for grades 3-5. I am looking for STEM problems my students can do on the computer. Any ideas?

Thanks for the information on applying STEM. I am actually a spatial ecologist that is teaching gr7-9 mathematics at a small school in South Africa. I feel that we came up with a brilliant idea of how to combine Math and STEM (for those Math teachers that were uncertain). I combined our focus on insects (biology) for the term with all the data chapters (collect, organise, summarise, interpret and report). The learners were tasked with creating a question that we wanted to answer regarding insects and using the data cycle/scientific method (above) to develop a plan how to answer this question. The learners decided to do a survey of insects at the school. They set up a plan of how to collect the insects, did so and then analysed the data and reported their findings. They had to include a section on possible errors/bias in their data. I admit that this is one of the easier sections in math to incorporate into a STEM-type approach but I provide it as an example. The kids loved it!

Thank you so much, Marie! Integrating math and science fits naturally in your example. I appreciate your sharing your idea here, and I wonder if you’d allow me to share it on my website – http://www.stem-by-design.com/ .

You are more than welcome to share it. I think often we are unaware of how what we are doing can be related to STEM/is STEM! (Pls leave my e-mail address anonymous). Thank you Marie

Hello, I work in the scholastic department of a wastewater treatment plant. We provide hands on STEM outreach to schools and community. We are preparing for our second year STEM camp for high school students. Last year we partnered with a local university and focused on microbiology and chemistry. This year we are looking for some additional engaging ideas to incorporate into our 5 day camp. Are there any recommendations that you can provide? Thank you

Hi Ron, I am going to be teaching a Medical Microbiology class this fall. I would love to know how you focused on microbiology and what lessons you may have used. The University of Texas has potential to help us. What university department did you work with? Thanks for any help you can give me.

Hi Ann I am a STEM instructor, using lego materials as hands on instruction materials,how do I make my class more interesting and innovative. I need ideas on how to make my class a real world problem solving session,please your kind recommendations. Thank you

Try this idea . . . your kids should have a real reason for building whatever it is they make with the Legos (or any other materials). Suppose they are studying the human body in science. They could use the Legos to construct a prototype of something to solve a problem – perhaps a model of a miniature artificial arm or leg that would help a disabled person, If the kids have a reason for making something and the freedom to come up with their own designs, this often stimulates interest and innovation.

I am looking or some STEAM projects for 4-5th graders to work on in relation to Earth Day. Does anyone have any suggestions? We are just starting to implement these into our classes at school which ranges from Prek-8 so suggestions for any grade level are welcome and I will pass them on.

Thank you for all of your valuable STEM resources! I’ve enjoyed reading/researching through your site!

I am new to teaching a middle school 9-week STEM class for 6th graders. As of right now, my curriculum/materials consist of a canned STEM program that has zero depth.

I’ve been tasked with overhauling the class – developing a true STEM curriculum. Do you know of any middle school models I could research?

I’d appreciate any help.

Hi, Sarah, Take a look at this STEM launcher on my website at http://www.stem-by-design.com/use-mini-lessons-to-launch-stem-projects/ . It will help your kids get engaged with the “E” in STEM. It’s written for use in math+science classes, but it would be simple to modify and use with your kids. I have two more launchers I can send you if you like this one.

Another idea – look around the website while you’re there. There are plenty free resources and tools (click on the tabs at the top) and you are welcome to use (and modify) any of them.

If you want to check out my book – it has suggestions for developing STEM lessons. If you have a chance to develop STEM projects that carry over from one time the kids meet until the next, that’s the best look. If you only see them once a week or so, then that’s a bit more of an issue. If you want to email me we can probably “chat” more over email than here. [email protected]

Thanks for being a STEM person!

Thank you, Anne! I appreciate your suggestions and resources. When you get a chance, I’d love to take a look at the other launchers.

Hello! I am a 11 year old kid going to Somerset Academy. I am doing a STEM project like all of else as well. I am working with two other friends on this project. In our project there is some different things we must do. Most of all we need to make a product that solves an everyday problem. Our group created and idea with ice cream. Our product name is Drip Catch. It is basically a plastic cup for our ice cream cones whenever it melts. The Ice cram will just fall into the cup looking thing. But….. it does not really work. So I am asking for an idea that is a product that solves everyday problems.

I also forgot to mention I am in 5th grade. Please help me. You only need to give me an easy/ OK difficulty stem project. But.. it must be a product we created and it HAS to solve a problem.

What a neat assignment! I like the Drip Catch idea – I wish it had worked. Can you redesign it so that it will work? I think its a great start.

Let me tell you where you can find some good ideas for STEM projects. Go to the Design Squad at http://pbskids.org/designsquad/projects/ . At the top of the page, click on “Design” or click on “Build.” There are some pretty good ideas there.

I read of a group of kids who designed Popsicles with vitamins in them. Here are some other problems kids tackled. http://read.bi/2DoiBSY Just scroll down to see them.

Have you ever noticed that kids on crutches have a problem carrying things around? Is there some sort of carrier that can be added to crutches so that kids can carry things?

Keep your eyes open. Look for a problem you can help in your community or at your school.

Good luck to you and your friends. I hope you’ll come back and post what you finally decided to do. I bet it will be neat!

Thank you very much! I looked at the links you provided and got some new ideas. But.. my friends and I decided to keep doing the Drip Catch idea! But thx for your help! Bye have a great day/

Thanks, Jaden! Let me know how the Drip Catch works. I thought it sounded like a useful and original idea.

Tom is the STEM fair and we finished! It looks amazing. We made the drip catch with a plastic container and cut it into a circle and a hole inside. SO ready for tom!! Thank you so much.

Good luck!!

HI Anne I am in the process of starting a STEM Summer Academy for 6-8 graders, looking for projects in STEM that will motivate the students

Take a look at “Engineering Is Elementary” (EIE) Curriculum Units. You can find them at( http://www.eie.org/eie-curriculum/curriculum-units .) While they are designed for up to 5th grade, they are easily adaptable for older students. Also check out “Engineering Adventures” at https://www.eie.org/engineering-adventures/curriculum-units .

“Engineering Everywhere” (www.eie.org/engineering-everywhere) is a free Middle School curriculum you may like. It’s designed for youth in afterschool and camp programs.

Another place I go for just fun activity ideas is the Design Squad (pbskids.org/designsquad/projects/)

I hope those give you some good ideas!

Thank you I will keep you posted on how it turns out ; any ideas for projects

What a great resource! I am currently teaching in a small school of 22 P-6 students and have been asked to complete a 1-1.5 hour Maths Problem Solving Session with a STEM focus each week with all of the children. Can you please put me in touch with some resources/activities that are hands on and suitable for multi age/abilities?

Hi, Karlene. One resource that seems popular is the Student Teaming Guide, and it’s a free download on my book website (www.stem-by-design.com). To get it, click the tab at the top of the webpage titled Student Teaming Tips. Scroll to the bottom, and download it and share it.

You may enjoy looking around the website as well. You’ll find plenty of free tools, tips, and teaching ideas there. You’ll also find a free STEM Launcher (a mini-lesson called Stop, Drop, Don’t Pop) to introduce engineering to your students. ( http://bit.ly/2Cvb2cw ) Scroll toward the bottom of the page and you will see 3 pdfs you can download, use, and share.

In my MiddleWeb blog I write about all sorts of topics from lesson design to including girls in STEM. You may wish to look at some of those resources as well. In fact, I’ve just posted another launcher there – the ‘Bama Bears – to help kick off STEM (the engineering component) for 2018.

I also came across another good muliti-grade level resource that I think you’ll like. Take a look at this site: http://bit.ly/2IaNeda

I hope some of these help! Thanks for your work with STEM.

I forgot to include the link to my MW blog – it’s https://www.middleweb.com/category/stem-by-design/

I’m involved in our school’s pilot STEAM classes and found the resources in your post helpful. I’ve used TeachEngineering quite often to help me get ideas.

About the problem with maths, we’ve had the same concern but what we’re aiming to do in our next project is getting the students to collect data themselves than using made-up ones. We think that the authenticity of these activities will increase students’ level of motivation.

Great idea, Ms B! Authenticity is, indeed, the key.

Also consider checking out some of the big math grade-level concepts and targeting one or more of those specific concepts for a STEM challenge. We did that with flow rate. We did an environmental STEM project that dealt with water erosion (that was an authentic problem for our school.) The kids used flow rate to measure and calculate the effectiveness of their barriers. Then they redesigned them and got much better results. And . . . they finally saw a practical use for learning how to calculate flow rate!

I am the middle school science teacher at a Christian school and is desirous of coordinating and developing a STEM curriculum. I have heard a lot about STEM but want to have a clear focus on how to start this first in the middle school then to the rest of the student body.

Hi, Edmund, What an exciting adventure – starting to implement STEM in the elementary school. That’s certainly the right way to do it. Start with this article on building a foundation with elementary STEM: https://www.middleweb.com/26244/building-a-foundation-with-elementary-stem/ . If you haven’t checked out my latest book, STEM by Design , it’s published by Routledge/MiddleWeb. Among other things, this book shares practical tips, principles, and strategies for implementing STEM in Grades 4-8. Those principles can be applied at earlier grades as well. You may enjoy looking around the book website as well at https://www.STEM-by-Design.com . You’ll find plenty of free tools, tips, and teaching ideas there. You’ll also find a free STEM Launcher (mini-lesson called Stop, Drop, Don’t Pop) to introduce engineering to your students. I’ve posted another launcher – the ‘Bama Bears – on my MiddleWeb blog site. You can modify both of these to help kick off STEM (the engineering component) for this fall.

hii, i’am education student , and i want to work on stem activity based on problem solving for grade 4 to 6 math student , but i don’t have any idea what should i doo :(

One place to start is looking at issues in your community. Also checking news geared towards kids (news depth, TFK, and National Geographic. Then get creative around the engineering design process.

You might also check out Design Squad Global, Dana. There are a lot of super STEM activities for all grade levels on that site. Good luck with your STEM activities.

Hi Anne, I don’t teach but I was wondering if you could give me ideas for STEM ideas for some of my peers. It is a school project so I’ve got to knock it out of the ballpark. Appreciate it. Thanks. Please get back to me before 2/20/19. Thanks again.

Hi, Yen-Dow,

A couple of suggestions that will help you find ideas: Go to Design Squad Global Lesson Plans. ( https://to.pbs.org/2XcjPXBd/ ). They have some amazing ideas there.

You might try this MiddleWeb blog post I wrote. ( http://bit.ly/2BK3qmS )

And look at Science Buddies. They have a lot of good resources there. (Note: The Science Buddies site requires a free account to access all the details. Just takes a minute.)

I hope those suggestions will be of some help!

Selam, Türkiye’de ilkokul öğretmeniyim. Bio ekonomi ile ilgili STEM projesi geliştirmek istiyorum.Fikirlerinizi almak benim için muhteşem olacaktır.Teşekkür ederim.

Selam, Candan. Thanks for teaching STEM to elementary students.To find ideas for bio economy projects, please go to this link: https://www.middleweb.com/39326/how-elementary-stem-can-meet-the-future/ . At the end of this article you will find links to six sites that have good lessons you may be able to use. I hope this helps, and please continue your good work.

Hello Anne, Such a wonderful site! So I am interested in researching teacher’s beliefs about integrated STEM education and if it can improve science and math skills for my dissertation. I am planning to explore authentic tasks in both science and math. What do you think about this idea? How can I explore this topic in greater depth? Can you recommend me some readings? Should I use the same authentic activities for both math and science or can I use scientific inquiry in science and models in math? Hoping to hear your thoughts.

Also, I forgot to mention that I would be focusing on primary schools so if you can suggest me some readings.

[…] By Anne JollySummary by MiddleWeb Smartbrief"Providing STEM students with real-world challenges fuels their curiosity & investigative interests, writes science educator Anne Jolly. But where do teachers find problems worthy of investigation? In a new post at MiddleWeb's STEM Imagineering blog, Jolly makes the case for real-world problem solving and points to Internet resources that can help teachers find suitable challenges in science, math and engineering."  […]

[…] head over heels in a STEM project—before the familiar acronym had even burst onto the scene. See Real World STEM Problems for some suggestions for projects students might focus […]

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Using Games and Design Challenges to Teach Students About Managing Conflict

By introducing students to activities that scaffold conflict, teachers can provide low-stakes lessons to prepare kids to navigate it in healthy ways.

As second-grade teachers, we know that our students are exploring new relationships, changing social dynamics, and feeling the emotional weight that these interactions can have. Our students often encounter conflict as we ask them to take risks, stand up for what they believe in, and share their thoughts and opinions. With this in mind, we created and piloted a three-pronged hands-on approach to building both comfort and skills around managing conflict.

Our approach includes cooperative games and design challenges as well as good-to-know and problem jars. Each part is designed to allow our students to encounter consistent developmentally appropriate and varying types of conflict in order to build problem-solving skills. Throughout each activity, students are put in a variety of mixed groupings where they are confronted with increasingly complex challenges, last-minute changes, and peer leadership opportunities that shift the social dynamics. We are excited to share our approach and help other teachers implement these ideas.

The first few weeks of the year are all about community-building, developing routines, and getting to know our students better as people and learners. Cooperative games are a fantastic way to help students build relationships and begin to collaborate together as a group. As we thought through where we wanted to start, we knew that we wanted to focus on cooperative games that were easy to prepare, low cost, and easy to introduce and play quickly as either a whole or partial group. We wanted students to practice thinking flexibly, shifting roles, and finding success and failure collectively.

Some of our favorite games are the balloon challenge, the colored dots game, and the airplane game. While we introduced many of these games throughout the first semester, we revisited more complex versions, adjusted group sizes, and pushed our students to work through challenges with increasing independence as the year progressed.

Having had some experience with design challenges in the past, we knew that we could use them to push students in unique ways, and these activities tend to be excellent breeding grounds for conflict. We also love that they provide students an opportunity to work in small, fluid groupings and complete a challenge together using varying materials that are low cost and common.

Starting Point

To begin, students are introduced to the challenge and have a five-minute brainstorming period in which they create a plan as a group. After five minutes have lapsed, students then get their materials and begin creating for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the challenge. There is never a winner who is celebrated or recognized; instead, we commend students for working together. Once the timer has ended, students reflect upon the process through both a group discussion and independently as part of an exit ticket.

Examples of design challenges that our students love are cup stacking, the Play-Doh–and–toothpick building challenge, and the egg-drop challenge . We found that both assigning leadership roles within their groups and increasing the difficulty level pushed students to overcome new challenges and discomfort. Feel free to be inspired by these activities, but change them as you see fit.

We know that effective assessment tools help drive instruction and build our understanding of our students’ feelings and needs. To this end, we created multiple types of both formal and informal assessments that can be completed quickly and easily to help maintain consistency and encourage our students to be reflective about themselves as problem solvers.

Our students fill out an exit ticket based on the Likert scale that allows us to track how their understanding of conflict has changed over time after engaging in both cooperative games and design challenges.

Checking In

Finally, we know that students love their teachers, seek their approval, and enjoy sharing what is going on in their own lives. The good-to-know jar and problem jar offer students a space where they can check in with their own emotional experiences, identities, and culture, and use their real-life problems to share what is on their mind and help them navigate tricky feelings that they may feel uncomfortable sharing verbally.

The two jars are accessible to students throughout the week. Students contribute to these jars anonymously, and each student is encouraged to submit either a good-to-know or a problem throughout the week. On Fridays, we read through the problem jar as a class and talk through possible solutions or just acknowledge that some problems can’t be solved right away but that by talking about them, we are communicating that we will work harder to figure out a plan together.

Giving students a space to see that we, as their teachers, take their thoughts and opinions seriously and then connect their problems with real, immediate action is important in encouraging our students to be problem solvers. We also ask our students to consider how they naturally approach and respond to conflict. Providing them with this opportunity for self-reflection allows them to identify their personal strengths and challenges. The better we know each other, the more comfortable we’ll be with sharing how we feel and engaging in productive conflict.

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20 Critical Thinking Activities for Middle Schoolers

• Middle School Education

Introduction:

  Critical thinking is vital for middle school students, as it helps them develop problem-solving skills, make informed decisions, and understand different perspectives. Integrating critical thinking activities into classroom learning experiences can greatly enhance students’ cognitive abilities. The following are 20 engaging critical thinking activities designed for middle school students.

1. Brain Teasers: Use age-appropriate puzzles to challenge students’ cognitive abilities and encourage them to find creative solutions.

2. Socratic Circles: Divide the class into groups and encourage them to participate in a philosophical discussion on a given topic, asking questions that stimulate critical thinking and deeper understanding.

3. Compare and Contrast: Assign two similar but different texts for students to compare and contrast, analyzing similarities and differences between each author’s perspective.

4. What-If Questions: Encourage children to think critically about hypothetical scenarios by asking what-if questions, such as “What if the internet didn’t exist?”

5. Debate Club: Organize a debate club where students are encouraged to research and defend differing viewpoints on a topic.

6. Mind Mapping: Teach students how to create a mind map – a visual representation of their thoughts – to help them brainstorm complex issues effectively.

7. Mystery Bag: In small groups, give students a bag containing several random objects and ask them to invent an innovative product or story using all items in the bag.

8. Critical Thinking Journal: Have students maintain journals where they analyze their thought processes after completing activities, promoting self-reflection and metacognition.

9. Moral Dilemmas: Present students with moral dilemmas, requiring them to weigh pros and cons before making ethical decisions.

10. Fact or Opinion?: Give students various statements and ask them to differentiate between fact or opinion, helping them build critical thinking skills when handling information.

11. Research Projects: Assign project topics that require deep research from multiple sources, developing students’ abilities to sift through information and synthesize their findings.

12. Think-Pair-Share: Have students think individually about a complex question, then pair up to discuss their thoughts, and finally share with the class.

13. Art Interpretation: Display an artwork and ask students to interpret its meaning, theme, or message, pushing them to look beyond the surface.

14. Reverse Role Play: Assign roles for a scenario where students exchange positions (e.g., teacher-student, parent-child), fostering empathetic understanding and critical thinking skills.

15. Critical Evaluation of Media: Analyze news articles, commercials, or social media posts by asking questions about their purpose, target audience, and accuracy.

16. Six Thinking Hats: Teach students Edward de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats” technique to improve critical thinking by exploring diverse perspectives when solving problems.

17. Analogy Building: Encourage students to create analogies from one concept to another, enhancing abstract thinking and problem-solving abilities.

18. Current Events Analysis: Keep track of current events and have students critically evaluate news stories or blog posts to encourage informed decision-making in real-world contexts.

19. Brainstorming Sessions: Hold group brainstorming sessions where students invent solutions for complex problems while practicing active listening and critical thinking.

20. Reflection Activities: Use reflective writing prompts at the end of lessons or activities to foster metacognition, self-awareness, and the development of critical thinking skills.

Conclusion:

Critical thinking activities are vital for middle schoolers as they foster intellectual growth and prepare them for future learning experiences. By incorporating these 20 activities into your classroom curriculum, you can help students develop essential critical thinking skills that will serve them throughout their academic careers and beyond.

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50 STEM Activities for Kids of All Ages and Interests

Inspire the innovators of tomorrow.

These days, STEM learning is more important than ever. Science, technology, engineering, and math are the keys to many modern careers, so a good grounding in them from an early age is a must. The best STEM activities for kids are hands-on, leading students to cool innovations and real-world applications . Here are some of our favorites, with challenges and experiments that will really get kids thinking about how STEM plays a part in their everyday lives.

Want some quick challenges to try with elementary students? Get free printable stem challenge cards for grades K-5:

• Kindergarten STEM Challenges
• First Grade STEM Challenges
• Second Grade STEM Challenges
• Third Grade STEM Challenges
• Fourth Grade STEM Challenges
• Fifth Grade STEM Challenges

For more STEM activities for kids across a range of subjects, take a look at these ideas.

1. Add STEM bins to your classroom

STEM Focus: Science, Technology, Engineering, Math

Prepare for a wide variety of STEM activities for kids with these cool bins. Incorporate them into literacy centers, create a makerspace, and offer early finishers fun enrichment ideas. Learn how to create and use STEM bins.

2. Conduct an egg drop

STEM Focus: Engineering

This is one of those classic STEM activities every kid should try at least once. Kids can do it at any age, with different materials and heights to mix it up.

Learn more: Egg Drop at Buggy and Buddy

3. Engineer a drinking straw roller coaster

This is such a fun way to encourage engineering skills! All you need are basic supplies like drinking straws, tape, and scissors.

Learn more: Straw Roller Coaster at Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls

4. Find ways to slow soil erosion

STEM Focus: Science (Ecology), Engineering

Compare the effects of “rain” on hills of bare soil vs. those covered with grass. Have your 3rd grade science students predict which they think will stand up to erosion better and then test their hypotheses.

Learn more: Erosion Experiment at Third Grade Thinkers

5. Simulate an earthquake

The ground under our feet may feel solid, but an earthquake changes that pretty quickly. Use Jell-O to simulate the earth’s crust, then see if you can build an earthquake-proof structure.

Learn more: Earthquake Science at Teaching Science

6. Stand up to a hurricane

In a hurricane zone, houses must be able to stand up to strong winds and possible flooding. Can your students design houses that make it safer to live in these dangerous areas?

Learn more: Hurricane Houses at Carly and Adam

7. Create a new plant or animal

STEM Focus: Science (Biology)

Kids will really get into this project, indulging their creativity as they invent a plant or animal that’s never been seen before. They’ll need to be able to explain the biology behind it all, though, making this an in-depth project you can tailor to any class.

Learn more: Create a Creature at I Love 2 Teach

8. Design a helping hand

STEM Focus: Technology, Engineering

This is a great group science project. Students hone their design and engineering skills to make a working model of a hand. For a more advanced activity, challenge students to build a robotic hand that can be controlled remotely.

Learn more : Model Hand at Mombrite

9. Understand the impact of non-renewable resources

STEM Focus: Science (Environmental Science)

Discuss the differences between renewable and non-renewable resources, then have your class form “companies” to “mine” non-renewable resources. As they compete, they’ll see how quickly the resources are used. It’s a great tie-in to energy conservation discussions.

Learn more: Energy Resources at The Owl Teacher

10. Devise an amazing marble maze

Marble mazes are one of students’ favorite STEM activities! You can provide supplies like straws and paper plates for their project. Or let them use their imaginations and create marble mazes from any materials they can think of.

Learn more: Marble Maze on Raising Lifelong Learners

11. Fly clothespin airplanes

STEM: Engineering

Ask students what they think the airplane of the future might look like. Then, provide them with clothespins and wood craft sticks, and challenge them to build a new kind of airplane. Bonus points if it can actually fly!

Learn more: Clothespin Airplane at STEAMsational

12. Launch a catapult cannon

Catapult STEM challenges are always fun, but this one adds a new twist that allows kids to launch objects much farther than the usual wood craft stick version!

Learn more: Catapult Cannon and STEAM Powered Family

13. Bounce on a trampoline

Kids love bouncing on trampolines, but can they build one themselves? Find out with this totally fun STEM challenge.

Learn more: Trampoline Challenge at Student Savvy

14. Build a solar oven

STEM Focus: Science, Engineering

Learn about the value of solar energy by building an oven that cooks food without electricity. Enjoy your tasty treats while discussing ways we can harness the energy of the sun and why alternative energy sources are important.

Learn more: Solar Oven at Desert Chica

15. Build a snack machine

Incorporate everything students learn about simple machines into one project when you challenge them to build a snack machine. Using basic supplies, they’ll need to design and construct a machine that delivers snacks from one location to another.

Learn more: Snack Machine at Left Brain Craft Brain

16. Recycle newspaper into an engineering challenge

It’s amazing how a stack of newspapers can spark such creative engineering. Challenge students to build the tallest tower, support a book, or even build a chair using only newspaper and tape.

Learn more: Newspaper STEM Challenges at STEM Activities for Kids

17. Design a biosphere

This project really brings out kids’ creativity and helps them understand that everything in a biosphere is really part of one big whole. You’ll be overwhelmed by what they come up with!

Learn more: Biosphere Project at Laney Lee

18. See the effects of an oil spill

Learn why an oil spill is so devastating for wildlife and the ecosystem with this hands-on activity. Kids experiment to find the best way to clean up oil floating on water and rescue the animals affected by the spill.

Learn more: Oil Spill Cleanup at Kitchen Counter Chronicle

19. Assemble a steady-hand game

STEM Focus: Engineering, Technology

This is such a fun way to learn about circuits. It also brings in a bit of creativity, adding the “A” for STEAM.

Learn more: Steady Hand Game at Left Brain Craft Brain

20. Use cabbage to test pH

STEM Focus: Science (Chemistry)

Teach kids about acids and bases without needing pH test strips! Simply boil some red cabbage and use the resulting water to test various substances—acids turn red and bases turn green.

Learn more: Cabbage pH at Education Possible

21. Engineer a craft stick bridge

Here’s another one of those classic STEM activities that really challenge kids to use their skills. Build a bridge with Popsicle sticks and other materials, then compete to see which can bear the most weight.

Learn more: Bridge Challenge at Mommy Evolution

22. Forage and build a bird nest

STEM Focus: Science (Biology), Engineering

Birds build incredibly intricate nests from materials they find in the wild. Take a nature walk to gather materials, then see if you can build a sturdy, comfy nest of your own!

Learn more: Build a Bird Nest at Kids Craft Room

23. Drop parachutes to test air resistance

Use the scientific method to test different types of material and see which makes the most effective parachute. Your students also learn more about the physics behind air resistance.

Learn more: Parachute Challenge at Education.com

24. Find the most waterproof roof

Calling all future engineers! Build a house from LEGO, then experiment to see what type of roof prevents water from leaking inside.

Learn more: Waterproof Roof at Science Sparks

25. Build a better umbrella

Challenge students to engineer the best possible umbrella from various household supplies. Encourage them to plan, draw blueprints, and test their creations using the scientific method.

Learn more: Better Umbrella at Raising Lifelong Learners

26. Go green with recycled paper

STEM Focus: Science (Ecology)

We talk a lot about recycling and sustainability these days, so show kids how it’s done! Recycle old worksheets or other papers using screen and picture frames. Then, ask kids to brainstorm ways to use the recycled paper.

Learn more: Recycled Paper at Undercover Classroom

27. Brew up your own slime

Chances are good your students already love making and playing with slime. Turn the fun into an experiment by changing the ingredients to create slime with a variety of properties—from magnetic to glow-in-the-dark!

Learn more: Slime Experiments at Little Bins for Little Hands

28. Create a taxonomy system

Students can step into Linnaeus’ shoes by creating their own system of taxonomy using a handful of different dried beans. This is a fun science project to do in groups, so students can see the differences between each group’s system.

Learn more: Classification Systems at Our Journey Westward

29. Find out which liquid is best for growing seeds

As you learn about the life cycle of plants , explore how water supports plants’ growth. Plant seeds and water them with a variety of liquids to see which sprout first and grow best.

Learn more: Plants and Liquids at Lessons for Little Ones

30. Create giant bubbles

It’s easy to mix your own soap bubble solution with just a few ingredients. Let kids experiment to find the best proportion of ingredients to create giant bubbles, long-lasting bubbles, and other variations.

Learn more: Giant Soap Bubbles at Make and Takes

31. Make compost in a cup

This is an easy science activity, and you can turn it into a science fair project by experimenting with different mixtures, layering, and conditions for your compost cups.

Learn more: Compost Cups at The Happy Housewife

32. Help monarch butterflies

You may have heard that monarch butterflies are struggling to keep their population alive. Join the fight to save these beautiful bugs by planting your own butterfly garden, monitoring monarch populations, and more. Get all the info you need at the link.

Learn more: Monarch Education at Monarch Watch

33. See water pollution in action

STEM Focus: Science (Environmental Science, Chemistry, Biology)

Learn about the challenges of cleaning up polluted water sources like rivers and lakes with this interesting outdoor science activity. Pair it with a visit to a local water treatment plant to expand the lesson.

Learn more: Water Pollution at JDaniel4’s Mom

34. Test your local water quality

STEM Focus: Science (Chemistry, Environmental Science)

Once you’ve “cleaned up” your water, try testing it to see how clean it really is! Then head out to test other types of water. Kids will be fascinated to discover what’s in the water in their local streams, ponds, and puddles. Student water-testing kits are readily available online.

Learn more: Water Quality Experiment at The Homeschool Scientist

35. Explore with an edible Mars Rover

STEM Focus: Science (Space), Engineering

Learn about the conditions on Mars and the tasks the Mars Rover will need to complete. Then, give kids supplies to build their own. (Add to the challenge by making them “buy” the supplies and stick to a budget, just like NASA!)

Learn more: Edible Mars Rover at Library Makers

36. Bake the best potato

STEM Focus: Science (Physics)

This edible science project is a nutritious way to explore the scientific method in action. Experiment with a variety of methods for baking potatoes—microwaving, using a traditional oven, wrapping them in foil, using baking pins, etc.—testing hypotheses to discover which works best.

Learn more: Potato Science at Left Brain Craft Brain

37. Waterproof a boot

Ask kids to select various materials and tape them over the free boot printable. Then, test their hypotheses to see which ones work best.

Learn more: Waterproof a Boot at Science Sparks

38. Determine the best way to melt ice

Conventional wisdom says we sprinkle salt on ice to melt it faster. But why? Is that really the best method? Try this science experiment and find out.

Learn more: Melting Ice at The Chaos and the Clutter

39. Don’t melt the ice

We spend a lot of time in winter trying to get rid of ice, but what about when you don’t want the ice to melt? Experiment with different forms of insulation to see which keeps ice frozen the longest.

Learn more: Ice Insulation at Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls

40. Build a straw house

Grab a box of straws and a package of pipe cleaners. Then task kids with designing and building their dream house, using only those two items.

Learn more: Building a Straw House at Deceptively Educational

41. Design a balloon-powered car

Explore the laws of motion and encourage creativity when you challenge students to design, build, and test their own balloon-powered cars. Bonus: Use only recycled materials to make this project green!

Learn more: Balloon-Powered Car at One Little Project

42. Learn map skills by designing an amusement park

STEM Focus: Science (Physics), Technology, Engineering, Math

For this cross-curricular activity, students investigate the parts of a map by creating an amusement park. After they create their map, they do a detailed drawing and write about one of their ride designs. Then they design an all-access park pass. So many STEM activities in one! Find out more about it here.

43. Reach for the ceiling

Round up all your building blocks and try this whole-class project. What will students need to do to be able to construct a tower that reaches all the way to the ceiling?

Learn more: Block Tower at Mama Smiles

44. Cast a tall shadow

STEM Challenge: Science (Physics)

Here’s another tower-building challenge, but this one’s all about shadows! Kids will experiment with the height of their tower and the angle of their flashlight to see how tall of a shadow they’re able to cast.

Learn more: Shadow Towers at No Time for Flash Cards

45. Devise a recycled toy bot

These adorable toy bots are made from pool noodles and recycled electric toothbrushes. So clever! Kids will have fun designing their own, plus they can tweak this idea to make other fun wiggling toys.

Learn more: Recycled Toy Bot at Artsy Momma

46. Link up the longest paper chain

This incredibly simple STEM activity really gets kids thinking. The challenge? Create the longest-possible paper chain using a single piece of paper. So simple and so effective.

Learn more: Paper Chain Challenge at Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls

47. Find out what you can make from a plastic bag

STEM Focus: Science (Environmental Science), Engineering

Plastic bags are one of the most ubiquitous items on the planet these days, and they’re difficult to recycle. Give each student a plastic bag and ask them to create something new and useful. ( These ideas from Artsy Craftsy Mom offer some inspiration. )

48. Start a school robotics team

STEM Focus: Technology

Coding is one of the most valuable STEM activities you can include in your classroom plans. Set up a school robotics club and inspire kids to embrace their newfound skills! Learn how to set up your own club here.

49. Embrace the Hour of Code

The Hour of Code program was designed as a way to get all teachers to try just one hour of teaching and learning coding with their students. Originally, the Hour of Code event was held in December, but you can organize yours any time . Then, continue to learn using the huge amount of resources on Hour of Code’s website .

50. Give kids a Maker Cart and a pile of cardboard

You don’t need a whole lot of fancy supplies to create a STEM Cart or makerspace. Scissors, tape, glue, wood craft sticks, straws—basic items like these combined with a stack of cardboard can inspire kids to create all sorts of amazing projects! See how these STEM activities work here.

What are your favorite STEM activities for kids? Come share in the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, get 20+ free stem posters for your classroom .

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16 Team Building Activities For Middle School (With Video Examples)

Middle school can be a tough time for children.

At this stage in a student’s life, they are more interested in connecting with peers and making friends than anything else.

This is why team-building activities are a great way to start the school year out right or to help reconnect an existing class that needs a little help.

Also, team building allows students to develop stronger relationships and trust among each other.

As well, team building activities are a great way to help students learn how to communicate with each other effectively which is one of the most important skills a middle school student can learn.

In this article, we have found 16 of the best team building activities for middle school students and we have also included video examples so it is much easier for you to implement them at your school.

Feel free to change and mold the activities to what works best for your students.

If you are not a teacher, these activities still work great in any situation where team building is necessary.

Before we get into the more intricate team building games I wanted to remind everyone that just some good ol’ outside time on the court or play area is one of the best ways to get kids to work together.

Whether it is just traditional recess or a more structured game getting kids to work together through physical activities is one of the best ways to create a team both inside and outside the classroom.

Here is some good quality equipment to get you started:

Click on the picture or link below for more information and pricing.

Easy Play Sports and Outdoor Equipment

The effort you put into getting kids to work together, in the beginning, will pay dividends thought the whole school year.

1. Group Paper Tower

In this great team building activity, students will be tasked with building the tallest tower possible with 20 sheets of plain computer paper.

Students are timed but feel free to make a time limit that best fits your students and schedule.

This game is excellent at helping students be creative and really encourages problem-solving.

At the end of the time, each group’s tower is measured to see which one is the tallest.

The activity is also great at helping students learn from their mistakes and learn from how other’s solved a problem.

This activity is not only a great team building activity for middle school but it is a lot of fun.

A very important part of any team building activity is the student’s ability to listen to both peers and teachers alike.

To get more information about how parents and teachers can help children listen go to our article How To Get A Child To Listen In School .

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2. Centipede Ski Challenge

The Centipede or Group Ski Challenge is most likely an outdoor activity.

Although, you could do the activity in the hallway or large space in the school.

In this activity, a group of students will step on the group skis and hold onto the handles.

In order for the students to move, they have to move in un

ison with each step or the ski will not move.

The students will race and move together to see who can get to the finish line first.

The activity does a great job of teaching students about cooperation and how without the help of others it can hard to accomplish a goal.

This activity will not only get the student’s heart racing but it will also be a class favorite.

4 Legged Race Bands is designed to spice up team-building and any outdoor activities as long as 4 players are involved! Work together as a team to walk faster and farther to win the competition.

Click on the picture or link above for pricing and information!

3. Magic Carpet

The Magic Carpet or Tarp Flip is a great way to get kids moving and problem-solving at the same time.

This is a great activity that can be done inside or outside depending on the size of each group.

If you would like to make the number of students smaller in each group you could use a towel rather than a “carpet”.

A group of students stand on a “carpet”, tarp or blanket and try to flip it over while all the students are standing on it.

If a student steps off the “carpet” then the group has to start over.

The students that are able to flip over the “carpet” first (without stepping off of it) are the winners.

This activity does an excellent job of encouraging students to communicate efficiently in order to complete a goal.

Artoflifer Hole Tarp Team Building Game The aim of the challenge is for the tennis ball to travel around the tarp for the longest time possible without falling through the holes or coming off the tarp.

Click on the picture or the link above more more information and pricing

4. Team Pen

Team Pen is a perfect in classroom team building activity.

The teacher will need to tape strings to a large pen before the activity begins.

Students will be placed into teams and each student will hold on to one of the strings connected to the pen.

The teacher will give each group a word to write on a piece of blank paper.

The students within the group will have to navigate the pen together to write the word.

Start out with easy and short words at first but eventually once the kids get better at it this can be a great way to help students practice for their spelling tests or phonics work.

The best part of this activity is seeing what the word ends up looking like once the students are done.

This is such a fun activity I can hear the laughter from here!

Laughter makes everything better! For more laughs please read our article T eacher Jokes (One For Each Day Of The School Year)

Cooperative Stretchy Band 

Made with soft, elastic latex tube and multi-colored fleece fabric that is both strong and stretchy. When children run to different directions, it will not hurt them, making it very safe to use.

Cooperative band adopts soft latex tube that covered with soft multi-colored fabric that encourages group cooperation, interaction and creative movement.

Click on the picture or link above for more information and pricing

5. Pipe Line

Pipe Line can be an indoor or outdoor activity.

Students will each get half of a PVC pipe or long “U” shaped item.

If you do not have a half-pipe piece you can have students create a “U” shape out of a piece of paper or even better a piece of card stock.

This does work well but does increase the difficulty as it is hard to keep the paper stable enough to create the “U” shape and in enough time to let the ball pass through it.

Once you have your “U” shaped item for each of the students they will be put into groups.

The teacher will place a ping pong ball or golf ball at the beginning of their half-pipe and they must tilt it until the ball starts to roll down it.

Once the ball gets to the end another student will have to catch the ball with their half-pipe to continue the ball rolling down the track.

The student who just had a turn and the ball is off their half-pipe will run to the end of the line to help continue the game.

The team that gets to the finish line without their ball falling off the track will win.

6. Knee Relay Race

This is a classic relay race with a twist.

Students will be split into teams and each team will have a medium size ball.

Each team will have to put the ball between their knees and run knock-kneed to a hola-hoop or bucket at the end of the relay.

Once they get to the hula-hoop or bucket they must drop the ball from their knees into the hula-hoop or bucket.

Depending on how difficult you want the game to be you can make a rule that if the student drops the ball outside of the hula-hoop or bucket they have to start over.

Which ever team gets all their balls to their target and back wins.

This game will help create a sense of comradery as it can be a difficult challenge.

7. Cross The Lava Challenge

Cross The Lava is both a great indoor or outdoor team building activity depending on the sizes of the teams.

In this activity, students are put into teams and each student on the team will get a ” Magic Lava Stone” otherwise known as a carpet square, piece of fabric or piece of paper (card stock will work better than regular paper).

The students in each team will stand in a line and the first person will start laying the “Lava Stone” down for them and other students to stand on.

Each student in the team will step forward on the stones until there are no more stones to put down.

At this time the last person in the team will have one empty stone and they will pass the stone up to the front of the line so they can use it to continue the path.

This will continue until one of the teams crosses the finish line or the end of the “Lava”.

This team building activity for middle school students is extremely fun and it fosters critical thinking and teamwork.

This activity really gets kids moving. To learn more about keeping kids healthy please read our article A Complete List Of The Best Exercises For Kids

8. Caterpillar Race

The Caterpillar Race is a fun team building activity for middle school students that promotes teamwork and communication.

Before this activity, the teacher must tape together strong pieces of paper or sew together a long piece of fabric in order to make the “Caterpillar”.

Students will be placed in teams and each team will step into the paper or cloth caterpillar.

They will have to move their feet and their hands to help move it in the direction of the finish line.

Students will have to keep pace with the students in front of them and behind them to be successful.

The students that are able to navigate their caterpillar to the finish line first are the winners.

To make the activity more difficult, use paper to make the caterpillar so that the students have to be very careful not to tear it before they finish which could be quite difficult depending on the materials used.

Learning and having fun is the best way to teach and the Caterpillar Race is a perfect example of that.

Run Mat for Kids is a roll mat race. A racing game that requires team work and coordination, in order to keep tour team running and your mat rolling

For Field Day, Active Play, Balance and Flexibility Team Building & Collaboration, Obstacle Course, Training Tool, Kids Grown-Ups, Group Work, etc.

Group activity for 3-4 adults or 5-7 children

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9. Hula Hoop Pass

One of the best parts about team building is that it helps students understand both their strengths and weaknesses.

It also helps them by seeing how other students handle problems and how they handle the stress associated with those problems.

the Hula Hoop pass seems like an easy task until you try it yourself.

Students will get into teams, make a circle and link hands.

Two people will start the game by putting their hands through the middle of the hula hoop and then linking hands with their partners.

Once the game has started each team will have to move the hula hoop across and over their body to the next student where they will do the same.

The team that is able to move the hula hoop around the entire circle ending with the students who started the game are the winners.

While this game seems simple it does take some coordination.

This game is the perfect opportunity to help teach your students constructive praise techniques.

10. Quadropus Cup Stacking

The Quadropus Cup Stacking game is one of the coolest on our list but it does take a little “crafting” to get started.

Before the game, the teacher or the students will need to make the “cup mover” by fastening a certain number (depending on the size of the teams) of pipe cleaners to a rubber band to create a contraption that will allow the students to pull the pipe cleaners to expand the rubber band and relax the pipe cleaners to contract the rubber band.

The cup mover contraption will allow the students to grasp the cups only if they work cooperatively.

Once the cup mover has been made then students are given different tasks to move and stack the cups in certain patterns.

The best part of this game is that the students must work together in order to move the cup.

If even one student is not working with the team the cup mover will not be effective.

The game is the perfect example of how teamwork is only accomplished when everyone works together.

11. The Human Knot

The Human Knot is similar to the Hula Hoop pass but now there is no hula hoop but you still need to maneuver your body and work together to win the challenge.

The students will be placed into teams and will need to make a circle.

Each student will hold out their right hand and grasp the student’s hand cross from them.

They will do the same with their left hand.

Now it is time for the students to try to maneuver themselves so that they are back in a similar position as they started and “untied”.

This game is a great game to teach direction skills and to help students problem-solve when things don’t go quite right (and they will!).

While this game can get complicated it sets up so many teachable moments that you will have to try it.

12. Marshmellow Tower Challenge

The Marshmallow Tower Challenge is the pinnacle of problem-solving and critical thinking challenges.

Students must use all their team building strategies to complete this task.

Students will be given a certain number of materials and one marshmallow to build a structure the best they can.

While the materials are helpful, there is only a limited amount which makes using them efficiently important and encourages strategy.

Students are encouraged to plan and strategize before making their structure which is a great lesson in itself.

When students are given the opportunity to work together and communicate regardless of how the tower turns out the activity will be successful.

13. Escape Classroom

The Escape Room or Escape Classroom is one of the most engaging and exciting team building activities ever but it takes a lot of planning.

The idea behind this team building activity is that the students are locked in the classroom and have to get out by finding all of the clues left by their capture. ( This is all pretend of course)

The students are split up into teams and must find clues (activities) to move on to the next clue.

The Teacher sets up a group of activities that the students must do in order to get to the next clue which leads them closer to solving the main problem which is escaping from the classroom.

The theme of this team building activity can be anything from a book theme to having students solve certain math problems to escape and win the game.

The first team that can “escape” (by solving all the clues) from the classroom is the winner.

If the teacher can pull off this activity, it will be talked about all school year long.

14. Blind Minefield

The Blind Minefield game is not only a great team-building activity but it is an amazing game for building trust within the teams as the students are blindfolded and they have to rely on their teammates to be successful.

The teacher will set up obstacles either outside or inside the classroom and the students have to navigate through the obstacle course while blindfolded.

Students will be put into teams and each person is selected one at a time to go through the course blindfolded.

The other team members have to call out directions to help the blindfolded person get through the course without touching any of the obstacles.

If the blindfolded person from a team touches an obstacle they lose their turn and another team member gets a turn.

The team with the most people that can get through the obstacle course without touching anything wins.

Everyone will love this one!

15. Pencil Grab

The great part of the team building activity is that it is super simple and it uses one of the most abundant school supplies in the classroom…

The teacher will place pencils on a table or a desk in four or five groups with the number of pencils ranging from smallest to largest. (Group 1- two pencils, Group 2- 4 pencils…)

The students will start the game off with small increments of pencils such as one or two in the first pile.

Students get into teams and they race to see who can grab the most pencils by placing them on the back of their hand.

Once the pencils are placed on the back of the student’s hand they will pop up the pencils in the air and try to grab them with the palm of their hand.

If they can grab all of the first group of pencils they will go to the next group of pencils until they complete all of them or they can not grab them all at the same time and they lose their turn.

The team that can grab the most pencils is the winner!

16. Balloon Pyramid Relay Race

The Balloon Pyramid Relay Race is a great cooperative team building activity.

In this game, each student has to help stack the cups into a pyramid by inflating and deflating a balloon.

Only one student is allowed to work at a time.

Once they are finished with their task they stop and go to the end of the line.

Then it is the next student’s turn to continue the next step of the pyramid.

If a student knocks down a cup they must set the cup up where they found it, go to the end of the line and let another student try. (You can come up with your own rule here that best fits your class).

The team that creates the pyramid first wins.

For more information about why team building is so important please read Michigan State’s article Why is team building so important?

Please Comment Below!

If you have any comments or you have another team building activity that you would like to add to the list, we would love to hear from you!

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10 thoughts on “ 16 Team Building Activities For Middle School (With Video Examples) ”

This is really a great and useful piece of information. I am glad that you shared this useful information with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.

Awesome games! I’m looking for fun games for our 8th grade retreat and these are great examples.

Thank you so much!

These are great! Thanks for sharing!

Loved these easy and affordable ideas for games!

These are very useful, thanks for sharing. Definitely will use them!

So happy to help! Middle school can be a tough time but with the right activities and help they grown into amazing people!

Fantastic team-building activities! thank you for sharing!

I’m so glad that you found them helpful. Middle school friends need all the help they can get! =)

Thank you for sharing these activities! These will really be enjoyed by students. I think it would be good to try these at the start of the school year and also at the end to see how much they have grown with each other.

We agree wholeheartedly!

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Designing for Equity Collaborative Problem-Solving Around Challenging Behaviors in Middle School

Jeff Heyck-Williams, Ama Teasdel

Together, educators are doing the reimagining and reinvention work necessary to make true educational equity possible. Student-centered learning advances equity when it values social and emotional growth alongside academic achievement, takes a cultural lens on strengths and competencies, and equips students with the power and skills to address injustice in their schools and communities.

Providing Agency for Our Most Challenging Students, Part 2

Teachers can employ Collaborative Problem Solving to empower students with persistently challenging behaviors to change.

In part one of this two-part series, we explored how the school-to-prison pipeline is an insidious problem that suggests that we need to be doing something differently to help students who exhibit persistent challenging behavior at school. At Two Rivers, we are using a collaborative problem solving model to help all students work with teachers to find solutions to this problem. The heart of the model is in empowering students to articulate their own perspective on potential problems and working with their teachers to come up with mutually acceptable solutions that address both underlying concerns on both sides.

Using the same five steps with students in Kindergarten through eighth grade, we’ve found that all students can start to take ownership of their challenges around empathy, relationship building, and collaboration.

Once we as educators have identified a challenging behavior that we would need to work on with a student, the steps we use to solve the problem with the student is as follows:

• Listen : where we listen empathetically to hear the student’s concern about the persistent problem;
• Share : where we share our concerns about the persistent problem;
• Problem Solve : where we invite the student to come up with solutions with us that both address their concern and our concern and can realistically be implemented;
• Implement : where we put the plan into effect; and
• Reflect : where we evaluate the effectiveness of the plan with the student.

In the first post, Rachel Owens described how this can work in a Kindergarten classroom. Today’s story from Ama Teasdel explains what this looks like with students in middle school.

A Seventh Grade Example from Ama Teasdel

When we problem solve with students rather than for students, we empower them to take ownership of their learning. As a veteran special educator, I initially believed I was well versed in building relationships with students and working with them to address persistent challenging behavior. However, participating for two months in our school’s professional development training on collaborative problem solving conversations has proven me wrong. I’ve learned to become more humble and much more collaborative in my approach to problem-solving.

Henry, the first student I chose to engage in a collaborative problem solving conversation, is a student who has often been pegged as ‘unmotivated,’ or that he doesn’t care about school. I saw him as a hyperactive, disruptive, and disrespectful student who didn’t care about his academics and didn’t value what his classroom teachers, including myself, had to offer him. His classroom work completion was abysmal, and his negative behavior incidents caused him to lose anywhere from five to six instructional hours per week. Surprisingly, by opening up to collaboratively problem solve with a student, I learned three invaluable lessons from Henry.

Lesson One: Asking Before Assuming is at the Heart of Collaboration

I thought I had a generally positive rapport with Henry, so I believed that inviting him to the conversation wouldn’t be difficult. However, I was proven wrong. When I first approached him, he didn’t want to talk to me and he avoided having the conversation that I knew we needed to have. I assumed he wanted to avoid talking about a difficult topic. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was asking him to join me for a conversation during lunch which was the only time he had to socialize with his friends. When I slowed down and asked him when a good time would be to meet, we identified a time right after he arrived to school so that he wouldn’t miss out on time spent with friends.

Lesson Two: Students’ Perceptions are Their Reality, and Successful Solutions Must Take Their Perspectives Into Account.

Once we were able to have the initial conversation, I sat with Henry in a time and space of his choosing and really listened to him. I went in thinking that I already knew what Henry’s issues were. To be collaborative, I had to be humble and realize that I needed to hear from my students to truly understand their concerns. What I learned was that Henry had a lot of adult responsibilities caring for siblings before school. This impacted his ability to focus and stay on task. In addition, he shared that he wanted to do well, but as he said “I think they (teachers) don’t like me because they always say bad stuff to me and tell me what I am doing wrong.” He felt that any time an adult approached him that they would always have something negative to say. From my perspective this was an over-generalization; however, I had to humble myself and seek to understand the truth in what Henry was saying.

Lesson Three: Share Concerns in a Variety of Ways and Invite Students to Help Define Concerns with You.

Once I had actually taken the time to listen without using preconceived notions as a barrier, I had a better, albeit not perfect, understanding of Henry. This enabled me to take the next step of sharing my perspective. I shared with Henry that I had seen him in the hallways a lot when he was supposed to be in class; that his off-task behaviors in class distracted others; and that when he is redirected, his response is not the most appropriate. As I was sharing with him, it was clear from his body language that he was tuning me out. Thinking about what he had just shared with me, I realized that he was likely feeling overwhelmed by all the negative things I was sharing and I was feeding the perception that teachers only had negative things to say to him. So, I invited him in to think about how he responds to redirection, and that we could revisit that later.

Based on my conversations with Henry, my mindset and practices have shifted. I no longer take my experience for granted. Each student is a different and dynamic person. Even with 15 years of experience as a special educator, I still need to hear and understand the daily experiences and realities of my seventh graders. Problem solving does not only center around a problem I have defined, but the ways that we define the problem together. The beauty of collaborative problem solving conversations is that they empower both the student and teacher to define what success means. By giving middle school students autonomy to define and solve those problems collaboratively with their teachers, they take ownership and transfer critical skills.

Within the past few weeks, Henry’s negative incidents have decreased, and he is completing more classwork. Yes, he is still coming into class sleepy, hungry and sometimes ‘irritable.’ However, we are all equipped with a better understanding and tools to combat his challenges. We as staff are more cognizant of our interactions with him to make sure we are highlighting the positive with every chance we get. Just being aware of how we perceive his responses, Henry has also accepted redirection by responding in a more positive way and following directions and advocating for himself.

Using collaborative problem solving to address challenging behaviors has not only improved student behavior, but it has improved staff and student relationships while also building essential skills to help students take ownership of their learning.

Providing Agency for Our Most Challenging Students

As the two examples in this and in the previous post highlight, we have discovered that providing opportunities for students in Kindergarten through middle school to share their concerns and to collaboratively approach ways to overcome challenges with a teacher empowers them to be their best selves. They are learning the life skills of empathy, collaboration, and problem solving. Building these skills in the safe environment of schools with caring adults equips all of our students to better navigate challenges in their lives outside of school and on into adulthood. As a result, we are working to break the school-to-prison pipeline.

Read Part 1 of Providing Agency for Our Most Challenging Students: Collaborative Problem Solving around Challenging Behaviors in Kindergarten .

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The Algebra Problem: How Middle School Math Became a National Flashpoint

Top students can benefit greatly by being offered the subject early. But many districts offer few Black and Latino eighth graders a chance to study it.

By Troy Closson

From suburbs in the Northeast to major cities on the West Coast, a surprising subject is prompting ballot measures, lawsuits and bitter fights among parents: algebra.

Students have been required for decades to learn to solve for the variable x, and to find the slope of a line. Most complete the course in their first year of high school. But top-achievers are sometimes allowed to enroll earlier, typically in eighth grade.

The dual pathways inspire some of the most fiery debates over equity and academic opportunity in American education.

Do bias and inequality keep Black and Latino children off the fast track? Should middle schools eliminate algebra to level the playing field? What if standout pupils lose the chance to challenge themselves?

The questions are so fraught because algebra functions as a crucial crossroads in the education system. Students who fail it are far less likely to graduate. Those who take it early can take calculus by 12th grade, giving them a potential edge when applying to elite universities and lifting them toward society’s most high-status and lucrative professions.

But racial and economic gaps in math achievement are wide in the United States, and grew wider during the pandemic. In some states, nearly four in five poor children do not meet math standards.

To close those gaps, New York City’s previous mayor, Bill de Blasio, adopted a goal embraced by many districts elsewhere. Every middle school would offer algebra, and principals could opt to enroll all of their eighth graders in the class. San Francisco took an opposite approach: If some children could not reach algebra by middle school, no one would be allowed take it.

The central mission in both cities was to help disadvantaged students. But solving the algebra dilemma can be more complex than solving the quadratic formula.

New York’s dream of “algebra for all” was never fully realized, and Mayor Eric Adams’s administration changed the goal to improving outcomes for ninth graders taking algebra. In San Francisco, dismantling middle-school algebra did little to end racial inequities among students in advanced math classes. After a huge public outcry, the district decided to reverse course.

“You wouldn’t think that there could be a more boring topic in the world,” said Thurston Domina, a professor at the University of North Carolina. “And yet, it’s this place of incredibly high passions.”

“Things run hot,” he said.

In some cities, disputes over algebra have been so intense that parents have sued school districts, protested outside mayors’ offices and campaigned for the ouster of school board members.

Teaching math in middle school is a challenge for educators in part because that is when the material becomes more complex, with students moving from multiplication tables to equations and abstract concepts. Students who have not mastered the basic skills can quickly become lost, and it can be difficult for them to catch up.

Many school districts have traditionally responded to divergent achievement levels by simply separating children into distinct pathways, placing some in general math classes while offering others algebra as an accelerated option. Such sorting, known as tracking, appeals to parents who want their children to reach advanced math as quickly as possible.

But tracking has cast an uncomfortable spotlight on inequality. Around a quarter of all students in the United States take algebra in middle school. But only about 12 percent of Black and Latino eighth graders do, compared with roughly 24 percent of white pupils, a federal report found .

“That’s why middle school math is this flashpoint,” said Joshua Goodman, an associate professor of education and economics at Boston University. “It’s the first moment where you potentially make it very obvious and explicit that there are knowledge gaps opening up.”

In the decades-long war over math, San Francisco has emerged as a prominent battleground.

California once required that all eighth graders take algebra. But lower-performing middle school students often struggle when forced to enroll in the class, research shows. San Francisco later stopped offering the class in eighth grade. But the ban did little to close achievement gaps in more advanced math classes, recent research has found.

As the pendulum swung, the only constant was anger. Leading Bay Area academics disparaged one another’s research . A group of parents even sued the district last spring. “Denying students the opportunity to skip ahead in math when their intellectual ability clearly allows for it greatly harms their potential for future achievement,” their lawsuit said.

The city is now back to where it began: Middle school algebra — for some, not necessarily for all — will return in August. The experience underscored how every approach carries risks.

“Schools really don’t know what to do,” said Jon R. Star, an educational psychologist at Harvard who has studied algebra education. “And it’s just leading to a lot of tension.”

In Cambridge, Mass., the school district phased out middle school algebra before the pandemic. But some argued that the move had backfired: Families who could afford to simply paid for their children to take accelerated math outside of school.

“It’s the worst of all possible worlds for equity,” Jacob Barandes, a Cambridge parent, said at a school board meeting.

Elsewhere, many students lack options to take the class early: One of Philadelphia’s most prestigious high schools requires students to pass algebra before enrolling, preventing many low-income children from applying because they attend middle schools that do not offer the class.

In New York, Mr. Blasio sought to tackle the disparities when he announced a plan in 2015 to offer algebra — but not require it — in all of the city’s middle schools. More than 15,000 eighth graders did not have the class at their schools at the time.

Since then, the number of middle schools that offer algebra has risen to about 80 percent from 60 percent. But white and Asian American students still pass state algebra tests at higher rates than their peers.

The city’s current schools chancellor, David Banks, also shifted the system’s algebra focus to high schools, requiring the same ninth-grade curriculum at many schools in a move that has won both support and backlash from educators.

And some New York City families are still worried about middle school. A group of parent leaders in Manhattan recently asked the district to create more accelerated math options before high school, saying that many young students must seek out higher-level instruction outside the public school system.

In a vast district like New York — where some schools are filled with children from well-off families and others mainly educate homeless children — the challenge in math education can be that “incredible diversity,” said Pedro A. Noguera, the dean of the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education.

“You have some kids who are ready for algebra in fourth grade, and they should not be denied it,” Mr. Noguera said. “Others are still struggling with arithmetic in high school, and they need support.”

Many schools are unequipped to teach children with disparate math skills in a single classroom. Some educators lack the training they need to help students who have fallen behind, while also challenging those working at grade level or beyond.

Some schools have tried to find ways to tackle the issue on their own. KIPP charter schools in New York have added an additional half-hour of math time to many students’ schedules, to give children more time for practice and support so they can be ready for algebra by eighth grade.

At Middle School 50 in Brooklyn, where all eighth graders take algebra, teachers rewrote lesson plans for sixth- and seventh-grade students to lay the groundwork for the class.

The school’s principal, Ben Honoroff, said he expected that some students would have to retake the class in high school. But after starting a small algebra pilot program a few years ago, he came to believe that exposing children early could benefit everyone — as long as students came into it well prepared.

Looking around at the students who were not enrolling in the class, Mr. Honoroff said, “we asked, ‘Are there other kids that would excel in this?’”

“The answer was 100 percent, yes,” he added. “That was not something that I could live with.”

Troy Closson reports on K-12 schools in New York City for The Times. More about Troy Closson

Morning Carpool

21 Expert Tips to Help Your Teen Master Middle School

Posted: March 7, 2024 | Last updated: March 7, 2024

Middle school can be a challenging time for parents and students alike. These expert-backed strategies will steer your middle schooler through academic challenges and social hurdles to come out the other side unscathed.

Open Communication Lanes

Establish a routine for daily check-ins, not just about their academics but also about their feelings and social life. Create a safe space where your child feels comfortable sharing their experiences without judgment. Use these moments to listen more than you speak, showing empathy and understanding. This practice builds trust and encourages your child to open up about their life.

Encourage Positive Friendships

Talk to your child about the qualities of good friends and the importance of surrounding themselves with positive influences. Share stories from your own life about how friendships impacted your school years, highlighting both positive and negative examples. Encourage them to participate in activities or clubs that align with their interests, where they can meet like-minded peers. Remind them that true friends respect and support each other.

Set Realistic Academic Goals

Help your child set achievable academic goals that are challenging yet attainable. Discuss the importance of setting small, incremental objectives that lead to larger achievements. Celebrate the small victories together, reinforcing the idea that progress, not perfection, is what matters. This approach helps in building their confidence and motivation.

Promote Healthy Study Habits

Create a structured yet flexible study schedule with your child, ensuring they have ample time for both work and relaxation. Discuss the importance of a dedicated study space, free from distractions, to enhance focus. Teach them effective study techniques, such as breaking tasks into smaller chunks and taking regular breaks. Encourage them to ask for help when needed, whether from you, teachers, or tutors.

Balance School and Leisure

Stress the importance of balance between academics and personal time. Encourage hobbies and interests outside of schoolwork to foster a well-rounded personality. Plan family activities that are relaxing and fun, offering a break from the school routine. This balance is crucial for mental health and overall well-being.

Navigate Social Media Wisely

Have open discussions about the pros and cons of social media, emphasizing the impact it can have on friendships and self-esteem. Encourage critical thinking about what they see and share online. Set boundaries for social media use, especially during homework time and family interactions. Teach them about digital citizenship and the importance of respecting others online.

Foster Independence

Encourage your child to take responsibility for their schoolwork and personal decisions, offering guidance rather than solutions. Discuss the value of self-reliance and the satisfaction that comes from solving problems on their own. Gradually increase their responsibilities at home, such as managing their time or completing chores, to build their confidence and independence. Celebrate their efforts and successes, no matter how small.

Model Healthy Relationships

Let your child see you engaging in healthy, respectful relationships with friends and family. Discuss the characteristics that make these relationships positive, such as trust, communication, and mutual respect. Share how you deal with disagreements or conflicts in a constructive way. This modeling provides a blueprint for their own relationships.

Encourage Empathy and Kindness

Discuss the importance of empathy in understanding others’ feelings and perspectives. Share examples of acts of kindness, both big and small, and encourage them to do the same. Talk about the impact their words and actions can have on others, highlighting the importance of compassion. Celebrate instances when they show empathy and kindness, reinforcing these values.

Support Their Passions

Take an active interest in your child’s hobbies and passions, whether it’s art, sports, music, or technology. Provide further resources and opportunities to explore these interests, such as classes, kits, or events. Discuss how these passions can be integrated into their future goals and careers. Celebrate their dedication and achievements in these areas, showing that you value their individuality.

Teach Time Management Skills

Help your child develop a schedule that includes time for schoolwork, hobbies, social activities, and rest. Discuss the importance of prioritizing tasks and setting deadlines. Introduce tools like planners or digital apps to help them stay organized. Check in regularly to discuss what’s working and what isn’t, adjusting the plan as needed.

Address Bullying Head-On

Have open conversations about bullying, ensuring your child knows it’s safe to talk to you if they ever experience or witness it. Discuss strategies for dealing with bullies, such as seeking help from trusted adults and using assertive communication. Reinforce the idea that bullying is never acceptable and that it’s important to stand up for themselves and others. Offer continuous support and intervention if necessary.

Promote Physical Health

Encourage regular physical activity as a way to reduce stress, improve mood, and boost overall health. Explore different sports or activities together to find what they enjoy. Stress the importance of a balanced diet and sufficient sleep, explaining how these factors affect their learning and mood. Make health a family priority, leading by example.

Cultivate a Growth Mindset

Teach your child to see challenges as opportunities to learn and grow rather than obstacles to avoid. Discuss the value of effort and perseverance, sharing stories of people who succeeded through persistence. Praise their hard work and resilience rather than just the outcomes. Encourage a positive attitude towards learning, emphasizing that mistakes are part of the process.

Enhance Problem-Solving Skills

Present your child with hypothetical problems to solve together, discussing various solutions and outcomes. Encourage them to think critically and creatively when faced with challenges. Celebrate their successes in problem-solving, whether in academics, friendships, or everyday situations. This practice builds confidence and decision-making skills.

Stress the Importance of Respect

Discuss the significance of respecting others, regardless of differences in opinions, interests, or backgrounds. Model respectful behavior in your interactions with others and within the family. Address any disrespectful behavior immediately, explaining why it’s harmful and teaching more positive ways to communicate. Reinforce the idea that respect is foundational to healthy relationships.

Encourage Volunteer Work

Explore volunteer opportunities that align with your child’s interests or passions. Discuss the benefits of giving back to the community and the positive feelings associated with helping others. Volunteer as a family to show solidarity and commitment to making a difference. Highlight the importance of empathy and civic responsibility through these activities.

Teach Financial Responsibility

Involve your child in basic financial planning, such as managing an allowance or saving for a goal. Discuss the value of money, the importance of saving, and the concept of budgeting. Encourage them to make financial decisions, guiding them through the process and consequences. This early financial education lays the groundwork for responsible money management in the future.

Address Peer Pressure

Discuss the concept of peer pressure and the importance of staying true to one’s values and beliefs. Share strategies for resisting negative influences, such as assertive communication and seeking support from trusted friends or adults. Role-play different scenarios to help them practice responses. Reinforce their right to make their own choices, even if it means standing apart from the crowd.

Promote Artistic Expression

Encourage your child to express themselves through art, writing, music, or drama. Provide materials and opportunities for creative activities, and show genuine interest in their creations. Discuss how artistic expression can be a healthy outlet for emotions and a way to communicate ideas. Celebrate their creativity, reminding them that there’s no “right” or “wrong” way to be creative.

Build Resilience

Talk about the importance of resilience in facing life’s ups and downs. Share stories of resilience, including your own experiences and those of historical or public figures. Discuss strategies for coping with disappointment and setbacks, such as maintaining a positive outlook and seeking support when needed. Celebrate their ability to bounce back from challenges, reinforcing the idea that resilience is a key to success in life.

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Meadowbrook Middle School math teacher has students singing and solving problems

ORLANDO, Fla. — Students and administrators say Jacqueline Russell’s innovative teaching methods and her stimulating and inclusive classroom environment light a fire in the souls of her students.

What You Need To Know

Jacqueline russell teaches math at meadowbrook middle school   russell knows some students can be intimidated by math    she's passionate about finding ways to make learning fun here’s how you can nominate an a+ teacher 🍎.

Russell pours her heart and soul into teaching her sixth-graders at Meadowbrook Middle School.

"A lot of times they don't want to leave," she says. "They want to be in here, so if I say, like, it's time to go, they're like, ‘Can we finish this?’ They want to stay, or they want to come back another period, ‘But you can't. You have to go to your other classes.’ Because now they're involved in it, and they're engaged in it."

Russell can be heard leading her students in songs meant to help them figure out problems.

"A lot of kids are intimidated by education period — math especially. So, I figured if I made it fun, engaging, they would be more willing to learn, and they do. I get like 100% engagement when they are using songs," she says.

That is music to the ears of her students, who stay busy working together in teams, tackling hands-on projects and solving problems in a fast-paced setting.

Those are the building blocks and the foundation to creating lifelong learners.

"I love math. I love teaching math," Russell adds. "I love teaching it in a non-traditional way."

It all adds up for her students, who can't seem to get enough.

"With our Math Lit club, it's just tutoring," Russell says. "And we couldn't get kids to come to tutoring, so I said, ‘Let me just start a club,’ and I started a Math Lit club because all the kids want to be a part of something. I had over 50 kids sign up in two days."

That excitement is multiplied thanks to Russell’s positive praise.

"I just saw kids wanting to learn math more and loving it and wanting to come to math class," Russell says. "Before, they didn't want to come in, some of them. They were very intimidated."

But not anymore. Not in Russell’s class.

"It is the most rewarding thing when a student can come back to you and say, 'I get it now.' So that was a plus for me and for them," Russell says.

Facility for Rare Isotope Beams

At michigan state university, international research team uses wavefunction matching to solve quantum many-body problems, new approach makes calculations with realistic interactions possible.

FRIB researchers are part of an international research team solving challenging computational problems in quantum physics using a new method called wavefunction matching. The new approach has applications to fields such as nuclear physics, where it is enabling theoretical calculations of atomic nuclei that were previously not possible. The details are published in Nature (“Wavefunction matching for solving quantum many-body problems”) .

Ab initio methods and their computational challenges

An ab initio method describes a complex system by starting from a description of its elementary components and their interactions. For the case of nuclear physics, the elementary components are protons and neutrons. Some key questions that ab initio calculations can help address are the binding energies and properties of atomic nuclei not yet observed and linking nuclear structure to the underlying interactions among protons and neutrons.

Yet, some ab initio methods struggle to produce reliable calculations for systems with complex interactions. One such method is quantum Monte Carlo simulations. In quantum Monte Carlo simulations, quantities are computed using random or stochastic processes. While quantum Monte Carlo simulations can be efficient and powerful, they have a significant weakness: the sign problem. The sign problem develops when positive and negative weight contributions cancel each other out. This cancellation results in inaccurate final predictions. It is often the case that quantum Monte Carlo simulations can be performed for an approximate or simplified interaction, but the corresponding simulations for realistic interactions produce severe sign problems and are therefore not possible.

Using ‘plastic surgery’ to make calculations possible

The new wavefunction-matching approach is designed to solve such computational problems. The research team—from Gaziantep Islam Science and Technology University in Turkey; University of Bonn, Ruhr University Bochum, and Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany; Institute for Basic Science in South Korea; South China Normal University, Sun Yat-Sen University, and Graduate School of China Academy of Engineering Physics in China; Tbilisi State University in Georgia; CEA Paris-Saclay and Université Paris-Saclay in France; and Mississippi State University and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University (MSU)—includes  Dean Lee , professor of physics at FRIB and in MSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and head of the Theoretical Nuclear Science department at FRIB, and  Yuan-Zhuo Ma , postdoctoral research associate at FRIB.

“We are often faced with the situation that we can perform calculations using a simple approximate interaction, but realistic high-fidelity interactions cause severe computational problems,” said Lee. “Wavefunction matching solves this problem by doing plastic surgery. It removes the short-distance part of the high-fidelity interaction, and replaces it with the short-distance part of an easily computable interaction.”

This transformation is done in a way that preserves all of the important properties of the original realistic interaction. Since the new wavefunctions look similar to that of the easily computable interaction, researchers can now perform calculations using the easily computable interaction and apply a standard procedure for handling small corrections called perturbation theory.  A team effort

The research team applied this new method to lattice quantum Monte Carlo simulations for light nuclei, medium-mass nuclei, neutron matter, and nuclear matter. Using precise ab initio calculations, the results closely matched real-world data on nuclear properties such as size, structure, and binding energies. Calculations that were once impossible due to the sign problem can now be performed using wavefunction matching.

“It is a fantastic project and an excellent opportunity to work with the brightest nuclear scientist s in FRIB and around the globe,” said Ma. “As a theorist , I'm also very excited about programming and conducting research on the world's most powerful exascale supercomputers, such as Frontier , which allows us to implement wavefunction matching to explore the mysteries of nuclear physics.”

While the research team focused solely on quantum Monte Carlo simulations, wavefunction matching should be useful for many different ab initio approaches, including both classical and  quantum computing calculations. The researchers at FRIB worked with collaborators at institutions in China, France, Germany, South Korea, Turkey, and United States.

“The work is the culmination of effort over many years to handle the computational problems associated with realistic high-fidelity nuclear interactions,” said Lee. “It is very satisfying to see that the computational problems are cleanly resolved with this new approach. We are grateful to all of the collaboration members who contributed to this project, in particular, the lead author, Serdar Elhatisari.”

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the German Research Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship Initiative, Volkswagen Stiftung, the European Research Council, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Security Academic Fund, the Rare Isotope Science Project of the Institute for Basic Science, the National Research Foundation of Korea, the Institute for Basic Science, and the Espace de Structure et de réactions Nucléaires Théorique.

Michigan State University operates the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) as a user facility for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC), supporting the mission of the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics. Hosting what is designed to be the most powerful heavy-ion accelerator, FRIB enables scientists to make discoveries about the properties of rare isotopes in order to better understand the physics of nuclei, nuclear astrophysics, fundamental interactions, and applications for society, including in medicine, homeland security, and industry.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of today’s most pressing challenges. For more information, visit energy.gov/science.

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Home » Blog » General » Teaching Problem-Solving Skills to Middle School Students

Teaching Problem-Solving Skills to Middle School Students

Introduction

Problem-solving is a vital skill for navigating the complexities of life. It involves understanding a problem, identifying potential solutions, and taking action to resolve the issue. As children grow older, they encounter new and more challenging problems, both at school and at home. Teaching middle school students effective problem-solving techniques can help them become more independent, resilient, and adaptable individuals. In this blog post, we will explore a no-prep activity, discussion questions, and related skills to help educators teach problem-solving to middle school students.

No-Prep Activity: The Problem-Solving Relay

The Problem-Solving Relay is a fun and engaging activity that requires no preparation or materials. Here’s how it works:

• Divide the class into teams of 4-5 students.
• Ask each team to line up on one side of the room.
• Present a problem to the class, such as a disagreement between friends or a challenge at school.
• Each team member must take turns contributing one step of the problem-solving process, as outlined in the introduction.
• When a student completes their turn, they run to the back of the line, and the next student continues with the next step.
• The first team to complete all the steps and come up with a viable solution wins the relay.

This activity encourages students to collaborate and apply the problem-solving steps in a fast-paced, interactive setting.

Discussion Questions

To stimulate further discussion and reflection on problem-solving, consider asking your students these questions:

• What challenges did you face when trying to come up with a solution during the relay activity? How did you overcome them?
• Can you think of a time when you successfully solved a problem? What steps did you take, and what did you learn from the experience?
• How can understanding the size of a problem help you determine the best course of action?
• Why is it important to consider the feelings of others when choosing a solution to a problem?
• How can practicing problem-solving skills help you in your everyday life, both at school and at home?

Related Skills

Problem-solving is closely connected to several other essential social-emotional learning skills, including:

• Empathy: Understanding the feelings and perspectives of others can help students develop more effective solutions to interpersonal problems.
• Communication: Clear and respectful communication is crucial for presenting and negotiating solutions with others.
• Resilience: Developing strong problem-solving skills can help students bounce back from setbacks and adapt to new challenges.
• Decision-making: Weighing the pros and cons of various solutions requires critical thinking and sound judgment.

Teaching problem-solving skills to middle school students is essential for their personal and academic growth. By incorporating activities like the Problem-Solving Relay and engaging in thoughtful discussions, you can help your students become more adept at navigating life’s challenges. To access free samples of problem-solving materials and explore other social-emotional learning resources, sign up at Everyday Speech .

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