Students review what they know about the 20 major bones in the human body (names, shapes, functions, locations, as learned in the associated lesson) and the concept of density (mass per unit of volume). Then student pairs calculate the densities for different bones from a disarticulated human skeleton model of fabricated bones, making measurements via triple-beam balance (for mass) and water displacement (for volume). All groups share their results with the class in order to collectively determine the densities for every major bone in the body. This activity prepares students for the next activity, "Can It Support You? No Bones about It," during which they act as biomedical engineers and design artificial bones, which requires them to find materials of suitable density to perform as human body implants.

To experience the three types of material stress related to rocks — tensional, compressional and shear — students break bars of soap using only their hands. They apply force created by the muscles in their own hands to put pressure on the soap, a model for the larger scale, real-world phenomena that forms, shapes and moves the rocks of our planet. They also learn the real-life implications of understanding stress in rocks, both for predicting natural hazards and building safe structures.

Students learn about contamination and pollution, specifically in reference to soil in and around rivers. To start, groups use light sensors to take light reflection measurements of different colors of sand (dyed with various amounts of a liquid food dye), generating a set of "soil" calibration data. Then, they use a stream table with a simulated a river that has a scattering of "contaminated wells" represented by locations of unknown amounts of dye. They make visual observations and use light sensors again to take reflection measurements and refer to their earlier calibration data to determine the level of "contamination" (color dye) in each well. Acting as engineers, they determine if their measured data is comparable to visual observations. The small-scale simulated flowing river shows how contamination can spread.

Students learn about one method used in environmental site assessments. They practice soil sampling by creating soil cores, studying soil profiles and characterizing soil profiles in borehole logs. They use their analysis to make predictions about what is going on in the soil and what it might mean to an engineer developing the area.

Total solar eclipses are quite rare, so much so that they make the news when they do occur. This task explores some of the reasons why. Solving the problem is a good application of similar triangles

In this activity, students learn how engineers use solar energy to heat buildings by investigating the thermal storage properties of some common materials: sand, salt, water and shredded paper. Students then evaluate the usefulness of each material as a thermal storage material to be used as the thermal mass in a passive solar building.

An introduction to our solar system the planets, our Sun and Moon. To begin, students learn about the history and engineering of space travel. They make simple rockets to acquire a basic understanding Newton's third law of motion. They explore energy transfer concepts and use renewable solar energy for cooking. They see how engineers design tools, equipment and spacecraft to go where it is too far and too dangerous for humans. They explore the Earth's water cycle, and gravity as applied to orbiting bodies. They learn the steps of the design process as they create their own models of planetary rovers made of edible parts. Students conduct experiments to examine soil for signs of life, and explore orbit transfers. While studying about the International Space Station, they investigate the realities of living in space. Activities explore low gravity on human muscles, eating in microgravity, and satellite tracking. Finally, students learn about the context of our solar system the universe as they learn about the Hubble Space Telescope, celestial navigation and spectroscopy.

Student teams design and build solar water heating devices that mimic those used in residences to capture energy in the form of solar radiation and convert it to thermal energy. This thermal energy is next transferred to water (to be used as domestic hot water) in the form of heat. In doing this, students gain a better understanding of the three different types of heat transfer, each of which plays a role in the solar water heater design. Once the model devices are constructed, students perform efficiency calculations and compare designs.

This is a reading and research activity associated with activities during Solar Week, a twice-yearly event in March and October during which classrooms are able to interact with scientists studying the Sun. Outside of Solar Week, information, activities, and resources are archived and available online at any time. During this activity, learners research different science jobs and salary ranges in several online employment databases and answer related questions. This activity is scheduled to occur during Friday of Solar Week.

Students continue their pyramid building journey, acting as engineers to determine the appropriate wedge tool to best extract rock from a quarry and cut into pyramid blocks. Using sample materials (wax, soap, clay, foam) representing rock types that might be found in a quarry, they test a variety of wedges made from different materials and with different degrees of sharpness to determine which is most effective at cutting each type of material.

Bring PBL to Your Classroom
Project-based learning is a big part of today?s modern learning
environments. It takes students on a cool journey of creativity,
exploration, and true real-world relevance. What does PBL look
like in action in your classroom?
Solution Fluency provides the building blocks for PBL. It?s a
way for students to learn good problem-solving skills and to
become successful with any challenge.
This PBL Ideas Book will help them do exactly that. Inside are
classroom project ideas for years K?12. There are 9 awesome
projects to choose from with choices for primary, middle, and
senior grades. But wait?what if the scenario idea you like isn?t for
your specific grade?
No problem at all. These PBL ideas are customizable and
scalable for any grade level. They?re also cross-curricular in
nature, and can be adapted to other subject areas.
Explore these scenarios and think creatively about how you
can bring them to life for your students

These guides are designed by the Global Digital
Citizen Foundation to help you gain a better
understanding of the 21st Century Fluencies and
how they work.
This guide contains a description of the stages of
Solution Fluency, as well as a perspective on the skills
each stage develops and why they are important for
our students?and everyone?to learn.
We hope this information will help you with the
development of the Fluencies as you work to infuse
them into your students' learning experiences.

Stem Projecst for K-12 Learners
STEM learning takes students on a cool journey of creativity, exploration, and true real-world relevance. Solution Fluency provides the building blocks
for this. It?s a way for students to learn good problem-solving skills and to become successful with any challenge. This STEM Project Ideas Book will
help them do exactly that.
Inside are STEM project ideas for years K?12. There are 12 awesome projects for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to choose from
with choices for primary, middle, and senior grades.
What if a scenario idea you like isn?t for your specific grade? No problem?these lesson ideas are customizable and scalable for any grade
level. They?re also cross-curricular in nature, and can be adapted to other subject areas.
Explore these scenarios and think creatively about how you can bring STEM learning to life for your students

The typical system of equations or inequalities problem gives the system and asks for the graph of the solution. This task turns the problem around. It gives a solution set and asks for the system that corresponds to it. The purpose of this task is to give students a chance to go beyond the typical problem and make the connections between points in the coordinate plane and solutions to inequalities and equations. Students have to focus on what the graph is showing.

This task requires students to think about equations and solve them using pictures.

There is a non-mathematical fact that students must know about mixtures in order to answer this question. When salt is dissolved in water, the salt disperses evenly through the mixture, so any sample from the mixture that has the same volume will have the same amount of salt.

The purpose of this task is to show how the ideas in the RP and EE domains in 6th and 7th grade mature in 8th grade.

In this activity students become familiar with the math vocabulary more/less/same and most/least as they count and compare small groups.

This activity builds on Sort and Count I. It also helps students become familiar with the math vocabulary more/less/same and most/least as they sort, count, and compare small groups of objects.

Students learn the connections between the science of sound waves and engineering design for sound environments. Through three lessons, students come to better understand sound waves, including how they change with distance, travel through different mediums, and are enhanced or mitigated in designed sound environments. They are introduced to audio engineers who use their expert scientific knowledge to manipulate sound for music and film production. They see how the invention of the telephone pioneered communications engineering, leading to today's long-range communication industry and its worldwide impact. Students analyze materials for sound properties suitable for acoustic design, learning about the varied environments created by acoustical engineers. Hands-on activities include modeling the placement of microphones to create a specific musical image, modeling and analyzing a string telephone, and applyling what they've learned about sound waves and materials to model a controlled sound room.