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Middle School Technology Lesson Plans: Where to Find Them

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September 20th, 2022 | 8 min. read

Brad Hummel

Coming from a family of educators, Brad knows both the joys and challenges of teaching well. Through his own teaching background, he’s experienced both firsthand. As a writer for iCEV, Brad’s goal is to help teachers empower their students by listening to educators’ concerns and creating content that answers their most pressing questions about career and technical education.

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If you’re a new middle school computer applications teacher, you’re facing many choices for technology lesson plans for your students. Making the right choices for your classroom can seem overwhelming since learning basic computer and technology skills will set them up for later success.

Thankfully, finding the right resources isn’t as difficult as you might think. Four of the most popular topics taught in middle school technology classes are:

• Website Creation and Beginner Coding Lessons
• Digital Citizenship Lessons
• Google Suite Lessons
• Microsoft Office Lessons

In this article, you’ll find an example resource for each topic and where to find additional lesson plans so you can choose the most appropriate materials for your program.

1. Website Creation and Beginner Coding Lessons

Example: TechnoKids Intermediate Resources

An excellent resource for middle school technology lesson plans in coding and website creation comes from TechnoKids. TechnoKids publishes K-12 curriculum to help students understand key technology and computer science concepts.

While TechnoKids offers several different lesson options, middle school teachers will find their Intermediate resources the most appropriate for their students. Designed for learners in grades 6-9, the resources assist students in learning some of the most popular topics within a middle school technology class.

These materials are available individually or as an intermediate-level collection. The TechnoKids Intermediate lesson plan options include:

• Website Creation
• Entrepreneurship
• Personal Finance

One strength of the TechnoKids lessons is that it makes complex computer coding simple and accessible for students, so it’s great for middle schoolers who are just starting to learn these skills.

How Much Do These Technology Lesson Plans Cost, and Who Are They For?

If you only want a single TechnoKids project to use in your classroom, you’ll pay $40. You can also buy the entire Intermediate Curriculum Collection for $295, which includes access to more than a dozen projects.

TechnoKids is an excellent fit for instructors who want to emphasize computer coding and website creation since the resources make learning these skills accessible to younger learners.

Teachers who don’t think they’ll use all the materials in the collection may want to focus on one or two projects or look for a set of lesson plans that’s a better fit.

Related Resources to Teach Coding

• 5 Top Middle School Technology Curriculum Options
• Top 5 Free Middle School Computer Science Resources to Teach Coding

2. Digital Citizenship Lessons

Example: Common Sense Education

Technology teachers often look for lesson plans to teach digital citizenship and literacy skills. Addressing these topics in a middle school classroom is critical to ensuring students can safely, responsibly, and respectfully use technology going forward.

Common Sense Education is a nonprofit organization that helps students and families understand and responsibly use media. Their Digital Citizenship resources provide ready-to-teach lessons for K-12 teachers that were developed in partnership with Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The Common Sense digital citizenship lessons are divided into six categories:

• Media Balance and Well-Being
• Privacy and Security
• Digital Footprint and Identity
• Relationships and Communication
• Cyberbullying , Digital Drama, and Hate Speech
• News and Media Literacy

You’ll find a lesson for grades 6, 7, and 8 for 18 middle school digital citizenship lessons for each of these topics. You’ll also find take-home resources to share with families.

As a nonprofit organization, Common Sense Education provides its lesson plans for free.

You could easily supplement your existing materials with these resources if you cover one or more of the lesson categories in your technology classes.

However, consider additional materials to build a complete technology curriculum if you're covering these areas in more depth.

Related Resources to Teach Digital Citizenship

• What Is Internet Safety and Why Is It Important to Teach?
• 4 Best Digital Citizenship Lesson Plans for Middle School
• Top 4 Digital Citizenship Activities for Middle School
• The 5 Best Cyberbullying Resources for Middle School  

3. Google Suite Lessons

Example: Google Drive Bundle from Gavin Middleton

Because they’re easy to use and allow for quick, web-based collaboration, more and more teachers include the Google suite of applications in their middle school technology lesson plans. One example of a quality Google lesson plans provider is Gavin Middleton.

Gavin Middleton is a notable computer applications resource provider on Teachers Pay Teachers, the marketplace where instructors can buy, sell, and share classroom resources.

His Google Drive Bundle is a set of resources designed to help teach the Google Suite of applications for students in grades 6 and up.

These lesson plans cover all of the fundamentals of using Google applications, including:

• Files, Folders, and Sharing within Google Drive
• Google Docs
• Google Slides
• Google Sheets
• Google Drawings
• Google Forms
• Updates and Add-ons in Drive

When you use each lesson plan, you’ll be able to give your students a working knowledge of applications they’ll use for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and file sharing.

Gavin Middleton’s lesson plan bundle costs $19.95, a 40 percent savings over purchasing each of the resources individually.

If you cover the Google Suite in your technology lessons, there’s a high chance you’ll benefit from these materials. Considering the bundle contains over 500 pages of content, you’ll be able to teach many classes using just these resources.

Related Resources to Teach Google Apps

• How to Teach Google Docs in Middle School  
• Top 3 Google Docs Lessons for Middle School
• 3 Best Lesson Plans for Teaching Google Sheets in Your Middle School Classroom  
• 3 Places to Find Google Sheets Activities for Middle School Students
• Top 3 Google Slides Lesson Plans & How to Use Them

4. Microsoft Office Lessons

Example: Microsoft Office Mega Bundle from TechCheck Lessons

Microsoft Office lessons remain popular in many middle school technology classrooms because they introduce students to a suite of productivity tools they can use throughout their careers. A solid place to start is with TechCheck Lessons, another reputable seller offering lesson plans through Teachers Pay Teachers.

Designed for grades 7-11, TechCheck’s Microsoft Office Mega Bundle includes an incredible 856 pages of resources.

The bundle includes an extensive amount of Microsoft Office lesson plans and activities:

• 33 Word lessons
• 35 PowerPoint lessons
• 20 Excel lessons
• 9 Outlook activities

In the bundle, you’ll also receive other lesson plans to teach your students essential computer skills like keyboarding and digital citizenship.

The TechCheck Microsoft Office Mega Bundle is available for $45. With 856 pages of content, you should be able to teach an entire course on these computer applications. On the other hand, if you need just a few lessons on a specific Microsoft Office topic, you can purchase individual units from within the TechCheck Bundle.

These lesson plans are of great value for a teacher focusing on the Microsoft Office application suite and provide a wealth of content you can incorporate into your middle school technology classes.

Related Resources to Teach Microsoft Office

• 3 Top Places to Find Excel Lesson Plans for Middle School
• How to Teach Microsoft Word for Middle School
• The 4 Best PowerPoint Lesson Plans for Middle School
• 4 Best Microsoft Office Curriculum Resources for Middle and High School

Meet Your Technology Lesson Plan Needs with a Comprehensive Curriculum

Covering technology topics in a middle school classroom can often feel overwhelming. Whether you’re covering digital literacy or computer coding, you must give your students appropriate resources to help them learn and grow.

Depending on the subjects you need to cover, any of these technology lesson plans could be an excellent choice for your middle schoolers.

However, we’ve often heard from educators that students learn best when they have continuity in the learning process.

If this is true in your classroom, consider a comprehensive curriculum system, such as Business&ITCenter21 from AES. When you teach with a curriculum system, you’ll be able to cover a range of technology subject areas while providing consistency and continuity for your students.

Integrating Technology in Middle School

Creative educator lesson plans can help you provide your middle-school students with an engaging and creative approach to content learning..

Depending on your student's abilities, you may also want to explore sixth-grade lesson plans.

Design a Book Cover

Students create a new cover design for a book they are reading to demonstrate comprehension and explore character, plot, setting, symbolism, and conflict.

Do Judge a Book by Its Cover

In this lesson, students build visual literacy and engage in close reading as they investigate the text and imagery on book covers to evaluate whether they are worth reading.

Take Reading SERIESly

In this lesson, students investigate the potential of a book's characters, plot and themes and develop a proposal for turning it into a series.

Hero's Journey

Students will create an eBook identifying and explaining the events in a hero's journey in a text they are reading.

Character Scrapbook

Students will create a digital scrapbook that showcases the viewpoint of the main character.

Interview a Book Character

In this lesson, students craft an interview with a character from a book they are reading to demonstrate comprehension.

Create a Card Game

Students create a card game based on the storyline of a book they are reading.

Students will create a mock social network page from the viewpoint of the protagonist or antagonist in a novel they are reading.

Create a Visual Poem

Students will create a visual, or video, poem as they analyze the imagery in a text.

Publish a Digital Magazine

Students take the lead and design and create their own digital magazine.

The ABC’s of …

In this lesson, students create an alphabet book to share knowledge and information they have learned, organizing their writing using the ABC’s.

Vocabulary Trading Cards

In this lesson, students create vocabulary trading cards that use images to help other students master the meaning of new words.

Book Trailers

Students will develop a movie-style trailer for a book they have read.

Persuade with Emotional Appeals

Students will build persuasive skills and media literacy as they explore techniques of propaganda and develop commercials that persuade viewers.

Here's to Your Health

Students will research a health issue, write an essay, and transform their argument into a public service announcement.

Don’t Let the Earth Down

Students will write persuasively on a conservation issue and create a public service announcement to promote their cause.

Pop-up Plaza Proposal

In this lesson, students craft a proposal for a pop-up plaza or parklet where community members can relax, reflect and connect.

Persuasive and Presidential Writing

Students learn persuasive writing and presentation skills.

Save from the Flames

In this lesson, students share why they would save a specific book from the "firemen" in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

Infographics

Students will create an infographic poster to share knowledge and data about an issue they are studying.

Plan an Event

Students will plan for an event and create a proposal demonstrating how the event might look and how much it would cost.

Tessellation Sensation

Students will create their own tessellations study the mathematical concepts of patterns, planes, symmetry, and translation.

Surreal Symmetry

In this lesson, students use symmetry to create bizarre creatures around a self-portrait and then write a poem about the image.

Fastballs, Free Throws and Physics

Students will create an animated video that showcases how physics concepts apply to their favorite sport.

Healthier School Lunches

Students will learn about nutrition and create a sample menu for a week of healthy school lunches.

Virtual Museum

In this lesson, students create an online museum for their community.

Commemorative Ceremonies

Students develop a ceremony to honor a person or commemorate an event in history.

The President's Team

In this lesson, students nominate literary characters for each seat in the President's cabinet.

Artifact Interviews

Students will research a historical person or event and retell the story as an animated interview with an artifact from that time or place.

Tourism Trade Show

In this lesson, students develop materials to promote a specific region they are studying and make their pitch for a visit to this location at a tourism trade show.

Video Biographies

Students complete research on a historical figure and create a video biography of that person.

Postcards from the Past

In this lesson, students will create a collection of postcards that demonstrate how different people in the past may have viewed a single event or culture and analyze the range of perspectives in all class postcards to gain a deeper understanding of history.

Set SMART goals

In this lesson, students set SMART goals for the coming school year, identifying action items they can complete to achieve them.

Create a Vision Board

In this lesson, students create a vision board to turn their goals into words and images that represent what life will look and feel like when they reach them.

Political Cartoons Then and Now

Students will analyze and share the history of a political cartoon and then create their own cartoon about a current event.

Not Your Average Portfolio

Students will learn about the life of a famous person and create non-fiction porfolio about the individual.

Historical Journal

Students will create a historical journal from a fictional character's point of view.

Ancient Cultures News Broadcast

Students create a news broadcast while studying ancient civilizations.

A Day in the Life

Students will create a daily newspaper edition to learn about the politics and culture of ancient Rome.

More sites to help you find success in your classroom

Share your ideas, imagination, and understanding through writing, art, voice, and video.

Rubric Maker

Create custom rubrics for your classroom.

Pics4Learning

A curated, copyright-friendly image library that is safe and free for education.

Write, record, and illustrate a sentence.

Interactive digital worksheets for grades K-8 to use in Brightspace or Canvas.

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Kid Spark Education Blog

Stem for middle schoolers: a guide for teaching stem at middle school, how to inspire confident stem learners, engage middle school students in hands-on learning activities, and other resources for middle school stem teachers..

The middle school years mark the transition from elementary school to high school. In these few formative years, students transition from a single teacher to multiple teachers, from general studies to more focused subjects, and from a class of peers to multiple classes with numerous peers.

These transitions form the background of their STEM education and depending on how well a student adjusts, can influence the rest of their educational career.

STEM in middle school gives students opportunities to dive deeper into STEM subjects and explore more challenging concepts. Students at the middle school level can be introduced to complex engineering, robotics, prototyping, intermediate mathematics, computer science, and more.

Creating a middle school STEM program where students can thrive is essential to inspiring the next generation of STEM leaders.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• Why building STEM identity in middle school is so important (and how to do it)
• Middle school STEM activities that are engaging, hands-on, and designed to be challenging yet fun
• How to find the right STEM curriculum for your middle school

Ready to lead confident STEM students? Let’s jump in.

Building STEM Identity in Middle School

Once students reach middle school, they typically have a solid foundation and familiarity across most school subjects and now have the opportunity to explore those subjects in-depth. New concepts, courses, and interests quickly evolve alongside budding social lives that can also potentially affect students’ academic success.

Professionals in school counseling and psychotherapy have noted the “ drops in confidence, performance, and academic self-identity ” that middle schoolers face during these years of early adolescence, which is why strong STEM mentors are more necessary than ever in middle schools.

What is STEM Identity?

STEM identity describes how an individual sees themselves within the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

Some middle school students may have had early and sustained exposure to STEM subjects at the elementary level and come into their middle school STEM classes with confidence, curiosity, and ambitions to pursue a career in STEM. Others may feel like they’ve already struggled with science or mathematics earlier in their academic careers and that they’re “just not a math person.”

Many students exist somewhere within the spectrum when reaching middle school and can shift quickly and dramatically through social pressure, class difficulty, teacher influence, or any combination of the many changes happening at this time.

The great news is that STEM identity is not fixed! Students of all ages can build their STEM identities through mentorship, engaging and fun STEM activities, and positive learning experiences that build their confidence and curiosity in STEM subjects.

How to Build STEM Identity in Middle Schoolers

In middle school, students need engaging activities that activate their curiosity and challenge them in new ways. They also look for activities that are relevant to their lives, as in— How does this apply to the REAL world?

Here are a few ways to build and encourage STEM identity in middle school students:

• STEM Mentors

For students without a strong connection to STEM subjects, a mentor can make all the difference. Positively reinforcing students’ efforts, encouraging them to approach new challenges, and celebrating their successes can build better STEM identities and inspire students with the confidence they need to continue their own pursuit of STEM subjects.

STEM mentors also play a powerful role in introducing diversity within STEM. Our schoolbooks, media influences, and communities might portray a limited view of who traditionally plays a role in science, technology, engineering, or math. Introducing students to a diverse array of STEM mentors from underrepresented groups helps students of all backgrounds, genders, and abilities see themselves as future leaders in the world of STEM. 

• Diverse Challenges

Building STEM identity includes keeping students engaged with new STEM activities while keeping them at their learning edge . 

What is the learning edge? When we are faced with new concepts that are too challenging, we often experience feelings of frustration, anxiety, or confusion. The learning edge is a place within our comfort zone of learning that provides just enough of a challenge to be exciting and fun without posing too large a challenge to be discouraging.

Middle school students who are approached with too many challenges beyond their learning edge might handle these feelings by withdrawing, giving up, or acting out in other ways that prevent them from learning. To continue to build their STEM identity, students need diverse challenges that keep them on their learning edge.

• Engaging STEM Activities

All students, but especially middle school students, are interested to know how a classroom lesson applies to the real world. Are they really going to use math outside of school? When will they ever need these scientific facts after graduation?

A great way to preemptively answer these types of questions is by introducing engaging hands-on STEM activities that immediately immerse these subjects into the real world. Rather than reading and recitation, students get to see the real-world applications of STEM concepts and stay engaged while having fun in the classroom.

Middle School STEM Activities

With these helpful tips on supporting middle schoolers on their STEM journey, let’s explore some considerations and ideas for STEM activities in the middle school classroom.

Science doesn’t have to be all worksheets and balancing electrons. Have fun with hands-on STEM activities for your middle school students. Science builds critical thinking, problem solving, analytical thinking, and experimentation in students. Keep it fun by relating each subject to the real world and letting students do some experimenting of their own.

• Scientific Challenges

To encourage middle schoolers to explore concepts and experiment on their own, allow ample time for scientific challenges in the classroom. This might include letting students design their own science experiments using the scientific method, solving a mystery or hypothesis in groups or as a class, or exercising students divergent thinking by encouraging them to find as many creative solutions to solve a problem.

Scientific challenges are often built into curriculum activities ( like Kid Spark’s STEM comprehensive programs ) where students can apply a convergent learning skill they’ve just learned and can apply it to a new problem, finding numerous creative solutions. 

Challenges can also be constructed by teachers themselves, adding a game element or creative element to a scientific concept to move beyond memorization and into hands-on learning.

• Tie in the latest science news

There’s no better way to highlight a science lesson’s relevance than to directly tie into what’s happening in the world of science today. 

NASA provides helpful professional courses for educators K-12, online STEM toolkits, and STEM lesson plans on their STEM engagement website . Here, you can find several different resources for both teachers and students to explore STEM subjects related to what’s currently happening in science news. 

Middle school students are especially interested in technologies that are relevant. With the fast pace of technological advancements, this can be a challenge for many teachers to find new ways to engage students in technology-focused STEM activities. Here are a couple of ideas for the classroom in 2023:

• Leverage what they already know: computers

Middle schoolers are already well-versed in computers, and might already be familiar with computer science (CS) and coding on their own. Regardless of their familiarity, the application of computer science is something that is likely already aligned with their interests.

Google for Education offers resources for K-12 educators and CS activities for students in the classroom. The middle school level is a great time to introduce these concepts and provide creative activities for students to explore computer science.

• Connect technology to the real world

In one unit of Kid Spark’s middle school STEM program , students build an airplane model, then design and 3D print their own propeller. Over the course of multiple lessons, students learn to navigate a CAD system, design a three-dimensional prototype, and eventually print their custom airplane propeller. 

This process connects modern technology to a hands-on learning activity with both convergent and divergent activities included. Complete with comprehensive lesson plans, student workbooks, video tutorials, and unit assessments, teachers have all the tools they need for an engaging integrated STEM activity that keeps middle school students participating.

Engineering

It’s going to take more than legos to get middle schoolers engaged in engineering. Luckily, there are several ways to introduce more complex engineering schools that keep students challenged and at their learning edge.

• Think “movement”

Flying rockets, speeding soapbox cars, and engineering a soft landing to keep an egg intact are all examples of hands-on engineering activities for middle school. Exploring the concepts of inertia, velocity, and acceleration opens up a fascinating world of learning activities that combines both convergent and divergent learning.

When approaching engineering concepts like these in text, try to find a physical example to illustrate the concept in the classroom. If you or your students are limited in supplies or resources, consider participating in one hands-on activity as a class, dividing students into groups, or using recycled materials to illustrate these engineering concepts.

• How things work

Our natural curiosity enjoys learning about how things work. Introducing the inner workings of engineering can make students see the world in an entirely new way. So how do we explore these concepts? 

Structured engineering lesson plans with hands-on learning activities are a great way to introduce simple and complex mechanisms and machines. Because of the sequential nature of engineering concepts, we recommend a more structured and progressive approach to introduce new concepts, then let them build upon each other until students have a comprehensive understanding of how things work and can apply a variety of engineering principles to a single problem on their own.

This is best seen in our middle school STEM program where students work with reusable engineering components to build simple machines like levers, wheels, screws, and pulleys then move into compound machines with motors, motions, and gears.

For a sneak peek at what these lesson plans look like, click here .

Mathematics

Middle schoolers don’t typically enjoy the two-dimensional world of math on paper. To make mathematics fun and relevant, try to incorporate hands-on learning activities where students can apply their math knowledge to real-world problems, like:

• Geometry with their own engineered models

In a simple machines lesson of Kid Spark’s 6th-8th Grade Stem Program , students assemble a screw and learn how to calculate its mechanical advantage by measuring the different attributes of a circle. Through this hands-on activity, students have three-dimensional models to understand radius, diameter, and circumference, how to measure each, and how each makes a difference in the mechanical advantage of a screw.

By combining a real-world application and hands-on activity, this mathematical lesson comes to life and gives students an engaging STEM experience that is more memorable and impactful than measuring shapes in a textbook.

• Baking with fractions and ratios

Following a baking recipe provides a fun (and delicious) way to explore fractions, ratios, and conversions. Different variations of mathematical baking lessons might include following a no-bake recipe together as a class, having each student bring a recipe to convert and scale to then bake and share with the class, or forming groups of students to work together on a single recipe.

A real-world application of these mathematical concepts helps further cement the lessons of measurement, scale, ratios, and conversions while providing students with a fun and engaging activity.

Bring Kid Spark Education’s STEM Program to Your Middle School

Are you looking for an all-in-one solution for your middle school STEM program? Kid Spark Education can help plan your program today. 

At Kid Spark, we believe that accessibility and consistency to STEM education closes the divide in STEM inequities. With our comprehensive and progressive STEM programs from Pre-K through Grade 8, we provide all the tools you need as an educator including curriculum tools, engineering components, professional development, and complete lesson plans that meet NGSS standards. 

Explore our programs or connect with us today to learn more about Kid Spark’s STEM kits for your middle school.

Topics: STEM mentors , STEM Activities , STEM Education , middle school stem , Kid Spark Education , middle school , math , stem , 6th grade , 5th grade , science

Written By Jordani Sarreal

Would you like to receive more information about starting a kid spark stem program for your students , go beyond the buzzword with kid spark..

At Kid Spark Education, STEM isn't a buzzword: it's a powerful way to nurture students' natural curiosity; build confidence and skills in science, technology, engineering, and math; and foster abilities in collaboration, problem-solving, and communication. You, their teachers, are our most important partner in achieving our mission of preparing all children for a lifetime of learning about science and technology. The Kid Spark Blog is written by educators, for educators to be a resource in your toolbox so you can feel confident and capable in teaching STEM to your elementary students. 

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Edu News | January 26, 2022

24 stem lessons you can quickly deploy in the classroom.

Calling all teachers pressed for time, substitutes looking for classroom activities that don't require a lot of prep, and others hoping to keep students learning in especially chaotic times: We've got a new collection of lessons and activities that you can quickly deploy.

Read on to explore our collection of Quick and Easy STEM lessons and student activities , organized by grade band. Get everything you need to guide students through standards-aligned lessons featuring connections to real NASA missions and science as well as links to student projects, which can be led by teachers or assigned as independent activities.

Grades 9-12

Explore More

Make a Paper Mars Helicopter

In this lesson, students build a paper helicopter, then improve the design and compare and measure performance.

Subject Engineering

Time 30-60 mins

Student Project: Make a Paper Mars Helicopter

Build a paper helicopter, then see if you can improve the design like NASA engineers did when making the first helicopter for Mars.

What Tools Would You Take to Mars?

Students decide what they want to learn from a robotic mission to Mars and what tools they will put on their robot to accomplish their goals.

Subject Science

Rockets by Size

Students cut out, color and sequence paper rockets in a simple mathematics lesson on measurement.

Subject Math

Rocket Math

Students use rocket manipulatives to help them develop number sense, counting, addition and subtraction skills.

Tangram Rocket

Students use tangrams to create rockets while practicing shape recognition.

Time 1-2 hrs

Student Project: Build a Rover and More With Shapes

Use geometric shapes called tangrams to build a rover and other space-themed designs!

Time Less than 30 mins

Student Project: Build a Rocket and More With Shapes

Use geometric shapes called tangrams to build a rocket and other space-themed designs!

Mineral Mystery Experiment

Students explore the science behind an intriguing planetary feature by creating saline solutions and then observing what happens when the solutions evaporate.

Grades 2-12

Time 2 sessions of 30-60 mins

Student Project: Do a Mineral Mystery Experiment

Dissolve salts in water, then observe what happens when the water evaporates.

What Do You Know About Mars?

Students decide what they want to learn from a robotic mission to Mars.

Melting Ice Experiment

Students make predictions and observations about how ice will melt in different conditions then compare their predictions to results as they make connections to melting glaciers.

Parachute Design

Students design and test parachute landing systems to successfully land a probe on target.

Planetary Poetry

In this cross-curricular STEM and language arts lesson, students learn about planets, stars and space missions and write STEM-inspired poetry to share their knowledge of or inspiration about these topics.

Student Project: Write a Poem About Space

Are you a space poet, and you didn't even know it? Find out how to create your own poems inspired by space!

Ocean World: Earth Globe Toss Game

Students use NASA images and a hands-on activity to compare the amounts of land and surface water on our planet.

Simple Rocket Science Continued

Students gather data on a balloon rocket launch, then create a simple graph to show the results of the tests.

Spaghetti Anyone? Building with Pasta

Students use the engineering design process to build a structure to handle the greatest load and gain first-hand experience with compression and tension forces.

Student Project: Building With Spaghetti

Use spaghetti to build a tower modeled after the giant structures NASA uses to talk to spacecraft.

Simple Rocket Science

Students perform a simple science experiment to learn how a rocket works and demonstrate Newton’s third law of motion.

Soda-Straw Rockets

Students study rocket stability as they design, construct and launch paper rockets using soda straws.

Student Project: Make a Straw Rocket

Create a paper rocket that can be launched from a soda straw – then, modify the design to make the rocket fly farther!

Rocket Activity: Heavy Lifting

Students construct balloon-powered rockets to launch the greatest payload possible to the classroom ceiling.

Design a Robotic Insect

Students design a robotic insect for an extraterrestrial environment, then compare the process to how NASA engineers design robots for extreme environments like Mars.

Student Project: Design a Robotic Insect

Design a robotic insect to go to an extreme environment. Then, compare the design process to what NASA engineers do when building robots for Mars!

How Far Away Is Space?

Students use measurement skills to determine the scale distance to space on a map.

Student Project: How Far Away Is Space?

Stack coins and use your measurement skills to figure out the scale distance from Earth's surface to space.

Planetary Travel Time

Students will compute the approximate travel time to planets in the solar system using different modes of transportation.

The Ring Wing Glider

In this simple engineering design lesson, students turn a piece of paper into an aircraft wing and then try to improve upon their design.

Student Project: Make a Paper Glider

Turn a piece of paper into a glider inspired by a NASA design.

How Do We See Dark Matter?

Students will make observations of two containers and identify differences in content, justify their claims and make comparisons to dark matter observations.

Grades 6-12

Let's Go to Mars! Calculating Launch Windows

Students use advanced algebra concepts to determine the next opportunity to launch a spacecraft to Mars.

Find our full collection of more than 250 STEM educator guides and student activities in Teach and Learn .

For games, articles, and more activities from NASA for kids in upper-elementary grades, visit NASA Space Place and NASA Climate Kids .

Explore more educational resources and opportunities for students and educators from NASA STEM Engagement .

TAGS: Lessons , Teachers , Educators , Parents , Substitutes , Activities , Students , Science , Engineering , Quick and Easy

Kim Orr , Web Producer, NASA-JPL Education Office

Kim Orr is a web and content producer for the Education Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her pastimes are laughing and going on Indiana Jones style adventures.

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