OVERVIEW
Students learn science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and how they are related to specific topics.
– The principles of STEM education can be applied to almost any thing and any place. The following lesson plan is STEM-centered and generic enough to be used for a variety of class trips.
– Although any class trip could warrant STEM study, the following are suggestions for STEM-specific class trips: museums, planetariums, laboratories, botanical gardens, power plants, observatories, preserves, indoor centers with manipulatives, zoos, aquariums.
Questions to ask staff: How does this work? What would make this work better?
Describe the use of mathematics, technology, and science in what you see around you.
Observe how technology is making something in front of you possible.
Opinion: Engineers are constantly solving everyday problems. Which engineering feat do you think has made the biggest impact on society? Why?
Compare the technology of information sharing from the past to today.
Challenge: Investigate the simple machines located within the items around you. Explore how they are incorporated into each item.