STEM Activities for Teens
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S.T.E.M. stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. STEM Activities for Teens is the home for all the STEM content for middle and high school here at Blog, She Wrote.
These activities all represent concepts taught at a high school level and most have extension activities to challenge your students.
Below you can subscribe and get a set of 12 STEM activity/task cards for high schoolers (and middle school too).
Science STEM Activities for Teens
The science in STEM is a big category and includes all the science disciplines like:
- biology
- chemistry
- earth science
- physics
- environmental science
The list of links below is long. I hope you’ll find labs and lessons useful for your homeschool.
- 100 STEM Projects for Kids & Teens of All Ages– this post delivers on 100 STEM lessons and activities
- The Beginner’s Guide to Using a Microscope– tutorial on how to use a microscope with a video to show you best practices
- 3 Easy Steps to Observing Pond Life under a Microscope– how to collect and view microscopic pond organisms
- The Beginner’s Guide to Microscopic Pond Life– how to identify and learn about what you’ve seen in your pond water sample
- Observing Cells under a Microscope– observing plant cells using the onion as a representative.
- How to Capture & View Snowflakes under a Microscope– so much fun to see snowflakes under the microscope just like Snowflake Bentley. This includes detailed, practical advice on how to do it yourself!
- How to Observe Salt under a Microscope– simple observation from various kinds of salt
- Homeschool Microscope Lessons– the landing page for all of our microscope lessons with a freebie of a microscope observation sheet.
- Measuring Lung Capacity– how much air can you hold in your lungs?
- How to Determine the Frequency of a Trait– following Mendelian genetics to find out the occurrence of a trait
- Illustrating the Human Body– a creative approach to studying the human body
- Entomology: The Study of Insects– this is a five day series on how to study entomology and make a classic insect collection
- The Snake Project– when my daughter was in 8th grade she embarked on a year of life science through the lens of her wild caught snake. The result was fabulous!
- Gardening Science– a collection of posts on teaching STEM using gardening
- Gardening as a Tool for Teaching Science– what science concepts can you teach through gardening? This post tells all!
- Art & Nature with Beatrix Potter– one of my most popular posts all about her life and vocation which included both art and science
- Tips for Botanical Drawing– how to approach botanical drawing
- How to Make a Plant Journal– another version of a journal recording plants for any occasion
- Nature Journal Calendars– a year long set of calendars with activities and ideas for studying nature. You can download individual calendars or subscribe and download the calendars as a bundle.
- How to Collect & Find Animal Tracks– have you ever collected an animal track or set a track trap?
- Calculating Density– a lab on measuring mass and volume to calculate density of non-regular objects
- Measuring the Velocity of a Marble– an old school (non-robotics) lab on finding the distanced traveled and the time it took for a marble to go on a track
- Calculating Velocity of a Marble– the follow up activity to use the measurements to calculate velocity
- Trail Planning Using Topographic Quadrangle Maps– earth science topographic lab on designing a recreational trail
- Comparing the Accuracy of Liquid Measurement Tools– another popular post on figuring out which volumetric tool is the most accurate
- Make a Batik– inserting a little art and design (as always for one of my kids), this is an activity using dye chemistry and a resist
Technology STEM Activities for Teens
Technology is a big part of our homeschool. These posts give ideas for resources. I’ll also be sharing tech based projects here.
- Resources for Putting the Technology in STEM– our favorite tech resources for projects
- Resources for Learning with LEGO Mindstorms– Mindstorms is a huge project area at our house from FIRST LEGO League to home projects.
- 6 Reasons to Invest Big in STEM for Your Homeschool– Hesitant to make the big ticket purchases for STEM items? Here’s a list of six reasons to go all in.
Engineering STEM Activities for Teens
Engineering involves problem solving, design, and building. The posts below all emphasize the engineering portion of STEM.
Each activity demonstrates a higher level concept and some include calculations and applications that further develop a concept at the high school level.
- The Beginner’s Guide to Learning about Gears– learn about the types of gears and how gears enable work, includes building and moving with gears
- The Beginner’s Guide to Experimenting with Torque– a lab activity to measure torque
- Make a Marble Speed Trap with LEGO Mindstorms– use robotics to measure the distance traveled and the time it took for a marble to go that distance in order to calculate the marble’s velocity
- Making STEM Connections with Gravity Jousting– build and joust with small car racers
Math STEM Activities for Teens
For a full run down of the math content, check out my Homeschool Math page. Below are some highlights of popular posts.
- Math Journaling in Homeschool Math– notebooking with math is a great way to master concepts and apply math
- Life of Fred Homeschool Math– a look at how we use Fred full time in our homeschool
- The Making of a Wizard & the Crafty Side of Math– engaging highly creative kids with math
- Math on the Level– how we incorporated this math maturation, family math concept in the early years
- Homeschool Practice with CTC Math– using the popular program CTC Math as practice with other math programs
- Get Rid of Math Anxiety Once & for All– another look at how CTC Math has reduced math anxiety in our house
- Teaching & Mentoring High School Math– how to work math in the older grades
- SAT & ACT Prep with Online Math Courses– a post on our favorite test prep boot camp
- Learning High School Math with Life of Fred– our kids have used Fred through high school for a robust high school math program and excellent results on college entrance exams
12 Free STEM Task Cards for Teens
Need a STEM pick me up?
Subscribers get a set of 12 STEM Task Cards related to all the areas of STEM. Each task card contains a prompt along with suggested materials for each task.
The 12 task are activities appropriate for high school or middle school and match concepts in chemistry, physics, earth science, biology, math, and engineering.
You’ll receive the set of 12 task cards and support for homeschooling high school math and science.
STEM Task Card Teacher Guide
If you need some guidance on how to use the 12 STEM Activity Cards, I’ve written an eBook teacher guide.
Inside the teacher guide, you’ll find:
- Full Lesson plan– for each task or activity, so you know how each activity or task works and how to implement the tasks with your students
- Explanations of the concepts– being introduced or reviewed in each task or activity, so you be able to teach the lesson with confidence
- Solutions for problems– given in the tasks, so you can check progress
- Resource sheets– for the activities so you don’t have to find them yourself