Picture books provide great learning opportunities for STEM. A curriculum resource document gives several lessons in each grade level for K-6. The activities have learners read a book before applying the engineering design process to...

Don't be a drag. Learners work in groups to design boats that move slowly. The provided reason for the activity is that a fish caught on a fishing reel is pulling the boat, causing it to move too fast. The STEM activity teaches the class...

Eureka! Using the clay boats made in the previous lesson, learners investigate the idea of buoyancy and water displacement to finish the last installment of five in a Floaters and Sinkers unit. Their observations during the activity...

Potentially get all the way across the water. The fourth of five design challenges asks pupils to develop a plan for a paddle-powered boat that will store its energy. Given a limited number of supplies, the class members design, build,...

Whatever floats your boat—with some additional weight. The first activity in a five-part series challenges pupils to design a boat to hold pennies. Using the design process, learners design, build, and test their boats, making sure they...

Don't let the resource blow you away. Scholars build airboats from basic materials and collect data on how far the boats move. They refine their designs taking Newton's laws into consideration.

Find the right number of vectors to get to the finish line. Using a boat race scenario, pupils add multiples of the same vector together. The scholars use scalar multiplication to speed up the boats in an exciting race to the finish. 

Build a floating vessel capable of carrying cargo. Groups create a vessel that floats and can carry at least 10 pennies to model a mass transit system. After learning about buoyancy, density, and energy, they redesign their vessels in...

Planes, trains, cars, feet, boats, buses, and bikes. Sing along with a music video and watch hand-drawn animation that highlights modes of transportation. 

How did the Venetian gondola get its distinctive look? Using this fantastic animated video, your class will be amazed to see how a seemingly simple construction can illustrate so much about a particular culture and historical time period.

Hop, skip, jump, and roll! Hula hoops have a way of putting fun in motion. Young children interact in a variety of games involving small and large hula hoops. They will develop their motor skills and eye-hand coordination while playing...

Students analyze currents. In this Science lesson, students race small boats in a creek or stream. Students time the currents and collect organisms from the creek or stream.

Clay itself sinks, but clay boats float. Why? Young engineers build clay boats to learn about buoyancy. They test the weight the boats can hold using washers and then tweak their designs to make improvements, following the engineering...

Scholars build a boat using an assortment of materials such as foam plates, aluminum foil, and skewers, then test its buoyancy with pennies. Challenge boat builders to construct the strongest or fastest boat in a healthy competition with...

What kind of sailboat is that? A slideshow presentation outlines the history of sailboats with a series of pictures that demonstrate the design changes over the years, as well as the different classifications of sailboats. 

What should you always carry on a boat? Learners must solve ten addition and subtraction problems to solve this riddle. The equations include single and double-digit numbers, but no negative numbers are used. They also don't need to...

When water skiing or wake boarding, hand signals are the most effective way of communicating. Use this lesson on boat safety to ensure that your youngsters are using the proper precautions before engaging in water sports.

What are the basic first aid supplies that should be on a boat? What should be done when someone stops breathing and/or their heart stops beating? Lesson three is only one of twenty-two lessons on boat safety. This activity is about...

It takes muscle strength and muscle endurance to get up on a water ski or wake board, and to stay up. Lesson 9 out of this 22 lesson unit is about conditioning. A resource link at the bottom of the page allows you to view all the lesson...

There are so many way to get to school. Grover shows us how children get to school all over the world. This would be a good clip to show as an introduction to a lesson on compare and contrast, transportation, or global awareness.

Using boats along in the Port of Albany as the focus, learners practice adding single-digit numbers and interpreting data. This lesson comes with the worksheets, resource links, and other materials to make it a worthwhile experience.

Students examine what naval architects and marine engineers do.  In this engineering lesson students work in teams and design a boat with a sail structure. 

Students explore independent reading strategies. In this fiction guided reading lesson, students make predictions about the plot of the story Toby at Stony Bay, then read the book independently. Students confirm or reject their...

Tiny scientists test a variety of materials for their ability to float. They draw and describe the properties of each material. There are 10 activity sheets to be filled out, which may be too time consuming for kindergartners. Perhaps a...