Mass STEM Week

During this one-hour challenge, youth consider the effects of plastic pollution as they engineer filters to reduce plastic waste entering the ocean. Youth work in small groups and use everyday materials to create a filter that can catch plastic pollution as it enters a model bay.

Download Resources

• Activity Guide (PDF)
• Educator Slides (Google Slides)
• Comic (PDF)
• Print Materials (PDF) 

How-to Video Resources

• Prepare the Model Bay
• Test Filter

In this three-day challenge, students will consider the basic needs of plants (sunlight, air, water, and nutrients) and ways to protect the plant. Students will explore materials to determine what could be used in their design before they create, test, and improve their plant packages. The unit connects to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) 12 (ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns), as students consider how edible plants get to grocery stores and how packaging design can reduce food waste.

Download Resources

• Activity Challenge Brochure
• Mass STEM Week 2023 Educator Guide
• Activity Handouts
• Illustrated Story

The Museum of Science, Boston, and EiE® are proud to support this year’s Mass STEM Week theme, “See Yourself in STEM.” We take great pride in our mission, “To inspire a lifelong love of science in everyone,” and we believe that together we will create a generation of problem solvers for a better world. To allow educators and students alike to see themselves in STEM, the Museum of Science and EiE have developed an engineering design challenge for educators and students across the state. 

The design challenge focuses on plastic: what it is, how it’s made, its environmental consequences, and the benefits of making it biodegradable. This design challenge spans the 6–8 grade band. Students learn about the use of plastics in their school, consider the harms caused by plastic use, and design bioplastics with appropriate properties to replace common plastic objects, such as utensils, plates, cups, and cling wrap. 

Download Resources

• Mass STEM Week 2022Gr 6-8 Educator Guide
• Mass STEM Week 2022 Gr 6-8 Engineering Journal (PDF)
• Mass STEM Week 2022 Gr 6-8 Classroom Resources (PDF)

We believe that together we will create a generation of problem solvers for a better world. To allow educators and students alike to see themselves in STEM, the Museum of Science and EiE have developed three engineering design challenges for educators and students across the state. 

These unique Design Challenges span the following three grade bands: (1) PK–G2; (2) G3–G5; and (3) G6–G8. They contain considerations for age-appropriate scaffolds, allow for flexibility for implementation in virtual environment yet provide clear guidance for educators to adjust the complexity of each challenge based on the grade level of the students they service. 

• Mass STEM Week 2021 Educator Guide
• Engineering Design Process Poster
• Massachusetts Food Web Poster

PreK–2 

PreK through grade 2 students will learn about the needs of an animal that is native to Massachusetts. What does it need to live? How do humans impact its habitat? What can be done to protect it? Can we use the Engineering Design Process to find a solution? 

• PreK-2 Family Engineering Journal

G3–5 

Students in grades 3 through grade 5 will research various animals to identify and analyze what they need in order to survive within a local ecological network. As their investigation begins, students will be alerted about an increase of pollution in local waterways! How has this human impact affected our food web ecology? What can we do to help? Maybe we can use the Engineering Design Process! 

• Grades 3-5 Engineering Journal

Grades 6–8 

Students in grades 6-8 will learn about the water systems in their community and identify pollutants that can impact those systems. How does a stormwater system work? How do humans impact the quality of water? What can I do to help? Use the Engineering Design Process to create a solution. 

• Grades 6-8 Engineering Journal