STEAM Teaching Resources
Bring STEM and STEAM learning to life in your classroom with engineering activities for kids, STEM challenges, printable worksheets and more resources designed by teachers for teachers.
This collection of printables and digital activities includes curriculum-aligned resources that will help you meet state standards while you're getting students hooked on science, math, and more. In addition to being created by teachers, each resource has undergone a rigorous review by the Teach Starter teacher team. That means they're classroom-ready — so you can cut down on planning time!
Looking for tips on integrating STEM into your lessons? Or maybe you're just trying to figure out how we ended up with STEM, STEAM and STEMM? Read on for tips from the Teach Starter teacher team!
What Is STEM Education in Elementary or Middle School?
STEM education is defined by its focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and that applies to education from K through 12. But when it comes to teaching these skillsets to students who are just beginning to understand basic math and science, you're not teaching Boolean logic or even doing the popular egg drop activity.
But don't feel flummoxed! Elementary STEM education is laying a foundation for secondary STEM teachers to build on, and that's important.
STEM education can include:
- Introduction of the scientific method
- Basic science experiments
- Building digital literacy skills
- Math problems based on real-world applications
- Coding and algorithms
- Critical thinking and problem-solving activities
What Does STEM Stand For?
Your school may refer to this sort of education as STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Why STEM?
The acronym has been used in education since the early 2000s when the National Science Foundation began using the four-letter term to refer to the concept of interdisciplinary education.
What Does STEAM Stand For?
STEM isn't the only term for teaching children these concepts, of course!
Your school may refer to this part of the curriculum as STEAM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics. You might even see it written as ST∑@M™.
The addition of the "A" to STEAM to include art is often credited to Georgette Yakman, a Virginia-based teacher, who has said that STEAM is not a replacement of STEM.
Instead, Yakman says, "The liberal arts add the ‘who & why’ to the ‘what & how’ of STEM."
STEM vs STEAM vs. STEMM — What's the Difference?
There is nothing the education system likes as much as a good acronym, so which one should you be using these days? We have touched on STEM and STEAM, but what is STEMM? And which one should you be using?
- STEM — short for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math — is often considered the OG here with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) showing up as a relatively recent addition, but the truth is STEM and STEAM have both been around for awhile.
- STEAM and STEM were both proposed in 2012 by the United States National Research Council as a new form of teaching K-12 science education. The goal was to focus on deep and collaborative learning to build a strong foundation for students that would prepare them for a technology-heavy working environment in the future.
- STEMM is the newcomer here. It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine. Educators and STEMM policymakers say the inclusion of that second M should also come with a focus on diversity and inclusion.
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STEM Challenge Cards - Upper Grades
A set of 20 STEM challenge cards for students in the upper grades.
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STEM Investigation - Build A Bridge
A STEM investigation about the construction of bridges using everyday materials, embedded in a real-life situation.
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STEM Investigation - Build A Raft
A STEM investigation about floating and waterproof materials, embedded in a fun fairy tale story.
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STEM Challenge Cards - Lower Grades
A set of 20 STEM challenge cards for students.
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STEAM Display Banner Set
A banner set to display in the classroom when learning about STEAM.
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Famous Landmarks STEM Challenge Cards
A set of 8 famous landmarks STEM challenge cards encouraging students to build famous structures.
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Build a Pirate Ship STEM Challenge for Upper Elementary
Challenge upper elementary students to build a pirate ship with a fun (and engaging) STEM challenge created by teachers, for teachers.
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Build a Pirate Ship STEM Challenge for 2nd & 3rd Grades
This build a pirate ship challenge is the perfect STEM activity to get second and third graders thinking out of the box (and the boat!).
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Build a Pirate Ship STEM Challenge for Lower Elementary
Challenge kindergarten or first grade students to build a pirate shape with a STEM challenge designed to test their creativity.
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Visible Learning Goals PowerPoint - STEM
Use this 19-slide PowerPoint to help you select learning goals for your STEM lessons.
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Spacecraft Design Task
A fun design task that encourages creative thinking and design engineering.