Hacking STEM Lessons & Hands-On Activities
Build affordable inquiry and project-based activities to visualize data across science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum. Middle school standards-based lesson plans written by teachers for teachers.
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Celebrating 20 years of living in space
Microsoft Education in partnership with NASA have developed this collection of lesson plans to celebrate the astronauts’ contributions to improving life both in space and on Earth.
VIEW LESSON COLLECTION -
Making party lights using circuits and switches
Students learn the basics of electrical circuits and switches by building a simple string of lights. Then using Excel, they choreograph their own light patterns that they can record and present.
CREATE PARTY LIGHTS -
HACKATHON LESSON 
Building models to understand and mitigate brain injury
Students learn about the regions of the brain, their function and visualize what happens when the brain collides with the skull. Then, they design protection that mitigates the effects of the brain colliding with the skull. Finally, students are encouraged to take the Think Taylor #TTPledge to commit to protecting their brains.
MAKE A BRAIN IMPACT SIMULATOR -
PARTNER EDITION 
How do sharks swim?
Students explore how sharks move within three-dimensional space. Working with physical and digital models, students learn how sharks change direction using rotations on the z, y, and x axes (i.e., yaw, pitch, and roll). Students can write code, build sensors, create in 3D, analyze data, and experience mixed reality.
EXPLORE SHARK MOVEMENT -
Harnessing electricity to communicate
Students build a telegraph out of everyday objects to understand electrical energy and its role in communications. Then, they use a customized workbook to send and receive information in Morse code using their telegraph.
Make a Telegraph -
Building machines that emulate humans
Students build robotic models from cardboard and straws to understand the anatomy and biomechanics of the human hand. Then, they conduct trials visualizing data in Excel to generate new ideas for improving its performance.
Make A Robotic Hand
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Partnering with NASA STEM on Station
Next year, the world will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of humans living aboard the International Space Station. During their tenure, astronauts have been researching and conducting experiments in pursuit of their mission of improving life both in space and on Earth. Microsoft Education, in partnership with the NASA STEM on Station team, present a collection of middle-school and high-school lesson plans to commemorate this historic milestone. Developed around challenges astronauts face when living in space, these hands-on, standards-aligned materials challenge students while building future ready skills.
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