2 Years of S.T.E.A.M. for Your Classroom!: 93 Hands-On Aerospace Activities in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math for Middle-school Science Teachers!
Spark Curiosity & Creativity with 329-page Hands-On S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) Activities for Middle School Students! A "Tip-of-the-Iceberg" Resource for Teachers with 93+ Hands-On Student Activities! See Table of Contents.
Aligned with all 3 dimensions (Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Best Practices and Crosscutting Concepts) of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS):
Physical Sciences (MS-PS) Earth and Space Sciences (MS-ESS) Engineering, Technology, Applications of Science (MS-ETS) Life Science (MS-LS)ADAPTABLE FOR ALL GRADE LEVELS and INDIVIDUAL & GROUP LEARNING!
Web Links to Acquire FREE, LOW COST & Easily Accessible Materials:
SOME of the Experiential Learning Activities Include:
Modulating a LASER-Beam to Send Music Across the Classroom or Gym! Powering a $5 Ultrasonic Ranging Circuit using Distance = Rate x Time formula! Building a $4 Morse Code Device to Send & Decode Messages between Students! Coding a $6 Arduino Circuit Card to Blink an LED! Competing, Designing & Launching a Scale Model SpaceX Starship with a Paperclip Payload! Replicating Mark Watney's ("The Martian" movie) Hexadecimal / ASCII Communications with Earth! 3-D Printing a Scale Model PLA Lunar House Using an $8 3-D Printing Pen! Causing Minerals to Fluoresce and emit Vibrant Visible Light under UV light due to Atomic Electron Orbital Transitions---leading to discussions of Periodic Table, Atoms, the Elements! Visually Mapping the International Altitude Where Space Begins using a 2-D Map and some Coins! Demonstrating Life Sciences "Persistence of Vision" of the Human Eye with a spinning LED Clock---students make their own paper demonstration! Pressurizing The World's Cheapest ($20) Space Suit while Showing Real Suit Components ($12 Million) Needed to Live in Space---one lucky student wears the suit! Calculating the Diameter of the Sun using a Student-Built Pin-Hole Camera! Holding REAL MOON ROCKS (3.5 Billion-Year-Old---on FREE 2-week Loan From NASA) for your Classroom!---Meteorite Samples Too! Receiving 30 FREE Space Mission Patches for your classroom and Students Design Their Own---over 850 teachers in 24 countries have received FREE mission patches already! Launching Indoor-Safe Perrigo Rockets to Demonstrate Newton's 3rd Law! Hiking a 1:10 Billion Scale Solar System!---You'll need a Large Field! Creating Unique Soap-Bubble-Paint Solar Artwork and Revealing Hidden Features using UV Light---highly artistic activity! Measuring Plasma Radio Waves using a Radio, Smart Phone, CFL Bulb! Experimenting with Plant Growth using purchased Simulated Lunar & Mars Soil! Requesting Samples of REAL SPACE SUIT MATERIAL LAYERS for you to keep for educational lessons in your classroom! Creating a Dry-Ice Comet with a Tail---Literally Very Cool (-78.5C or -109.2F)! Duplicating Sir William Herschel's Discovery of IR Light with a Prism & Digital Thermometers---prism, 2 low-cost thermometers, copy paper box and sunshine! Visiting & Climbing into the Cockpit of a Small Plane at your Local General Aviation Airport!---local flight instructors explain parts of a plane! Hosting a Fly-Off Competition with 49 Paper Airplane Designs! Understanding 32 Examples of The Scientific Method in our World!Brought to you by Kevin M. Caruso...
Electrical Engineer, FAA-Licensed Private Pilot,29-Year NASA Aerospace Education Volunteer,
former 9-year NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador,
10-Year Guest Presenter in Hawaii's “Journey Through The Universe”
Informal STEAM Educator.
From the Publisher
HANDS-ON S.T.E.A.M Science Activities for Middle-School Students!
Power up and experiment with this inexpensive ultrasonic ranging module to measure distances to objects in centimeters. Read the display in centimeters. This module transmits and receives ultrasonic waves which simulates the way Bats measure distances to objects as they fly. Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (docking distance readouts)
Pressurize the World's Cheapest Space Suit in your classroom while passing around real space suit sample materials. Each component of this cheap model space suit represents part of a real space suit which keeps astronauts alive in space. It is pressurized using a leaf blower from the foot as a finale. Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (space suit design)
Build this $4 Morse Code Simulator to learn the history of communication and demonstrate the International Morse Code used aboard the Titanic and in Hollywood Independence Day Movie. Students practice sending and decoding messages. Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (back-up communications)
Using an $8 3D Printing Pen, students can design and build a scale model house from inexpensive easily ordered PLA plastic material. This inexpensively demonstrates how 3D printing will likely be used for the First Mission to Mars! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (constructing houses and tools on the Moon and Mars)
Hands-On Learning with LASERs, Lunar & Mars Soil Simulants, Sitting in the Cockpit of a Small Plane!
On Dec 18, 2023, NASA Sent a "Cat Video" 19 million miles to Earth by LASER Beam! Just Like NASA, Students assemble materials and learn how to modulate LASER light to send Music across their classroom or gym! All materials and instructions are detailed inside! Learn about LASER Light, Communications, Amplitude Modulation, Electronic Circuits! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (space laser communications).
Life Science: Experiment with inexpensive Mars and Lunar Soil Simulants from 5 different laboratories to perform Life Science Plant Growth Studies and learn about the mineral content and differences between Mars and the Moon! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (growing plants on Moon and Mars---see recent Chinese Cotton Seeds Growing on the moon!)
Learn About & Demonstrate the property of Diamagnetic Pyrolytic Graphite Levitating on powerful Neodymium Magnets. Learn about Magnetism, Lines of Force, Magnetic Materials, DiaMagnetic Materials, Non-Magnetic Materials. Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators.
Imagine Sitting in the Cockpit of a Little Plane at your local General Aviation Airport near your school! The Author is a Private Pilot who hosted many student/parent visits to local airports where flight instructors (for FREE) explained the parts of a plane and students sat in the cockpit to learn about flying and the instruments! This is hands-on real world experiential science education! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. The science of flight and flight controls, Bernoulli's Law.
Hands-On Battery Science, Persistence of Vision Life Science, Visible Spectrum, Periodic Table!
Build a Penny Battery Using 6 pennies, cardboard, salt, water, electrical tape, sandpaper! Then light up an LED! Learn about circuits and batteries and what makes them work! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (batteries for space).
Learn about persistence of vision using a piece of cardboard and a rubber band. Then watch a demonstration using an inexpensive spinning line of blinking LEDs transforming into a clock face! Simply amazing how the human eye works! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space & Life Science (vision systems).
Using $1 diffraction gratings and a cardboard box, students build their own spectrometers and view classroom light sources to see the fingerprint spectra of various light sources and elements---leading to a discussion of the periodic table and how we know what stars are made of without having to visit them in person! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (spectroscopy and the electromagnetic spectrum and periodic table of elements).
Students Study the Science of Fluorescence (Glowing Rocks & Minerals) in Vibrant Visible Colors Under UV Light while learning about Atoms, Elements, The Periodic Table, Electron Shells, Valence Electrons, Photons, and the Electromagnetic Spectrum! Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet Rocks! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (elements, atoms, the periodic table, what the universe is made of).
Hands-On Electronics, Battery Science, Circuits, Comets!
Purchase a $6 Arduino Circuit Card and connect to any laptop computer to learn how to program using FREE software to control over 30 inexpensive sensors involving sound, light, humidity, soil moisture, and more! Inexpensive way to learn to code and program microprocessors! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (electronics of spacecraft).
Buy some Lemons. Then use inexpensive zinc (nails) and copper (money) to produce a Lemon (or other fruit battery) to power an LED! Experiment with various fruits and vegetables to find the bests battery! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (batteries for use in space and electrical circuits).
Design then apply inexpensive copper tape to a piece of paper or cardboard to create a circuit for your battery-powered LED. Learn about series circuits, parallel circuits, switches, LEDs. This can lead to a discussion about home wiring and how it works! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (electrical circuits aboard every spacecraft).
Very COLD! Dry Ice is Minus -109.2 Degrees F or -78.5 degrees C. Using Safety Goggles and heavy gloves, students crush dry ice then add dirt and water to create their own simulated comets! Each one is unique! Using a hair dryer they can create a comet tail as well! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Astrophysics & Space Science (comets, astro-materials science).
Wow! Still More Hands-On Activities from the book!
Learn about the 1st Space Patent: A Drinking Cup! Liquids on Earth behave nicely! Liquids in space in microgravity behave differently! Learn how Astronaut Don Pettit and team invented the 1st drinking cup aboard the International Space Station! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (Inventing).
Learn all about Runway Markings at airports around the world! Did you know that runways are aligned with the magnetic compass directions? This means the opposite end of Runway 36 (for 360 degrees North) is Runway 18 (180 degrees South) and each set of lines is spaced 500 feet down the runway, telling pilots how far they've travelled as they are taking off or landing! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (Earth's magnetic field, compasses, directions, landing strips on Earth, The Moon, Mars).
Teachers! Get Certified to bring MOON ROCKS & SOIL & METEORITES to your classroom on FREE 2-Week Loan from NASA! Students can hold a real 3.5 Billion-Year-Old Piece of the Moon! Each Lunar Sample Educational Disk contains 3 rock samples: Basalt, Breccia, Anorthosite, AND 3 soil samples: Highlands, Mare, and Orange Soil (Apollo 17). Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Lesson Planning for Educators, Astrophysics, space science, astro-materials curation).
Draw your own circuits using conductive ink to light up an LED! Lean about low-cost Circuit Scribe devices: Conductive Ink Pen, LED module, Switch Module, Battery Module, Dimmer Module. Amazing and Fun to draw electrical circuits and learn how electricity works! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (circuits for use aboard spacecraft).
ASIN : B0CKMJNX3X
Publisher : Kevin M Caruso (October 6, 2023)
Language : English
Paperback : 329 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8989157600
Reading age : 10 - 18 years
Item Weight : 2.08 pounds
Dimensions : 8.5 x 0.75 x 11 inches
Price: $19.95
(as of Feb 25, 2025 12:55:21 UTC – Details)
Spark Curiosity & Creativity with 329-page Hands-On S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) Activities for Middle School Students! A “Tip-of-the-Iceberg” Resource for Teachers with 93+ Hands-On Student Activities! See Table of Contents.
Aligned with all 3 dimensions (Disciplinary Core Ideas, Science and Engineering Best Practices and Crosscutting Concepts) of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS):
Physical Sciences (MS-PS)
Earth and Space Sciences (MS-ESS)
Engineering, Technology, Applications of Science (MS-ETS)
Life Science (MS-LS)
ADAPTABLE FOR ALL GRADE LEVELS and INDIVIDUAL & GROUP LEARNING!
Web Links to Acquire FREE, LOW COST & Easily Accessible Materials:
SOME of the Experiential Learning Activities Include:
Modulating a LASER-Beam to Send Music Across the Classroom or Gym!
Powering a $5 Ultrasonic Ranging Circuit using Distance = Rate x Time formula!
Building a $4 Morse Code Device to Send & Decode Messages between Students!
Coding a $6 Arduino Circuit Card to Blink an LED!
Competing, Designing & Launching a Scale Model SpaceX Starship with a Paperclip Payload!
Replicating Mark Watney’s (“The Martian” movie) Hexadecimal / ASCII Communications with Earth!
3-D Printing a Scale Model PLA Lunar House Using an $8 3-D Printing Pen!
Causing Minerals to Fluoresce and emit Vibrant Visible Light under UV light due to Atomic Electron Orbital Transitions—leading to discussions of Periodic Table, Atoms, the Elements!
Visually Mapping the International Altitude Where Space Begins using a 2-D Map and some Coins!
Demonstrating Life Sciences “Persistence of Vision” of the Human Eye with a spinning LED Clock—students make their own paper demonstration!
Pressurizing The World’s Cheapest ($20) Space Suit while Showing Real Suit Components ($12 Million) Needed to Live in Space—one lucky student wears the suit!
Calculating the Diameter of the Sun using a Student-Built Pin-Hole Camera!
Holding REAL MOON ROCKS (3.5 Billion-Year-Old—on FREE 2-week Loan From NASA) for your Classroom!—Meteorite Samples Too!
Receiving 30 FREE Space Mission Patches for your classroom and Students Design Their Own—over 850 teachers in 24 countries have received FREE mission patches already!
Launching Indoor-Safe Perrigo Rockets to Demonstrate Newton’s 3rd Law!
Hiking a 1:10 Billion Scale Solar System!—You’ll need a Large Field!
Creating Unique Soap-Bubble-Paint Solar Artwork and Revealing Hidden Features using UV Light—highly artistic activity!
Measuring Plasma Radio Waves using a Radio, Smart Phone, CFL Bulb!
Experimenting with Plant Growth using purchased Simulated Lunar & Mars Soil!
Requesting Samples of REAL SPACE SUIT MATERIAL LAYERS for you to keep for educational lessons in your classroom!
Creating a Dry-Ice Comet with a Tail—Literally Very Cool (-78.5C or -109.2F)!
Duplicating Sir William Herschel’s Discovery of IR Light with a Prism & Digital Thermometers—prism, 2 low-cost thermometers, copy paper box and sunshine!
Visiting & Climbing into the Cockpit of a Small Plane at your Local General Aviation Airport!—local flight instructors explain parts of a plane!
Hosting a Fly-Off Competition with 49 Paper Airplane Designs!
Understanding 32 Examples of The Scientific Method in our World!
Brought to you by Kevin M. Caruso…
Electrical Engineer, FAA-Licensed Private Pilot,
29-Year NASA Aerospace Education Volunteer,
former 9-year NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador,
10-Year Guest Presenter in Hawaii’s “Journey Through The Universe”
Informal STEAM Educator.
From the Publisher
HANDS-ON S.T.E.A.M Science Activities for Middle-School Students!
Ultrasonic Ranging Project!
Power up and experiment with this inexpensive ultrasonic ranging module to measure distances to objects in centimeters. Read the display in centimeters. This module transmits and receives ultrasonic waves which simulates the way Bats measure distances to objects as they fly. Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (docking distance readouts)
World’s Cheapest Space Suit!
Pressurize the World’s Cheapest Space Suit in your classroom while passing around real space suit sample materials. Each component of this cheap model space suit represents part of a real space suit which keeps astronauts alive in space. It is pressurized using a leaf blower from the foot as a finale. Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (space suit design)
Morse Code Simulator Light/Sound!
Build this $4 Morse Code Simulator to learn the history of communication and demonstrate the International Morse Code used aboard the Titanic and in Hollywood Independence Day Movie. Students practice sending and decoding messages. Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (back-up communications)
3D-Printed Lunar/Mars House!
Using an $8 3D Printing Pen, students can design and build a scale model house from inexpensive easily ordered PLA plastic material. This inexpensively demonstrates how 3D printing will likely be used for the First Mission to Mars! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (constructing houses and tools on the Moon and Mars)
Hands-On Learning with LASERs, Lunar & Mars Soil Simulants, Sitting in the Cockpit of a Small Plane!
Send Music Over a LASER Beam!
On Dec 18, 2023, NASA Sent a “Cat Video” 19 million miles to Earth by LASER Beam! Just Like NASA, Students assemble materials and learn how to modulate LASER light to send Music across their classroom or gym! All materials and instructions are detailed inside! Learn about LASER Light, Communications, Amplitude Modulation, Electronic Circuits! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (space laser communications).
Mars and Lunar Soil Simulant!
Life Science: Experiment with inexpensive Mars and Lunar Soil Simulants from 5 different laboratories to perform Life Science Plant Growth Studies and learn about the mineral content and differences between Mars and the Moon! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (growing plants on Moon and Mars—see recent Chinese Cotton Seeds Growing on the moon!)
Magnetic Levitation!
Learn About & Demonstrate the property of Diamagnetic Pyrolytic Graphite Levitating on powerful Neodymium Magnets. Learn about Magnetism, Lines of Force, Magnetic Materials, DiaMagnetic Materials, Non-Magnetic Materials. Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators.
Visit a General Aviation Airport!
Imagine Sitting in the Cockpit of a Little Plane at your local General Aviation Airport near your school! The Author is a Private Pilot who hosted many student/parent visits to local airports where flight instructors (for FREE) explained the parts of a plane and students sat in the cockpit to learn about flying and the instruments! This is hands-on real world experiential science education! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. The science of flight and flight controls, Bernoulli’s Law.
Hands-On Battery Science, Persistence of Vision Life Science, Visible Spectrum, Periodic Table!
Build a Penny Battery!
Build a Penny Battery Using 6 pennies, cardboard, salt, water, electrical tape, sandpaper! Then light up an LED! Learn about circuits and batteries and what makes them work! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (batteries for space).
Persistence of Vision Life Sciences
Learn about persistence of vision using a piece of cardboard and a rubber band. Then watch a demonstration using an inexpensive spinning line of blinking LEDs transforming into a clock face! Simply amazing how the human eye works! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space & Life Science (vision systems).
Build a Spectrometer!
Using $1 diffraction gratings and a cardboard box, students build their own spectrometers and view classroom light sources to see the fingerprint spectra of various light sources and elements—leading to a discussion of the periodic table and how we know what stars are made of without having to visit them in person! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (spectroscopy and the electromagnetic spectrum and periodic table of elements).
Fluorescent Rocks & Minerals!
Students Study the Science of Fluorescence (Glowing Rocks & Minerals) in Vibrant Visible Colors Under UV Light while learning about Atoms, Elements, The Periodic Table, Electron Shells, Valence Electrons, Photons, and the Electromagnetic Spectrum! Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet Rocks! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (elements, atoms, the periodic table, what the universe is made of).
Hands-On Electronics, Battery Science, Circuits, Comets!
Program an Arduino Circuit!
Purchase a $6 Arduino Circuit Card and connect to any laptop computer to learn how to program using FREE software to control over 30 inexpensive sensors involving sound, light, humidity, soil moisture, and more! Inexpensive way to learn to code and program microprocessors! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (electronics of spacecraft).
Build a Lemon Battery w/ LED!
Buy some Lemons. Then use inexpensive zinc (nails) and copper (money) to produce a Lemon (or other fruit battery) to power an LED! Experiment with various fruits and vegetables to find the bests battery! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (batteries for use in space and electrical circuits).
Copper Circuit Lights an LED!
Design then apply inexpensive copper tape to a piece of paper or cardboard to create a circuit for your battery-powered LED. Learn about series circuits, parallel circuits, switches, LEDs. This can lead to a discussion about home wiring and how it works! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (electrical circuits aboard every spacecraft).
Make a Dry Ice Comet!
Very COLD! Dry Ice is Minus -109.2 Degrees F or -78.5 degrees C. Using Safety Goggles and heavy gloves, students crush dry ice then add dirt and water to create their own simulated comets! Each one is unique! Using a hair dryer they can create a comet tail as well! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Astrophysics & Space Science (comets, astro-materials science).
Wow! Still More Hands-On Activities from the book!
1st Space Patent! Drinking Cup
Learn about the 1st Space Patent: A Drinking Cup! Liquids on Earth behave nicely! Liquids in space in microgravity behave differently! Learn how Astronaut Don Pettit and team invented the 1st drinking cup aboard the International Space Station! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (Inventing).
Runway Markings!
Learn all about Runway Markings at airports around the world! Did you know that runways are aligned with the magnetic compass directions? This means the opposite end of Runway 36 (for 360 degrees North) is Runway 18 (180 degrees South) and each set of lines is spaced 500 feet down the runway, telling pilots how far they’ve travelled as they are taking off or landing! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (Earth’s magnetic field, compasses, directions, landing strips on Earth, The Moon, Mars).
Moon Rocks for your Classroom
Teachers! Get Certified to bring MOON ROCKS & SOIL & METEORITES to your classroom on FREE 2-Week Loan from NASA! Students can hold a real 3.5 Billion-Year-Old Piece of the Moon! Each Lunar Sample Educational Disk contains 3 rock samples: Basalt, Breccia, Anorthosite, AND 3 soil samples: Highlands, Mare, and Orange Soil (Apollo 17). Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Lesson Planning for Educators, Astrophysics, space science, astro-materials curation).
Draw Your Own Circuits!
Draw your own circuits using conductive ink to light up an LED! Lean about low-cost Circuit Scribe devices: Conductive Ink Pen, LED module, Switch Module, Battery Module, Dimmer Module. Amazing and Fun to draw electrical circuits and learn how electricity works! Scientific Experiments & Projects for Educators. Space Science (circuits for use aboard spacecraft).
ASIN : B0CKMJNX3X
Publisher : Kevin M Caruso (October 6, 2023)
Language : English
Paperback : 329 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8989157600
Reading age : 10 – 18 years
Item Weight : 2.08 pounds
Dimensions : 8.5 x 0.75 x 11 inches
