STEM Space Lander Math & Engineering Activity (Printed & Digital)

Rated 4.88 out of 5, based on 701 reviews

4.9 (701 ratings)

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Vivify STEM

6.9k Followers

Grade Levels

5th - 10th, Homeschool

Subjects

Math, Science, Critical Thinking

Resource Type

Projects, Activities, Centers

Standards

CCSS6.G.A.1

CCSS6.G.A.2

CCSS6.G.A.3

CCSS6.G.A.4

CCSS7.G.B.4

Formats Included

Pages

57 pages

$6.25

Wish List

$6.25

Wish List

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What educators are saying

My 8th grade students, who rarely "buy into" anything "fun", had a good time with this activity. They tried and tried to get their aliens to stay into the space ship. They enjoyed the element of competition.

— Dana Y.

Rated 5 out of 5

This was a really fun activity for my students. It was challenging, but they enjoyed the process and probably could have used more than the 1.25 hours that we had to work on it.

— Kimberly M.

Rated 5 out of 5

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Description

Standards

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Reviews

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Q&A

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More fromVivify STEM

Description

Space Lander STEM Challenge

This STEM activity is one of our favorite engineering design challenges! The combination of marshmallows (or ping pong balls) and aliens makes this a winning STEM challenge!

In the Space Lander Challenge, student teams build a lander using the engineering design process to keep two marshmallow "aliens" or "astronauts" inside a cup as it is dropped from various heights. Using straws, index cards, and mini marshmallows or cotton balls, students apply concepts of shock absorption, drag forces, and stability, to create and test designs. A surprise-ending challenge helps students learn from their failures too! The included math extension problems help students analyze solutions and connect the challenge to real-world scenarios.

Read an overview of the activity here.

Update: This product now has 3 options that connect students to real-world STEM! Follow the story line by choosing between aliens, the Moon, or Mars as a theme. This product includes handouts describing the Apollo and Artemis missions to the Moon and the exploration and future of humans on Mars! This is the perfect way to connect to current events in space exploration.

As with many STEM activities that are student-driven, this challenge can be tailored to students of various skill levels and abilities. As one of our go-to STEM challenges, we have used the STEM Space Lander Challenge in elementary through high school levels with great success!

Included in this product:

Complete Teacher Guide: Detailed teacher guide with links to resources, grading rubric, handouts on a STEM career connection and science background, student handouts for the engineering design process, and math extension problems.

Editable Teacher Presentation Slides: Guide your students through the challenge with editable Google Slides for use in a classroom or virtual setting.

Instructional video: Led by an engineer, the video includes science background, STEM careers, real-world connections, and a detailed explanation for the STEM activity to guide students

Printable Take-Home STEM Journals for sending packets home to students without internet access (editable pages in Google Slides)

Digital STEM Journals for Google Slides, Seesaw, and Flipgrid. These can be used in the classroom for paperless handouts or assigned for distance learning through Google Classroom, Schoology, or other platforms.

Editable Note to Families

Math connection problems including angles, ratios, geometry, and graphing

Looking for more STEM lessons? Our team of engineers and educators is dedicated to developing low-prep and high-quality STEM activities for any classroom! Click below to learn more:

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Total Pages

57 pages

Answer Key

Included

Teaching Duration

3 days

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Standards

to see state-specific standards (only available in the US).

CCSS6.G.A.1

Find the area of right triangles, other triangles, special quadrilaterals, and polygons by composing into rectangles or decomposing into triangles and other shapes; apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.

CCSS6.G.A.2

Find the volume of a right rectangular prism with fractional edge lengths by packing it with unit cubes of the appropriate unit fraction edge lengths, and show that the volume is the same as would be found by multiplying the edge lengths of the prism. Apply the formulas 𝘝 = 𝘭 𝘸 𝘩 and 𝘝 = 𝘣 𝘩 to find volumes of right rectangular prisms with fractional edge lengths in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.

CCSS6.G.A.3

Draw polygons in the coordinate plane given coordinates for the vertices; use coordinates to find the length of a side joining points with the same first coordinate or the same second coordinate. Apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.

CCSS6.G.A.4

Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made up of rectangles and triangles, and use the nets to find the surface area of these figures. Apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.

CCSS7.G.B.4

Know the formulas for the area and circumference of a circle and use them to solve problems; give an informal derivation of the relationship between the circumference and area of a circle.

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