This is the companion to our fall semester STEM calendar (Plan for a STEMtastic Fall!) Here, you’ll find a January-May line-up of STEM lessons and activities tied to holidays, special occasions, and culturally relevant celebrations that your learners will love!
(Note that exact dates correspond to 2022 and may shift year to year).
January ⛄
Real-world STEM connections: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, National Bird Day and National Puzzle Day. You know your learners best — what occasions will resonate most with them?
- January 5 | National Bird Day: Birds are some of the most ingenious engineers of the natural world. Their homes come in a variety of shapes and can be made out of everything from mud and stones to sticks and ribbons! In our Building for Birdie design challenge, students engineer a sturdy home for a bird. They can make an eggheaded plan first, or just wing it — either way let their imaginations take flight! Grades 1–5.
- January 17 | MLK Jr. Day: Dr. King was a strong advocate for civic engagement. Show your students how technology has increased opportunities for such engagement across the globe with our Tech for Global Good lessons and videos. We highlight two companies who are ensuring that marginalized communities get heard: Amandla Mobi and Ushahidi. Grades 6–12.
- January 29 | National Puzzle Day: Have you ever tried to think like a computer? Guess what? You probably do it all the time without even knowing! In our fun Puzzling Procedure activity, students apply their computational thinking skills to jigsaw puzzles. In addition to doing a puzzle, they’ll create an algorithm, or set of instructions, to help someone else solve jigsaw puzzles! Grades 3–8.
February 🧡
Real-world STEM connections: Black History Month, International Day of Women and Girls in Science, National Engineering week. Representation matters, so this is your month!
- All month | Black History Month: Regularly showing your students diverse examples of STEM experts helps them to reassess their preconceived notions about who “belongs” in STEM jobs. We recommend two of our content pieces. First, Get in the Game is a fun computational thinking activity that challenges your students to create their own board game! The accompanying video features Dr. Siobhan Day Grady, who explains how computational thinking helps her in her job as a computer scientist. Grades 3–8.
For even more career inspiration, check out our Virtual Field Trip, which highlights four Silicon Valley STEM experts, who talk about their work and what they did in school to get there. For Black History Month, be sure to watch the stories of Nicky Goodson at Intuitive Surgical and TJ Rhodes at Adobe. Grades 6–12. - February 11 | International Day of Women and Girls in Science: Narratives resonate with students, so we created Scientist Stories, featuring two accomplished female scientists. In this video and lesson package, your students will explore their preconceived notions of scientists, connect with science careers and recognize the qualities they share with scientists. Grades 6–12.
- February 20–27 | National Engineers Week: You can teach the E in STEM without being an expert! We have an entire library of activities and lessons that will show you how. Also, explore the philosophy behind engineering, called Design Challenge Learning — our page has a ton of helpful resources to get you started. Grades K-12
March 🌷
Real-world connections: Women’s History Month, National Careers Week, World Water Week. It’s March Madness, but for STEM!
- All month | Women’s History Month: There are, in fact, more female scientists besides Marie Curie. Celebrate today’s women in science this month with this collection of activities, stories and images from the If/Then Coalition, whose goal is to activate a culture shift among young girls to open their eyes to STEM careers. Grades 6–12.
- March 7–12 | National Careers Week: You’ll find tons of career inspiration in our Virtual Field Trips, which showcase scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs using STEM to make the world a better place. Both come with educator guides. Grades 6–12
- March 22 | World Water Day: Challenge your students to be the environmental problem-solvers of tomorrow with one of our aquatic activities:
- Irrigation Situation combines social studies and engineering into one great lesson! Learners use the design process to create a hillside garden irrigation system that maximizes water efficiency. This is an excellent way to emphasize the importance of sustainability in our communities. Grades 3–5.
- Responsible Reservoirs is a Computational Thinking game where students role play the mayor of a small town. They have to make some hard decisions about the effects of a water dam on the environment and their citizens. The game teaches decomposition with environmental flair, and it’s a great real-world scenario about compromise. Grades 5–8.
- Down the Drain examines what can safely be put down the drain and how to protect our waterways. Sign up for the led by one of our Tech Educators to learn more about watersheds or try our DIY Building a Storm Drain activity yourself. Grades 3–8.
April 🌍
Real-world connections: Math and Statistics Awareness Month, Earth Day, National DNA Day. It’s time to spring into STEM action this month!
- All month | Math and Statistics Awareness Month: You’re probably making your students aware of how often they use math every day by pointing out occasions when you count, use percentages and ratios, or use statistics-based research. Our lessons and activities provide even more opportunities to practice some real-world math applications. All grades
- April 22| Earth Day: Students feel a lot of eco-anxiety about the future of our earth. That’s why we created a host of sustainability-focused resources that emphasize the actions young people can take to make a difference. Whether they’re repurposing mail packaging, evaluating cutting-edge environmental tech, or constructing a better storm drain, they’ll feel empowered to tackle climate change. All grades.
- April 25 | National DNA Day: Why do some cats have extra toes? Can two blue-eyed parents have a brown-eyed baby? Answer these questions (and so many more) on our Genetics site. All grades.
May 🌞
Real-world connections: AAPI Heritage Month, National Pet Week, National Space Day, National Week of Making. Congratulations — you made it through the semester! Be sure to check out our fall calendar here.
- All month | AAPI Heritage Month: Cultural holidays and heritage months are a wonderful time to introduce our Time Capsule activity. It’s a thoughtful, creative way to capture a moment in time and to honor what’s important to different generations. All grades.
- May 1–7 | National Pet Week: Challenge your learners to deliver a treat to their pets by constructing a wind-powered vehicle! Cupcake Delivery (or, as we like to call it, Pupcake Delivery) is a wonderful end-of-year activity that will get your learners excited about engineering. All grades.
- May 6 | National Space Day: Explore the mysteries of the planets, moon, and stars with our space lessons, which (we have to say it) are out of this world. Grades 2–8.
- Mid-May | National Week of Making: Nobody loves a hands-on activity more than we do! Check out our entire library of maker activities at The Tech Interactive at Home. All grades.
