A STEM Day or Family STEM Night is a community – school-based activity that allows students, parents, teachers, and caregivers an opportunity to participate together in the excitement of STEM activities while, at the same time developing a basic understanding of the scientific principles that underpin what is happening before their eyes.
Normally, an experienced GYSTC instructor will join with several local teachers to put on the programs together. A GYSTC instructor will meet with your teachers before the event in order to orient them on the how the event is to transpire. GYSTC will provide background information to the teachers to enhance the knowledge behind each lesson selected for the event. A local school, chosen by the school system, will define the broad parameters regarding such matters as the maximum number of participants, use of facilities and any other matters of importance to that particular school. The school is responsible for recruiting teachers to help with the program.
STEM Days/Family STEM Nights are $1,500 per event. This includes activities and professional development for the teachers.
*Please note: These events are offered by the GYSTC State Office. If you are a member of a GYSTC Regional Center, please contact your Regional Coordinator to schedule a STEM Day/Family STEM Night.
STEM Day / Family STEM Night Activity Catalog
| Kindergarten | SKP1.c | Cartesian Diver | Investigate how compression and changes in density cause the Cartesian diver to mysteriously move up and down. |
| Kindergarten | SKP2.a & b, MGSEK.CC.1 | Parachuting Spiders | Understand how air resistance affects the motion of an object. |
| Kindergarten | MGSEK.G.1, MGSEK.G.2, MGSEK.G.6 | Tangrams | Use problem-solving to assemble a set of tangrams to create various sea creatures. |
| 1st Grade | S1L1.a & b | Blooming Flowers | Using paper and water, model how plants move water through their tissues. |
| 1st Grade | S1L1.a | Design a Plant | Understand the parts of a plant. |
| 1st Grade | S1P1.d | Make a Kazoo | Demonstrate a way to make sound. |
| 1st Grade | S1P1.d & e | Screaming Balloons | Create a device that can project an alarm over quite a distance. |
| 1st Grade | S1P1.d | Soda Bottle Sounds* | Understand that vibrations cause sound, and as the speed of vibrations changes, the sound will change. *Not available virtually |
| 1st Grade | S1P1.d | Sound Waves: How Does Sound Travel? | Understand that vibrations cause sound, and that they can move through objects. |
| 1st Grade | MGSE1.G.2 | Tangrams | Use problem-solving to assemble a set of tangrams to create various sea creatures. |
| 1st Grade | S1P1.d | Vibrating Rulers | Discover that vibrating material will produce a sound, and that sound can make materials vibrate. |
| 2nd Grade | S2P2.a | 100 Cup Challenge | Stack and balance 100 cups without a force causing it to fall. |
| 2nd Grade | S2P1.a | Bubble Maker | Learn what happens when liquids and gases mix by constructing a bubble blower. |
| 2nd Grade | S2L1.c | Build a Pollinator | Engage in how the pollination process works by building a pollinator. |
| 2nd Grade | MGSE2.OA.1 | More and Less | Practice fluency with addition and subtraction. |
| 2nd Grade | MGSE2.MD.1 | Pipe Cleaner Challenge | Work together to develop the tallest "free-standing" structure to support the weight of a ping pong ball. |
| 2nd Grade | S2P2.a, b, & c | Puff the Stuff | Predict and experiment with moving objects when air is blown. |
| 2nd Grade | S2P1.a | Science or Magic | Keep a paper towel dry by using the properties of matter. |
| 2nd Grade | MGSE2.MD.1 | Straw Towers | Build the tallest straw tower using only straws and tile spacers. |
| 2nd Grade | S2P1.a & b | Surface Tension of Water | Explore the surface tension of water by adding paper clips to a cup of water. |
| 2nd Grade | S2P2.a | Toy Inventor | Design and create a toy that uses either a push or pull motion. |
| 2nd Grade | S2P2.a | Water Spritzer | Spray water using unbalanced forces. |
| 3rd Grade | MGSE3.MD.4 | Paper Chain | Creating the longest paper chain using only one piece of paper. |
| 3rd Grade | S3P1.a | Spiraling Snake | Experiment with convection currents. |
| 3rd Grade | S3P1 | Too Hot to Handle | Investigate conductors and insulators. |
| 3rd Grade | S3L2.a & b | What’s a Watershed? | Learn the importance of watersheds by modeling. |
| 4th Grade | S4P3.a | Balance the Pencil | Using clothespins and pipe cleaners, balance a pencil vertically on a craft stick. |
| 4th Grade | S4P3.a & b | Balancing Forces – Flying Hoop Planes | Experiment with airflow over an airplane and observe it fly. |
| 4th Grade | S4P3.a & b | Catapulting Cups | Explore Bernoulli’s Principle and lift a cup using only your breath. |
| 4th Grade | S4P3.a | Floating Paper Clip | Explore the surface tension of the water. |
| 4th Grade | S4E1.a & b | Glowing Constellations | Create a glow-in-the-dark constellation. |
| 4th Grade | S4P3.a & b | Hoopster | Explore Bernoulli’s Principle while constructing and flying an airplane without wings. |
| 4th Grade | S4P2.a & b | Screaming Balloons | Create a device that can project an alarm over quite a distance. |
| 4th Grade | S4P2.a | Soda Bottle Sounds* | Understand that vibrations cause sound, and as the speed of the vibrations changes, the sound will change. *Not available virtually |
| 4th Grade | S4E1.a & b | Solar System Scavenger Hunt | Observe the difference between planets and stars and compare and contrast the technological advances that have changed the information we have. |
| 4th Grade | S4P2.a & b | Sound Waves: How Does Sound Travel? | Understand that vibrations cause sound and that they move through objects. |
| 4th Grade | S4P2.a & b | Straw Whistle | Learn about sound by constructing and playing a whistle. |
| 4th Grade | S4P2.a | Vibrating Ruler | Discover that vibrating material will produce a sound, and that sound can make material vibrate. |
| 4th Grade | S4P3.a & b | Water Spritzer | Spray water using unbalanced forces. |
| 4th Grade | S4E3.b | What’s a Watershed? | Learn the importance of watersheds by modeling. |
| 5th Grade | S5P1.c | Chemical Reaction Relay | Use chemical reactions to blow up a balloon. |
| 5th Grade | S5P1.a | Colorful Chromatography* | Demonstrates the property of water and liquids that uses capillary action. *Not available virtually |
| 5th Grade | S5P2.b | Complete & Incomplete Circuits | Observe and work with circuits and identify the needed parts. |
| 5th Grade | S5P1.a, b, & c | Flying Rocket Eggs* | Create a rocket. *Not available virtually |
| 5th Grade | S5L1 | Jelly Belly Identification | Learn how to use a dichotomous key for classification. |
| 5th Grade | S5P3.b | Magnetic Slime | Create slime with magnetic properties. |
| 5th Grade | MGSE5.OA.1 | Order of Operations Game | Use a deck of playing cards to employ algebraic thinking and hone mental math skills. |
| 5th Grade | S5E1.a & b | Sand Shake* | Understanding the forces and materials that shape the surface of Earth to produce landforms such as sand dunes. *Not available virtually |
| 5th Grade | S5P2.a | Static Electricity Slime | Learn about static electricity by making a ‘slime’ that is attracted to a negatively charged balloon. |
| 5th Grade | S5P2.a | Static Electricity UFO | Learn about static electricity by making a negatively charged ‘Unidentified Flying Object’ that is levitated by a negatively charged balloon. |
| 5th Grade | S5P.1c | What’s the Matter? | Observe the three stages of matter through a chemical change. |
| 6th Grade | S6E5.e | Erosion Rates* | Investigate erosion rates of different Earth materials (waves, wind, water, and glaciers). *Not available virtually |
| 6th Grade | S6E5.a | Four Layer Liquid | Explore density. |
| 7th Grade | S7L2.c | Build a Brain | Construct a model of the human brain while learning about the different lobes and how they interact with the rest of the body systems to keep us alive. |
| 7th Grade | S7L4.c | Epidemiology Emergency* | Simulate how quickly infectious diseases can be spread and work together to determine patient zero. *Not available virtually |
| 8th Grade | S8P2.b | Bounce! | Observe and measure the effects of elasticity. |
| 8th Grade | S8P1.a | Chromatography and Mixtures | Discover how homogeneous mixtures can separate while observing chromatography. |
| 8th Grade | S8P1.a, c, & d | Colorful Chromatography* | Demonstrates the property of water and liquids that use capillary action. *Not available virtually |
| 8th Grade | S8P1.c & d | Floating Paper Clip | Explore the surface tension of the water. |
| 8th Grade | S8P3.b & c | Force and Marshmallow Cannon | Learn how force affects an object by making a marshmallow launcher. |
| 8th Grade | S8P1.b | Four Layer Liquid | Explore density. |
| 8th Grade | S8P3.b, S8P5.a | Hoopster | Explore Bernoulli’s Principle while constructing and flying an airplane without wings. |
| 8th Grade | S8P1.d | It’s a Gas | Experiment with different chemical reactions involving yeast. |
*Please note: These events are offered by the GYSTC State Office. If you are a member of a GYSTC Regional Center, please contact your Regional Coordinator to schedule a STEM Day/Family STEM Night.