STEM Challenge Cards
Make the tallest tower you can which is capable of
standing freely and not attached to anything.
STEM
Challenge Cards Competition – Which is the tallest tower?
[Link]
STEM Challenge Cards STEM Challenge Cards
Make a boat which floats successfully in a tank of Make a marble roller coaster which brings a marble
water and can carry a cargo of down from a start height of 1 metre without any
at least one penny. drops of longer than 5 cm.
Competition – Which boat can Competition - Which marble takes the longest
carry the most pennies before it to successfully descend 1
sinks? metre?
[Link] [Link]
STEM Challenge Cards STEM Challenge Cards
Use the materials you have been given to make a Design and make an umbrella or any device to keep
creative sculpture. It can be abstract or a ‘thing’ – the user dry during a rain shower.
you decide!
Competition – Which device would keep the user
the driest? You can judge this
Competition – Which sculpture would other learners by inspecting the quality of the
pay most for? Hold a ballot. materials and the seams (does
any daylight show through?) or
wait for it to rain and try them
out for real!
[Link] [Link]
STEM Challenge Cards STEM Challenge Cards
Construct a zip wire or a similar thrill seeking Create a catapult which can be used to fire a
experience for a chosen type of mini figure. chosen projectile without the operator either
touching the object or propelling it forward with
Competition – Which experience would have been
their own power.
the most thrilling for the mini-figure (i.e. the best
compromise of excitement and safety)? Competitions – Which catapult can launch the
projectile the furthest? Which
catapult is the most accurate
when firing at a given target?
[Link] [Link]
STEM Challenge Cards STEM Challenge Cards
Construct a pair of glasses designed to fit the wearer Set up a sequence of linked events so that an initial
safely and securely. movement in your creation leads to another and
then another.
Competition – Which glasses
stay on for the longest Competition – Which sequence contains the most
when worn by a test pilot linked events?
performing a sequence of
standing long jumps?
[Link] [Link]
STEM Challenge Cards STEM Challenge Cards
Design and make a desktop organiser. Design and make a bridge spanning a gap of 30cm
which can hold as much weight as possible.
Competition – Which would
consumers buy if all of the Competition – Which bridge can hold the most
desktop organisers were the weight before it fails? (Use actual weights, books,
same price? blocks etc.)
[Link] [Link]
STEM Challenge Cards STEM Challenge Cards
Design and make a wheeled vehicle which will Make a structure which you can fit
travel independently from the top to the bottom of completely inside and are then hidden
a slope angled at 30 degrees. from the outside world.
Competitions – Which vehicle travels the furthest? Competitions – Which structure
Which vehicle reaches covers most of a body? Who can get
the bottom of the ramp into their structure in the fastest
in the quickest time? time?
[Link] [Link]
STEM Challenge Cards STEM Challenge Cards
Make a safety container for a fresh egg to be dropped Make and design a device which can be used to tell
from 2 metres high in without breaking. whether or not an intruder has entered a room in
an empty house.
Competition – Which container can be dropped
from the highest height without the egg Competition – When the
breaking? designers of each device set up
their equipment by a door, can
they tell whether someone has
entered or not?
[Link] [Link]
STEM Challenge Cards
Design and make a trophy which could be awarded
to the winner of a STEM challenge.
Competition – Which trophy
would other contestants be most
delighted to win?
[Link]
[Link] [Link]
