PLTW and STEM Education

Structure and Function: Exploring Design

Students discover the design process, identify products around them designed by engineers, and use what they’ve learned to design their own paintbrushes.

Pushes and Pulls

Students investigate different pushes and pulls and apply what they know to a swing-set installation project.

Structure and Function: Human Body

Students explore the relationship between structure and function in the human body and then design a cast.

Animals and Algorithms

Students explore the ways that people control and use technology as well as program their own digital animations.

Sunlight and Weather

Students learn about the sun's warming effect on Earth. They investigate how the sun affects different Earth materials, which leads to how the sun affects our weather. Students learn how to describe the weather to make observations and collect data. They use this data to describe patterns over time, which helps to predict the weather. Students view a local weather forecast to understand how the weather impacts their daily lives. They practice how to dress for the day by dressing Angelina, Mylo, or Suzi based on a forecast. Then they use the design process to design a structure that can reduce the sun's warming effect.

Living Things: Needs and Impacts

Students investigate the needs of living things. During an outdoor walk, students look for plants and animals and consider how their needs are met in their natural environment. Then they explore how living things impact the natural environment. Students participate in a simulation to observe how an animal impacts the natural environment to meet its needs. They then explore human needs and wants and how humans impact the natural environment, both positively and negatively. In an exercise to reduce waste, students use the design process to build a new game or toy out of reusable materials.

Light and Sound

Students investigate light and sound and then design a tool to communicate over a distance.

Light: Observing the Sun, Moon, and Stars

Students build upon their knowledge of light and then design a playground structure that protects students from UV radiation.

Animal Adaptations

Students learn about animal adaptations and apply what they’ve learned to design a shoe made for desert exploration.

Animated Storytelling

Students build computational thinking skills by creating animations based on their own short stories. 

Designs Inspired by Nature

Students investigate how offspring are like their parents. They model animals' patterns of behavior that help them survive. They learn how plants and animals have external parts that help them meet their needs. With this understanding, students follow the design process to build a model of an outdoor shelter that is inspired by plant and animal external parts.

Materials Science: Properties of Matter

Students explore materials science and devise a way to keep popsicles cold — without a cooler.

Materials Science: Form and Function

Students research the variety of ways that animals disperse seeds and pollinate plants and then use what they know to design a gardening device.

The Changing Earth

Students explore how the surface of the Earth is always changing and then design solutions for a fictional community threatened by a landslide.

Grids and Games

Students learn about the sequence and structure required in computer programs and work in teams to build tablet games.

Living Things: Diversity of Life

Students learn about the diversity of life in habitats, or biodiversity. They observe different habitats and the living things that grow in them. They engage in three scenarios to learn the importance of having many different organisms in a habitat. Next, students investigate how much water and sunlight plants need to grow in an environment. They use the design process to design a planter garden to grow in a specific environment.

Stability and Motion: Science of Flight

Students learn about the forces involved in flight and then design a solution to deliver aid supplies via an aircraft.

Stability and Motion: Forces and Interactions

Students explore simple machines such as wheel and axles, levers, the inclined plane, and more and then use what they know to rescue a trapped zoo animal.

Variation of Traits

Students investigate the differences between inherited genetic traits and traits that are learned or influenced by the environment and then model how the gene for a plant’s stem color is passed on.

Programming Patterns

Students discover the power of modularity and abstraction and then use what they know to create a video game for a tablet.

Weather: Factors and Hazards

Students explore, collect, and classify data related to three factors that affect weather: precipitation, temperature, and wind. They contrast weather and climate using the three factors in their descriptions. Students explore different types of weather hazards, including those in their region. They design a solution that reduces the impact of a weather-related hazard.

Life Cycles and Survival

Students are introduced to life cycles. They compare and contrast different animal life cycles to identify common features and specific differences. Students deepen their understanding of life cycles as they investigate the life cycle of honeybees. They learn that worker bees have an important relationship with flowering plants that connects their life cycles. Students investigate whether living in a group makes honeybees more or less susceptible to hazards. Then students design a bee habitat that promotes the survival of bees. They create a public service campaign to share their designs to raise awareness of the importance of bees.

Environmental Changes

Students learn about Earth's habitats and how these habitats support life. Students examine fossils and investigate what fossils reveal about how organisms and habitats adapt and change over time. Students identify factors that cause environmental changes and simulate the effect that changes have on living things. Then they take a deeper look at specific examples of environmental changes in their own habitat. Students use the design process to explore one problem caused by environmental change and develop an action plan to reduce or stop future damage.

Input/Output: Computer Systems

Students explore how computers work and then create a reaction-time computer program to assess a baseline before a concussion occurs.

Input/Output: Human Brain

Students learn about stimuli and responses and then use what they know to create a video to teach children about concussions.

Waves and Properties of Light

Students observe the amplitude and wavelength of waves in a simulation and describe their patterns. They learn that waves move energy from one place to another, which can cause objects to move. They learn that colors are determined by the wavelengths of light through an investigation using the primary colors of light. Then students explore how light interacts with different materials that are transparent, translucent, and opaque. They use the design process to design a game incorporating the knowledge and skills about light that they have gained throughout the module.

Organisms: Structure and Function

Students learn the characteristics of living things and look for similarities among organisms. Students examine a wide range of organisms, exploring their unique internal and external structures to understand how these structures support the organism's survival and combine with other structures to function as part of a larger system. Students then apply the knowledge and skills that they have gained as they work through the design process to research, design, and build a model prosthesis for an injured animal.

Earth: Past, Present, and Future

Students explore natural features on Earth. They learn about different landforms and bodies of water. Students take a deeper look at the origins of landforms as they learn about tectonic plates and plate boundaries. They examine how landforms have changed over time due to weathering and erosion. Students investigate how mechanical and chemical weathering impacts the Earth, and they identify examples of weathering in their local area. Students use the design process to create a documentary that explains how one of Earth's landforms has been shaped over time.

Earth: Human Impact and Natural Disasters

Students learn about the relationship between humans and the environment. They begin the module by activating knowledge about natural resources. They learn how to reduce the impact that humans have on the environment and use the design process to create an upcycled project. Then students investigate natural disasters, and they design emergency preparedness kits to demonstrate their understanding of the challenges that natural disasters pose. Students follow the design process to generate a plan to reduce the human impact on Earth or to lessen the impact of natural disasters on humans.

Energy Exploration

Students engage in explorations of energy-related phenomena. They make observations, pose questions, and make connections as they investigate energy transfers. Throughout the module, students explore connections to careers and to the necessity of energy in real life as they visit multiple business owners through the Main Street interactive experience. To deepen their understanding of energy, students design an investigation to test what happens when marbles collide on a track. Each business owner presents a problem that needs to be solved. Students select a problem and use the design process to apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

Robotics and Automation

Students explore the ways that robots are used in today’s world and then design a mobile robot that can remove hazardous materials from a disaster site.

Robotics and Automation: Challenge

Students explore mechanical design and computer programming and then design an automatic guided vehicle to deliver supplies in a hospital.

Infection: Detection

Students explore the transmission of infection and run an experiment to help find ways to prevent the spread of illness.

Infection: Modeling and Simulation

Students investigate models and simulations and apply their knowledge to program a model that simulates the spread of infections. 

Matter: Properties and Reactions

Students learn about the three states of matter. They investigate mixtures of different materials that lead to new substances and conserve mass. Students design a test that demonstrates that an item has the required mechanical properties.

Ecosystems: Flow of Matter and Energy

Students learn about Earth's ecosystems and how energy flows from the sun to plants and from plants to animals. Students create a model to describe photosynthesis and explain how energy from the sun is introduced into an ecosystem. Students use evidence to defend the claim that plants get the materials they need for growth mainly from air and water. Students learn how energy flows through an ecosystem and explore a simulation about how an ecosystem can become unbalanced. Finally, students use the design process to develop an action plan to protect plants and animals in an ecosystem that has become unbalanced due to human activity.

Patterns in the Universe

Students develop an understanding that stars are balls of hot gas. They learn that our sun is a star at the center of our planetary system. Students learn about predictable patterns on Earth in relation to its place in the solar system. They design an exhibit that educates others about a concept that they have learned throughout the module.

Earth's Water and Interconnected Systems

Students learn about Earth's systems: the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere. Students examine how these systems interact and examine the role of gravity within each system. They take an in-depth look at how the processes of the water cycle intersect with each of the systems and apply this knowledge to investigate factors that impact the rate of evaporation. Students use the design process to develop a method for producing clean drinking water from samples of contaminated water.

By engaging in activities such as dissecting a sheep heart, students explore concepts of biology and medicine to determine factors that led to the death of a fictional person. 

Through projects such as determining the identity of a skeleton using both forensic anthropology and DNA analysis, students examine the interactions of human body systems and apply what they know to solve real-world medical cases.

Students delve into activities such as designing a prosthetic arm as they follow the life of a fictional family and investigate how to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease.

Students build on the knowledge and skills gained from previous courses to design their own innovative solutions for the most pressing health challenges of the 21st century. They have the opportunity to work on an independent project with a mentor or advisor from a university, medical facility, or research institution.

With emphasis on computational thinking and collaboration, this year-long course provides an excellent entry point for students to begin or continue the PLTW Computer Science pre-K–12 experience. Computer Science Essentials will expose students to a diverse set of computational thinking concepts, fundamentals, and tools, allowing students to gain understanding and build confidence.

Using Python® as a primary tool, students learn the fundamentals of coding, data processing, data security, and task automation while learning to contribute to an inclusive, safe, and ethical computing culture. The course promotes computational thinking and coding fundamentals and introduces computational tools that foster creativity. Computer Science Principles helps students develop programming expertise and explore the workings of the Internet. Projects and problems include app development, visualization of data, cybersecurity, and simulation. PLTW is recognized by the College Board as an endorsed provider of curriculum and professional development for AP® Computer Science Principles (AP CSP). This endorsement affirms that all components of the PLTW Computer Science Principles' offerings are aligned to the AP curriculum framework standards and the AP CSP assessment.

Students dig deep into the engineering design process, applying math, science, and engineering standards to hands-on projects such as designing a new toy or improving an existing product.

Students explore a broad range of engineering topics, including mechanisms, strength of structure and materials, and automation, and then they apply what they know to take on challenges such as designing a self-powered car.

Students learn important aspects of building and site design and development, and then they apply what they know to design a commercial building.

Students discover and explore manufacturing processes, product design, robotics, and automation, and then they apply what they have learned to design solutions for real-world manufacturing problems. 

Using Python® as a primary tool, students develop computational thinking skills and tackle challenges such as designing apps to solve real-world problems for clients. 

Students explore the foundations of computing by engaging in circuit design processes to create combinational logic and sequential logic (memory) as electrical engineers do in industry.

Students investigate and design solutions in response to real-world challenges related to clean and abundant drinking water, food supply, and renewable energy. 

Students explore the breadth of engineering career opportunities and experiences as they solve engaging and challenging real-world problems such as creating a natural relief center system or creating a solution to improve the safety and well-being of local citizens.

Students engage in an open-ended research experience in the PLTW Capstone course, a culminating program for those completing PLTW's high school offerings. Students collaborate in teams, designing and developing original solutions to well-defined and justified real-world problems.