STEM Demonstration Ideas

A simulation of how surgeons find cancerous tissue during an operation. One glass bead is marked with a transparent fluorescent pen, mixed in with others, and picked out under a black lamp in a dark room. It introduces fluorescence and how it is used to label cells and image tumors.

An introduction to hydrogels and drug delivery. Drops of alginate solution with food coloring in it form beads in a calcium chloride solution. Moving the beads to clean water shows the color coming out slowly, standing in for the controlled release of a medicine. The ingredients are food grade.

Three demonstrations of sublimation, the change from a solid straight to a gas. Dry ice goes into plain water to make fog, into soapy water to make carbon dioxide bubbles, and into a balloon, which inflates. Includes safety guidance, because dry ice is -78.5 C and has to be handled with gloves or tongs.

Teams build a Lego carrier that runs down a zip line, then compare designs to see what matters most: the size of the carrier, its weight, or the shape of the part that touches the line. It needs only Lego pieces and cord.