Discover STEM Lab, Grades 3-4

NOTE: This product's components have been updated as of December 2018.

• Grades: 3-4
• Students: Up to 20
• Contact Hours: 100+
• Curriculum Samples: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics

Component Kits

• Science Module: BrickLAB Zoology (1x)
• Technology Module: Digital Video Lab (1x)
• Engineering Module: Discover Cubelets (1x)
• Mathematics Module: Discover Digits & Design (1x)

BrickLAB Zoology

• Students: Up to 3
• Contact Hours: 12+

• 650+ building bricks from PCS BrickLAB
• Set of 12 projects with individually printed instructions
• User guide for instructor

1. Animal adaptations of frogs
2. Animal adaptations of lizards
3. Animal adaptations of lobsters
4. Animal adaptations of sharks
5. Animal adaptations of crocodiles
6. Animal adaptations of beetles
7. Animal adaptations of yaks
8. Animal adaptations of pumas
9. Animal adaptions of mustangs
10. Animal adaptations of pigs
11. Animal adaptations of monkeys
12. Animal adaptations of elephants

Digital Video Lab

• Students: Up to 3
• Contact Hours: 48+

• Tablet with high-resolution camera
• Protective tablet case
• Set of 12 projects with individually printed instructions
• User guide for instructor

1. Interview your friends
2. Interview a historical figure
3. Time to mime
4. News broadcast
5. Documentary
6. Cause and effect short
7. The hidden life of things
8. Quiz show
9. Talent search
10. Commercial
11. Infomercial
12. Musical production

Discover Cubelets

• Students: Up to 6
• Contact Hours: 24+

• Cubelets 12-pack
• Extra battery cube
• Extra brick adapter 4-pack
• Extra knob cube
• Set of 12 projects with individually printed instructions
• User guide for instructor

1. Bright and Shiny: Inputs and outputs
2. Moving and Grooving: The drive cube
3. Bat Senses: The distance cube
4. Around and Around We Go: The rotate cube
5. Seeing the Light of Day: The brightness cube
6. Rocking and Rolling: Sliding sideways and spinning in circles
7. Double Time: One input, two outputs
8. Bigger and Better: The passive cube
9. A Light in Dark Places: The inverse cube
10. Blocking It Out: The blocker cube
11. Mixing It Up: Symmetry and balance
12. Whirling and Twirling: Combining action cubes

Discover Digits & Design

• Students: Up to 12
• Contact Hours: 16+

• 1 base ten abacus
• 1 classic abacus
• 4 dry erase lap boards, markers, and erasers
• 2 number line rulers
• 1 deck of PCS math master cards
• 2 sets of seven polyhedral dice
• Set of 12 projects with individually printed building instructions
• User guide for instructor

1. Addition and subtraction fluency
2. Multiplication fluency
3. Place value and multi-digit arithmetic
4. Equivalent fractions
5. Factors and multiples
6. Pattern generation and analysis
7. Measurement
8. Problem solving

Standards Alignment

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

• 3-PS2-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
• 4-PS3-1: Use evidence to construct an explanation relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object.
• 4-PS3-4: Apply scientific principles to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.
• 3-5-ETS1-2: Generate and compare multiple solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
• 3-5-ETS1-3: Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

Common Core Mathematics

• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.G.A.1: Understand that shapes in different categories (e.g., rhombuses, rectangles, and others) may share attributes (e.g., having four sides), and that the shared attributes can define a larger category (e.g., quadrilaterals). Recognize rhombuses, rectangles, and squares as examples of quadrilaterals, and draw examples of quadrilaterals that do not belong to any of these subcategories.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.C.5: Recognize area as an attribute of plane figures and understand concepts of area measurement.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.C.7.B: Multiply side lengths to find areas of rectangles with whole-number side lengths in the context of solving real world and mathematical problems, and represent whole-number products as rectangular areas in mathematical reasoning.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.D.8: Solve real world and mathematical problems involving perimeters of polygons, including finding the perimeter given the side lengths, finding an unknown side length, and exhibiting rectangles with the same perimeter and different areas or with the same area and different perimeters.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.G.A.1: Draw points, lines, line segments, rays, angles (right, acute, obtuse), and perpendicular and parallel lines. Identify these in two-dimensional figures.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.G.A.2: Classify two-dimensional figures based on the presence or absence of parallel or perpendicular lines, or the presence or absence of angles of a specified size. Recognize right triangles as a category, and identify right triangles.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.A.3: Apply the area and perimeter formulas for rectangles in real world and mathematical problems.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.C.5: Recognize angles as geometric shapes that are formed wherever two rays share a common endpoint, and understand concepts of angle measurement.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.C.5.A: An angle is measured with reference to a circle with its center at the common endpoint of the rays, by considering the fraction of the circular arc between the points where the two rays intersect the circle. An angle that turns through 1/360 of a circle is called a “one-degree angle,” and can be used to measure angles.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.G.A.1: Understand that shapes in different categories (e.g., rhombuses, rectangles, and others) may share attributes (e.g., having four sides), and that the shared attributes can define a larger category (e.g., quadrilaterals). Recognize rhombuses, rectangles, and squares as examples of quadrilaterals, and draw examples of quadrilaterals that do not belong to any of these subcategories.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.C.5: Recognize area as an attribute of plane figures and understand concepts of area measurement.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.C.7.B: Multiply side lengths to find areas of rectangles with whole-number side lengths in the context of solving real world and mathematical problems, and represent whole-number products as rectangular areas in mathematical reasoning.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.D.8: Solve real world and mathematical problems involving perimeters of polygons, including finding the perimeter given the side lengths, finding an unknown side length, and exhibiting rectangles with the same perimeter and different areas or with the same area and different perimeters.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.G.A.1: Draw points, lines, line segments, rays, angles (right, acute, obtuse), and perpendicular and parallel lines. Identify these in two-dimensional figures.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.G.A.2: Classify two-dimensional figures based on the presence or absence of parallel or perpendicular lines, or the presence or absence of angles of a specified size. Recognize right triangles as a category, and identify right triangles.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.A.3: Apply the area and perimeter formulas for rectangles in real world and mathematical problems.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.C.5: Recognize angles as geometric shapes that are formed wherever two rays share a common endpoint, and understand concepts of angle measurement.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.C.5.A: An angle is measured with reference to a circle with its center at the common endpoint of the rays, by considering the fraction of the circular arc between the points where the two rays intersect the circle. An angle that turns through 1/360 of a circle is called a "one-degree angle," and can be used to measure angles.
• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.C.6: Measure angles in whole-number degrees using a protractor. Sketch angles of specified measure.e points where the two rays intersect the circle.