Museum of Science, Boston and YES

Engineering Bandages: MA STEM Week Design Challenge

Join the Museum of Science, Boston and the Youth Engineering Solutions (YES) team for a one-hour webinar introducing this year’s Massachusetts STEM Week Challenge: Engineering Bandages!

This engaging, hands-on engineering activity is designed for elementary learners and asks youth to imagine, plan, create, and test a bandage that can keep a model cut clean.

During this webinar, we’ll walk through the structure of the activity, review the Engineering Design Process, explore educator resources (like slides, posters, and prep instructions), and share tips for facilitating the challenge in classrooms, libraries, and informal learning spaces.

Educators will leave feeling confident and inspired to lead the challenge with students during MA STEM Week. The challenge requires minimal materials and prep time and is perfect for a one-hour implementation.

What you’ll learn in this webinar:
- How to introduce engineering and the Engineering Design Process to kids
- What the Engineering Bandages challenge includes and how it works
- How to set up testing stations and create model “cut cuffs”
- Tips for promoting collaboration, perseverance, and student discourse.
- How to access and use all the free YES resources for implementation

This webinar is perfect for classroom educators, afterschool providers, librarians, and STEM outreach facilitators. Whether you’re brand new to YES or returning for another great STEM Week, we look forward to supporting your success!

For more information, visit: https://www.mos.org/events/mass-stem-week

The STEM Education Center at WPI

"I Am STEM" Lesson Library

Bring STEM to your classroom during MA STEM Week, 2025! The I am STEM – STEM I am lesson library engages students, grades PK-7, in solving problems in books and is designed to empower students to become proud problem solvers.

The I am STEM PD is FREE and open to any PK-7 educator (in and out of school) interested in implementing a design challenge with their students. This interactive and engaging 90-minute session will introduce you to the problem-solving process, show you how to navigate the library, and allow you to briefly explore grade-level lessons and try out an activity with colleagues.

Dates/Times:
Wednesday, October 8, 6:00pm – 7:30 pm
Monday, October 13, 9:30am – 11:00 am

Location: Online via Zoom

For more information, click here.
Register for the PD here.

Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts

You Can Build It!

Engage students in grades 2 through 8 with both a virtual offering and in-school events. This project will integrate GSEMA’s STEM-ON-THE-GO mobile learning van, supported by the Cummings Foundation, that will visit schools across three distinct regions in eastern Massachusetts.

The challenge will utilize the “Girl Scouts Who Build” curriculum: an innovative, multi-level, career-focused curriculum that was designed over a 10-year partnership with Suffolk Construction to address gender disparities in the construction field.

The Blackstone Valley Hub for Workforce Development

Automation in Modern Manufacturing
In partnership with True Robotics and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.

High school students will explore how robotics and design thinking are transforming 21st-century production environments. Students will simulate real-world manufacturing settings by designing a robot that performs key functions essential to modern production and assembly lines.

Each participating school will receive a robotics kit, resource materials, and ongoing technical support to help students bring their ideas to life - no prior robotics experience required.

The challenge will culminate on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, at Gillette Stadium during the Manufacturing Mash-Up, where your students will:

1. Demonstrate their robot in a simulated manufacturing environment.
2. Compete in performance-based tasks inspired by industry
3. Present their design process and teamwork to a panel of judges, including educators, industry experts, and state leaders

To get involved: Complete the School Commitment Form as soon as possible. Once received, it, your robotics kit and resource materials will either be mailed or hand-delivered directly to your school.

We can’t wait to see the creativity, collaboration, and innovation your students bring to this challenge!

Your school is automatically eligible to participate in the BV Hub STEM Week 2025 Manufacturing Robotics Design Challenge if registered for the Manufacturing Mash-Up Event at Gillette Stadium on October 21, 2025!

For more information, visit: https://www.bvhub.org/mashup2025

WADE Institute (Manomet, Inc.)

H2Whoa! Hydroengineers at Work

In this Challenge, students grades 5-8 will step into the role of engineers, tackling the global challenge of access to clean water. Using nature as their innovation inspiration, limited materials, and a set budget, they’ll design, test, and refine prototype systems to capture and filter water as they build their engineering skills. While the materials are designed for grades 5-8, this Challenge is adaptable for all grades.

Participating educators will receive everything needed to bring the challenge to life:

-A Challenge workshop for teachers (choose from an in-person session at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment or a virtual Zoom session).
-A classroom materials kit, available at multiple pick-up locations across Massachusetts (North Adams, Amherst, Quincy, and Plymouth).
-A curriculum packet with unit introductions, material lists, lead-up investigations, design challenge guides, and multimedia resources to support the implementation of the Challenge.
-Access to activities and extension resources, such as the STEM Challenge Virtual Showcase, to share your students’ work.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

The Challenge allows teachers to utilize grade-level-appropriate science and technology concepts that address the MA STE Standards while giving you tools to integrate inquiry-based, project-driven learning into your classroom. You’ll gain new strategies, deepen your content knowledge, and experience the challenge firsthand before using your skills to guide your own students through it.

This Challenge is easily adapted to a variety of classroom cultures across the state. The target audience is middle school students, but the Challenge will be open to any school interested within Massachusetts.

Opportunity for Teachers at Low Income Schools: In support of the H2Whoa! STEM Challenge, there are a limited number of free field trips to the Hitchcock Center for the Environment available to teachers at low income schools! If you are interested in this program, be sure to designate that your school is eligible when you register.

YMCAs of Massachusetts

GreenFit: Design a Sustainable YMCA

Engage middle and high school students in a week-long program to redesign their local YMCA as a sustainable, energy-efficient community hub.

Youth will explore applied STEM concepts through hands-on activities, collaborative design thinking, and environmental problem-solving. They will work with GRO, a multidisciplinary design and development firm specializing in sustainable, community-centered solutions that integrate environmental stewardship, inclusive design, and long-term impact for diverse communities. GRO will provide virtual training to both youth and YMCA staff who are supporting the youth in what goes into designing a sustainable YMCA.

Work Based Learning Alliance, Inc

Designing a Sustainable Future

Engage high school students in tackling a real-world sustainability challenge while exploring high-demand STEM career pathways across industries such as engineering, IT, clean energy and health sciences. “Designing a Sustainable Future” will see students designing a sustainable urban aquaculture farm - integrating solar energy, a recirculating water filtration system, and community-driven food solutions. Working in interdisciplinary teams of 5-7, students will bring their varied interests, knowledge and pathways of study to produce deliverables such as CAD models, system budgets, energy analyses, health impact analyses and outreach plans for local food pantries.