Back to School STEM: 6 Icebreaker Teamwork Activities

Lesson overview

Before tasking students to complete rigorous engineering design challenges, educators should start with Stage 1 STEM activities. Click here to learn more about the Stages of STEM. 

Stage 1 STEM activities are perfect icebreakers and team challenges to promote collaboration, teamwork, communication, and problem solving. They lay a critical foundation for more intensive STEM challenges. Working as a team, students will learn lessons in communication, innovation, hidden assumptions, and creativity that are central to the engineering process.

This packet contains 5 teamwork challenges that are great for back to school or as icebreakers for a new group of students. The sixth activity is a more in-depth engineering design challenge that uses the complete design process. This activity can be used to set the stage for more rigorous Stage 2 design challenges. 

**Purchase the bundle for 20% discount: 12 STEM Icebreaker Challenges

TEAMWORK CHALLENGES

The following activities are intended to promote teamwork among small groups of students. Each activity builds a foundation of communication, collaboration, and critical thinking that is important for engineering design challenges. 

1. Space Docking 

2. Pipeline

3. Helium Stick

4. Head Tower

5. Crossing the Polar Ice Caps

ENGINEERING TOWER CHALLENGE

Learn to apply the engineering design process as a team with a classic tower challenge that includes an extra twist! 

1. Straw Tower

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