Free Teacher Resources

WAAW Foundation Lesson Plans and Resources

Welcome to our free STEM lesson plans which have been used by our STEM teachers and college-fellows across Africa.  They are also free for any teacher or anyone for that matter who wants to use them! The WAAW free resources cover areas in STEM such as hands-on science, Coding, and programming lesson plans. 

Note that we are constantly updating and adding new lessons. We also encourage teachers and college-fellows to submit lesson plans to support educators. Contact us to let us know of other freely available resources for teaching STEM and Coding especially suited for Africa – Click here to contact us.

Science Lessons (Physics, Basic Science)

1. Introduction to Energy (Web lesson plan) (pdf lesson plan)

2. Solar Energy: Photo Voltaics (Web lesson plan) (pdf lesson plan)

3. Wind Energy  (Web lesson plan) (pdf lesson plan 1) (pdf lesson plan 2)

4. Hydro Electricity: Water Turbine (pdf lesson plan)

5. The Physics of Flight (Web lesson plan) (pdf lesson plan)

6. Generating Electricity (Web lesson plan) (pdf lesson plan)

7. Material Conductivity (pdf lesson plan)

8. Building Bridges using Trusses(pdf lesson plan)

9. Electromagnet (pdf lesson plan)

10. Fruit and Vegetable Battery (pdf lesson plan)

11. Ohms Law (pdf lesson plan)

12. Solar Oven (pdf lesson plan)

13. Heat Conduction (pdf lesson plan)

14. Electrochemistry (pdf lesson plan)

15. Thermal Conductivity With Balloon (pdf lesson plan)

16. Paper Structures (pdf lesson plan)

17.  Balloon Powered Car (pdf lesson plan)

18. Hero’s Engine (pdf lesson plan)

Science Lessons (Chemistry, Basic Science)

1. Introduction to Energy (Web lesson plan) (pdf lesson plan)

2. Density Experiment (pdf lesson plan)

3. Changing Climates (Web lesson plan) (pdf lesson plan)

4. Generating Electricity (Web lesson plan) (pdf lesson plan)

5. Heat Conduction (pdf lesson plan)

6. Electrochemistry (pdf lesson plan)

7. Thermal Conductivity With Balloon (pdf lesson plan)

Computer Science (ICT, Coding, Web Development)

1. CS Unplugged – Computer Languages (pdf lesson plan)

2. Maze Programming (pdf lesson plan)

3. Turtle Graphics Programming (pdf lesson plan)

4. Scratch Programming (pdf lesson plan)

5. mBlock Robotics ( pdf lesson plan 1) (pdf lesson plan 2)

6. Arduino Programming (pdf lesson plan 2) (pdf lesson plan 1)

7. 3D Modelling Using Tinkercad (pdf lesson plan)

8. HTML (pdf lesson plan 1)(pdf lesson plan 2)

9. CSS  (pdf lesson plan)

Space Science Lessons (Geography, Basic Science)

1. Introduction to Space Exploration (pdf lesson plan)

2. Introducing the Solar system (pdf lesson plan)

3.  Building a 3D Solar system (pdf lesson plan)

4. The return to earth (a lander) (pdf lesson plan)

ADDITIONAL FREE ONLINE RESOURCES

MULTIPLE SUBJECT

• https://www.khanacademy.org/
  Geared for self-guided online learning with lots of great videos and tools to supplement lessons, and a great resource to expose students who want to learn more on their own.
• http://sciencenetlinks.com/
  Awesome lesson plans covering many topics:  From engineering and astronomy, to biology and animal science! The site has a great search engine, so it is super easy to find what you need.
• http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/index.cfm?campaign=flyout_teachers
  Cover all sorts of subject matter, everything from understanding space travel, to underwater forensics.  Most lessons are brief and specific, buy generic modafinil online uk great supplemental material.
• https://wabisabilearning.com/blogs/stem/36-stem-project-based-learning-activities
• Videos for STEM activities.

FREE CODING, PROGRAMMING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

• http://www.code.org
  Free interactive resources to teach kids of any age to code.
• http://scratch.mit.edu
  Learn Scratch programming language.
• http://www.codecademy.com
  Learn to code interactively for free. You do not have to install any compilers.
• http://codehs.com/
  This is one of the best ways to learn how to program.
• https://code.google.com/p/blockly/
  A visual programming editor online for introducing students to coding.
• http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/
  MIT App inventor is a free platform and lessons to teach App development for Andriod
• http://phonegap.com/
  Build amazing mobile apps powered by open web tech.
• https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming
  Khan Academy free coding platform and sample codes
• www.csunplugged.org
  Teaching Computer Science concepts to Secondary School children without the need for a computer.
• http://www.alice.org/
  Object-oriented 3D programming environment, lets students learn fundamental programming concepts in context of creating animated movies and simple video
• https://www.blender.org/
  open source 3D graphics and animation software.
• https://www.yola.com/
  Build free websites – Free hosting and free web address.

SUSTAINABILITY, RENEWABLE ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

• http://learn.kidwind.org/teach
  Lesson plans, videos, and other resources for teaching hands-on wind and solar energy classes.
• http://www.natureworkseverywhere.org/lesson-plans
  Great interactive site with all sorts of lesson plans geared towards human interaction with the environment.

VIDEOS TO INSPIRE YOUNG PEOPLE ON IMPACT OF STEM AND INNOVATION

1. https://www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_how_i_harnessed_the_wind?language=en
   William Kamkwambe – How I harnessed the Wind.
   https://www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_on_building_a_windmill?language=en
   William Kamkwambe – How I build a windmill
2. https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_turere_a_peace_treaty_with_the_lions?language=en
   Richard Turere – My invention that made peace with Lions – Kenya
3. http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/girls-voices/memory-banda-a-warriors-cry-against-child-marriage/
   Memory Banda – A warriors cry against child marriage – Malawi

WEBSITES TO FOSTER THE CURIOUS AND CREATIVE

• Wholegiftedchild.weebly.com (TAGT 2016 link)
• Stemchallenge.org
• Code.org/learn
• Byrdseed.com/tagt2016
• Puzzlements.co
• Nrich.maths.org
• Visualpatterns.org
• Wodb.ca
• Nanowrimo.org
• Atlasobscura.com
• Thekidshouldseethis.com
• Thisiscolossal.com
• Curiosity.com
• Mentalfloss.com
• Reallybadchess.com (free download for iPhone or iPad)