Social Justice Change Through STEAM: Innovate, Create, Inspire is a dynamic program that blends science, technology, engineering, arts, and math to spark creativity and problem-solving. Through hands-on projects focused on sustainability, design, and social justice, participants develop critical thinking, collaboration, and resilience. With a focus on innovation and real-world challenges, this program empowers young minds to create, experiment, and inspire positive change in their communities.
Future Innovators Lab: Can a great idea change the world? In this hands-on STEAM lab, students will explore real-world challenges and use science, technology, engineering, art, and math to design creative solutions that make a positive impact. Through collaborative design challenges, engineering projects, and innovation activities, students will investigate topics such as accessibility, sustainability, environmental stewardship, and community well-being. Every class encourages curiosity, critical thinking, creativity, and empathy while empowering young innovators to imagine a better future—and help build it.
Innovation Packing List
Planning Your Term
In either Social Justice Change Through STEAM or Future Innovators Lab, it will be up to the Instructor(s) to gauge the interests of the group and decide how best to structure the overall term.
The lesson options below can be used individually, combined into larger projects, or extended over several sessions. You do not need to complete all 14 lessons or teach them in the order presented.
Both programs should give students opportunities to explore real-world challenges and use STEAM, creativity and design thinking to imagine possible solutions.
Depending on the program and interests of your group, you may choose to place greater emphasis on:
- environmental sustainability and stewardship
- accessibility and inclusive design
- community needs and social impact
- engineering and invention
- creative problem-solving
- art and communication
- science and technology
- student-led innovation
Whenever possible, move beyond simply discussing a problem. Give students something to investigate, design, build, test, create or improve.
The Innovation & Design Process
Throughout the term, encourage students to become familiar with a flexible design-thinking process:
EXPLORE → IMAGINE → DESIGN → CREATE → TEST → IMPROVE
Explore
What is the challenge? Who or what is affected? What do we notice, know or wonder?
Imagine
What are some possible solutions? There may be many!
Design
Choose an idea. Sketch, plan and select materials.
Create
Build a model, prototype, artwork, system or other solution.
Test
How well does it work? What do we notice?
Improve
What could we change? What did we learn? Try again!
Lesson & Project Options
1. What Can STEAM Change?
Objective: Introduce students to STEAM as a tool for understanding problems, creating ideas and making positive change.
Begin by exploring what Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math mean and where students encounter them in everyday life.
Ask students:
What problems do people use STEAM to solve?
Explore examples such as clean water, transportation, accessible spaces, renewable energy, food production, safer buildings or reducing waste.
Finish with a quick design challenge: students choose one everyday problem and sketch an invention, product or idea that might help solve it.
Materials: Large paper, white paper, pencils, markers.
2. Our World: Problems Worth Solving
Objective: Encourage students to notice challenges in their school, community and wider world.
Brainstorm things students would like to make better, easier, safer, fairer, healthier or more sustainable.
Possible areas of exploration include:
- reducing plastic and other waste
- access to clean water
- food waste and hunger
- air pollution and clean energy
- sustainable transportation
- protecting trees and natural spaces
- helping pollinators
- inclusion and accessibility
- healthy and welcoming communities
- ocean and river pollution
- green architecture
- urban gardening
- clothing waste and fast fashion
- emergency and disaster solutions
Students can create a Problem Map, illustrating challenges they notice and choosing one or two they are especially interested in exploring.
Materials: Large paper, markers, coloured pencils.
3. Design Thinking Challenge
Objective: Practice generating multiple solutions rather than immediately settling on the first idea.
Give students a simple real-world challenge such as:
How could we make carrying several things easier?
How could we help someone reach an object that’s too high?
How could we keep something dry in the rain?
How could we make a playground more fun for more people?
In pairs or small groups, students brainstorm and sketch at least three possible solutions before choosing one to develop.
If time permits, create a quick prototype from paper, cardboard and craft materials.
Materials: Paper, markers, cardboard, tape, assorted building materials.
4. Sustainable Building Challenge
Objective: Explore engineering, architecture and sustainable design.
Discuss features that can make homes, schools and other buildings more environmentally friendly: solar power, natural light, green roofs, insulation, rainwater collection, gardens and sustainable materials.
Students design and construct a model of a sustainable building.
Encourage them to explain:
What makes your building environmentally friendly?
Who will use it?
What problem does one of your design features solve?
What would you improve if you built another version?
Materials: Cardboard, recycled materials, paper, craft sticks, tape, glue, markers, fabric scraps and other building materials.
5. Community Garden Designers
Objective: Explore urban gardening, food systems, habitats and community design.
Discuss how gardens can provide food, create habitats, support pollinators, beautify spaces and bring communities together.
Students design their own community garden. Encourage them to consider pathways, accessibility, plants, seating, water, sunlight, wildlife and who will use the space.
Students can also plant a few seeds to take home.
Materials: Paper, coloured pencils, paper cups, soil/dirt discs, seeds and optional model-building materials.
6. Data Detectives
Objective: Use mathematics and observation to better understand a real-world challenge.
Choose something students can actually investigate.
For example:
- What types of waste do we see most often?
- How much single-use packaging is in our snacks?
- How many different plants or pollinators can we find outside?
- How do students travel to school?
- Which areas of a playground receive sun or shade?
Collect simple data and represent it using graphs, charts or visual displays.
Then ask the important question:
What does our information make us wonder — and is there something we could design or change because of it?
This lesson works especially well when combined with another design challenge.
Materials: Graph paper, clipboards if available, pencils, rulers, markers.
7. Art That Makes People Think
Objective: Explore how art and design can communicate ideas and inspire action.
Look at ways artists, designers and communities use posters, murals, signs, sculpture and public art to communicate.
Students choose an issue they care about and create an artwork, poster, model or installation that makes other people notice, wonder or care.
Encourage strong visual communication rather than lots of written information.
Materials: Paper, cardstock, markers, pencil crayons, paint and assorted art materials.
8. Design for Everyone: Accessibility Challenge
Objective: Introduce inclusive design and encourage students to consider the needs of different users.
Explore what makes a product or space easy — or difficult — for different people to use.
Choose an age-appropriate design challenge, such as:
- redesign a playground so more children can enjoy it
- create an easier-to-use everyday object
- design an accessible classroom or community space
- invent something that helps someone carry, reach, open, see, hear or organize something
- improve an existing product so it works for more people
Students sketch, build and explain a prototype.
Focus on thoughtful design and empathy, not on asking students to simulate disabilities.
Materials: Cardboard, craft sticks, pipe cleaners, Model Magic, paper, tape and assorted building materials.
9. Renewable Energy Inventors
Objective: Explore renewable energy through hands-on experimentation.
Introduce renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and moving water.
Begin with a simple windmill or pinwheel investigation. Students can experiment with blade size, shape or number and observe what changes.
Then challenge students to design their own wind-powered creation or imagine a useful product, building or community feature that could harness renewable energy.
Materials: Paper, straws, scissors, pinwheel kits, wooden dowels/pencils, tape and assorted building materials.
10. Clean Water Challenge
Objective: Explore the importance of clean water and investigate how engineers can help protect or provide it.
Discuss where drinking water comes from and why access to clean water matters.
Students can experiment with a simple model filtration system using appropriate classroom materials, design a device for collecting rainwater, or create a system for transporting water without spilling it.
Be clear that classroom filtration experiments do not create drinking water.
Finish by asking:
How could engineers make clean water easier for people to access or protect?
Materials: Containers, cups, funnels, coffee filters, gravel/sand if using filtration experiments, paper, cardboard and assorted building materials.
11. Eco-Invention Challenge
Objective: Use creative invention to address an environmental problem.
Challenge students to invent something that could:
- reduce waste
- reuse something normally thrown away
- save water
- save energy
- protect an animal or habitat
- help pollinators
- make transportation more sustainable
- make an everyday activity more environmentally friendly
Students should move through the full process:
Explore → Imagine → Design → Create → Test → Improve
Prototypes do not need to function perfectly. The thinking, experimentation and redesign are the important parts!
Materials: Wide assortment of recycled and construction materials.
12. Prototype & Test
Objective: Develop an idea through experimentation, feedback and redesign.
Students choose an idea from a previous challenge or develop a new solution to a problem that interests them.
Before building, students create a simple plan:
What problem am I trying to solve?
Who or what could this help?
What am I going to make?
What materials will I need?
Build the first prototype, test it and encourage students to seek feedback from classmates.
Then: change something and try again.
Materials: Assorted project and construction materials.
13. Future Innovators: Open Innovation Project
Objective: Give students the opportunity to apply what they have learned to an issue or challenge they care about.
Individually or in small groups, students choose a real-world problem and develop their own response.
Their solution might be:
- an invention
- a model
- a redesigned product
- an accessible space
- an environmental solution
- an artwork or awareness project
- a community idea
- a system or service
- something completely unexpected!
Projects should include some combination of research, brainstorming, planning, creating, testing and improving.
Encourage ambition in the idea, while keeping the prototype itself achievable with the time and materials available.
Materials: Based on student projects.
14. Innovators Showcase
Objective: Celebrate ideas, experimentation and growth.
Students prepare their projects for an informal gallery walk or showcase.
Rather than focusing only on the finished product, encourage students to explain:
What problem were you trying to solve?
What was your original idea?
What did you create?
What didn’t work as expected?
What did you change?
What would you do next?
Classmates can provide feedback using Two Stars and a Wish — two things they appreciate about the project and one idea or question for the inventor to consider.
Finish by reflecting on one big question:
How can creativity and STEAM help us make things better?
Materials: Completed projects and presentation/display materials as needed.
Social Justice Change Through STEAM / Future Innovators Packing List
Note that a wide variety of art, crafting and building materials will be packed for these programs. Depending on the interests of the participants and the projects you choose, additional items may be requested by emailing Liz at any time. Please give at least 1 week notice when requesting supplies.
General Supplies
Writing & Drawing Materials
- pencils
- erasers
- markers
- fine-tip markers
- coloured pencils
- crayons
- sticky notes
- rulers
Paper Supplies
- white paper
- colourful cardstock
- white cardstock
- construction paper
- large paper/poster paper
- graph paper
- index cards
- kraft paper rolls
Adhesives & Fasteners
- glue sticks
- liquid glue
- clear tape
- masking/painter’s tape
- rubber bands
- paper clips
- string/twine
Building & Prototyping Materials
- cardboard squares
- craft/popsicle sticks
- pipe cleaners
- straws
- wooden dowels/skewers
- Model Magic
- assorted cups and containers
- assorted lids
- fabric scraps/small felt or fabric assortment
- LEGO/building blocks
Tools
- scissors
- rulers
- measuring tapes
Project & Experiment Materials
- paper cups
- coffee filters
- balloons
- marbles/balls
- seeds
- soil/dirt discs
- pinwheel kits
Art Materials
- water colour and/or tempra paint
- paintbrushes
- assorted decorative/crafting materials
ETC.
- paper towel
- table covers
A Note About Supplies
The packing list is intended to provide a flexible STEAM maker kit, not every material required for every possible project.
Please review the projects you plan to run in advance. Specialized materials for particular experiments, inventions or student-led projects can be requested by emailing Liz at least one week before they are needed.
Whenever appropriate:
✔️ Encourage students to bring clean recycled materials from home for building projects.
✔️ Reuse materials across lessons and challenges.
✔️ Incorporate natural or found materials where appropriate.
✔️ Save useful cardboard, containers, tubes and other materials for future prototypes.
And remember: a great STEAM project doesn’t need expensive materials. Some of the best innovation happens when students have a limited collection of ordinary materials and a really interesting problem to solve.