Gifted & Talented STEM Activities

STEM Activities for Gifted & Talented Students

Explore STEM careers through this collection of 25 fun, self-paced Google Slides STEM Challenges! Middle school gifted and talented students will explore a wide variety of digital media to explore STEM careers, create hands-on projects, and connect with additional resources to fuel their passions – a good mix of online and offline activities using only simple materials found around the classroom or home. And YOU won’t have to do a thing!

Each Challenge will take middle schoolers at least three hours to complete independently. Space, animals, engineering, medical, robotics, and much more – a STEM Challenge to match every student career interest! Our STEM Career Challenges are aligned with middle school NGSS standards as well as TEKS standards, and are designed for independent student use whether in-person or distance learning. If you’ve been struggling to find engaging STEM activities specifically designed for gifted and talented middle school students, this is it!

STEP 1: Find the subject you are teaching from the list below.
STEP 2: Click on the Challenge name for instant download & go STEM career training activity!

EARTH & SPACE SCIENCE

PHYSICAL SCIENCE

LIFE SCIENCE

ENGINEERING

CAREER READINESS

Or get the mega bundle of ALL 25 STEM Challenges here!

Click here to view NGSS & TEKS alignments:

ChallengeNGSSTEKS
Architecture ChallengeMS-ETS1-1TEKS.SCI.6.2.D
TEKS.SCI.7.2.D
TEKS.SCI.8.2.D
Asteroid Miner ChallengeMS-ESS1-3TEKS.SCI.6.11.A
TEKS.SCI.6.11.C
TEKS.SCI.7.9.A
Astronaut ChallengeMS-ESS1-2
MS-ESS1-3		TEKS.SCI.6.11.C
TEKS.SCI.6.2.E
TEKS.SCI.7.2.D
TEKS.SCI.7.9.B
Astronomy ChallengeMS-ESS1-3TEKS.SCI.6.11.A
TEKS.SCI.6.11.C
TEKS.SCI.7.4.A
TEKS.SCI.7.9.B
TEKS.SCI.8.4.A
Cardiology ChallengeMS-LS3-1TEKS.SCI.6.3.D
TEKS.SCI.7.3.B
TEKS.SCI.7.12.B
TEKS.SCI.8.3.A
Career Fair ChallengeNA for NGSS,
CCSS.RST.6-8.9		TEKS.LA.6.5.B
TEKS.LA.7.5.E
TEKS.LA.8.5.E
Choreography ChallengeMS-LS1-3TEKS.SCI.6.3.A
TEKS.SCI.7.3.B
TEKS.SCI.7.12.A
TEKS.SCI.8.3.A
Civil Engineering ChallengeMS-ETS1-4TEKS.SCI.6.2.B
TEKS.SCI.7.2.B
TEKS.SCI.8.2.B
Cool person in STEM ChallengeMS-ETS1-1TEKS.SCI.6.3.A
TEKS.SCI.7.3.A
TEKS.SCI.8.3.B
Engineering 101 ChallengeMS-ETS1-3TEKS.SCI.6.2.A
TEKS.SCI.7.2.A
TEKS.SCI.8.2.A
Fashion Design ChallengeMS-ETS1-1TEKS.SCI.6.1.B
TEKS.SCI.7.1.B
TEKS.SCI.8.1.B
Forensics 101 ChallengeMS-LS2-2TEKS.SCI.6.4a
TEKS.SCI.7.2.A
TEKS.SCI.7.11.C
TEKS.SCI.8.2.A
Genetics ChallengeMS-LS3-1TEKS.SCI.7.14.A
TEKS.SCI.7.14.C
Intro to AI ChallengeMS-PS4-3
MS-LS4-4		TEKS.SCI.7.13.B
TEKS.SCI.7.14.A
Job Shadow ChallengeNA for NGSS,
CCSS.RST.6-8.9		TEKS.LA.6.5.B
TEKS.LA.7.5.E
TEKS.LA.8.5.E
Mechanical Engineering ChallengeMS-ETS1-4TEKS.SCI.6.2.B
TEKS.SCI.7.2.B
TEKS.SCI.8.2.B
Pathology ChallengeMS-LS1-3TEKS.SCI.6.2.A
TEKS.SCI.7.2.A
TEKS.SCI.7.12.C
TEKS.SCI.8.2.A
Physics ChallengeMS-PS4-2TEKS.SCI.6.6.A
TEKS.SCI.6.9.A
Robotics ChallengeMS-ETS1-3
MS-PS4-3		TEKS.SCI.6.2.E
TEKS.SCI.7.2.E
TEKS.SCI.8.2.E
STEM in My Community ChallengeNA for NGSS,

CCSS.RST.6-8.7

TEKS.SCI.6.2.C
TEKS.SCI.7.2.C
TEKS.SCI.8.2.C
Sustainability ChallengeMS-ESS3-3TEKS.SCI.7.10.A
Video Game Design ChallengeMS-ETS1-3TEKS.SCI.6.2.B
TEKS.SCI.7.2.B
TEKS.SCI.8.2.B
Virtual Job Shadow ChallengeNA for NGSS,
CCSS.RST.6-8.7		TEKS.SCI.6.2.C
TEKS.SCI.7.2.C
TEKS.SCI.8.2.C
Wildlife ChallengeMS-LS2-5TEKS.SCI.6.12.E
TEKS.SCI.7.10.A
TEKS.SCI.7.10.B
YouTuber ChallengeMS-ETS1-2TEKS.SCI.6.2.B
TEKS.SCI.7.2.B
TEKS.SCI.8.2.B

Watch Video For My GT STEM Teaching Secrets Revealed!

There will be 3.5 million new jobs in STEM fields within the next five years, and America depends on the talent of our best and brightest.

Yet few STEM resources are designed for specifically for gifted & talented students to use in class independently.

As a middle and high school science teacher, I struggled to engage ALL my students, especially those who knew everything I was teaching and were bored.

In working with gifted & talented students, I found my answer to be curriculum compacting via STEM careers.

Watch this short video to learn more about how I met the needs of GT students in my general education classes using curriculum compacting and STEM careers.