Rubik's Cube STEM Lesson

Sorry for the long stretches between posts, my summer has been consumed with projects around the house (thanks Pinterest) and making more learning centers for my classroom (I promise to post pictures!)  Today is my 2 year anniversary and I FINALLY have time to share an AMAZING resource I recently stumbled upon. 

Taken from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Rubik%27s_cube.svg/480px-Rubik%27s_cube.svg.png

You CAN Do The Rubik's Cube is a teacher resource for integrating the Rubik's Cube into the classroom.  Seeing that I am a math teacher with a vested interest in STEM education, I immediately feel in love with the STEM Middle School Rubik's Cube unit.  The entire unit encompasses Common Core standards in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  It is a fascinating unit that pushes students to think outside of the cube through a project-based learning (PBL) approach.  Through PBL the teacher acts as a guide to student learning, not a leader.  Most of the activities require teachers to activate prior knowledge and work with the small groups on not just solving the Rubik's Cube, but breaking it down into its most basic parts and then building their own 3 X 3 Rubik's Cube.  You CAN Do The Rubik's Cube also offers units at the Elementary and High School levels as well as more advanced engineering and math lesson plans - STEM Lessons.  I can't wait to share this with my students this coming school year!