How STEM Projects Support Belonging in Middle School

At West Virginia University’s STEAM Technical Assistance Center, we’ve watched students light up, literally and figuratively, when they realize they can design something that matters. Our Bright Ideas solar energy project began as a middle school engineering immersion but quickly revealed itself as something deeper— a pathway to belonging.

Many students—particularly those from underserved communities or those navigating social and emotional or behavioral differences—experience traditional academic spaces as tense, evaluative, and unforgiving. When classrooms feel unsafe or overly rigid, students are less willing to take risks, ask questions, or engage in the kind of productive struggle that STEM learning requires.

Purposeful Learning Centered on ‘Doing’

A variety of stressors, including feeling disconnected from peers, can make conventional instructional environments feel overwhelming rather than inspiring. But hands-on, collaborative STEM experiences can shift that dynamic entirely. Applied learning lowers the emotional stakes, builds belonging, and gives students a way to enter academic content through curiosity instead of compliance.

When classrooms become places where students do, experiment, build, and problem-solve together, they experience school as safer, more welcoming, and more aligned with their strengths. Students who struggled to belong begin to find their footing when learning becomes hands-on, purposeful, and collaborative. They build their place in the process, one circuit, one connection, one small success at a time.

STEM learning that centers on doing activates the psychological foundations of belonging, competence, autonomy, and connection. In a well-structured project, every student has something essential to contribute.

Students know the goal, can see their progress, and collaborate toward an authentic outcome. That structure helps reduce anxiety and gives students with emotional or sensory challenges a clear road map for success.

The Bright Ideas Solar Energy Project

The Bright Ideas solar energy project invites students to step into the role of engineers and problem solvers while exploring how renewable energy can improve life in their own communities. Designed for grades 6–8 but easily adaptable for early high school, the unit unfolds over three to five class periods and centers on one essential question: How could solar energy help communities manage energy needs more efficiently?

It begins with a simple question that links science to daily life: What happens when the power goes out in a rural area? Where could solar panels make life easier in our town? Students explore maps, images, or news stories about renewable energy and begin to understand that solar energy isn’t distant or abstract. It’s a solution rooted in their own familiar environment. Visual supports and sentence starters such as “Solar power could help because...” invite reluctant learners to participate. A calm, sensory safe space with soft lighting, minimal noise, and predictable transitions helps all students engage fully in the discussion.

Facilitate Collaboration Through Group Work

As the project unfolds, students join small engineering teams. This can be done by random assignment or student choice. If some students hesitate to join a group, lower the social and cognitive stakes with an easy entry point, such as observing, or a role that doesn’t require immediate performance. Normalize the hesitation by acknowledging that it’s OK to need a minute to ease in, and offer a gentle on-ramp task—a quick measurement, a line of code to test, or a materials check—to help them transition smoothly into collaborative work.

When everyone is settled, use structured rotating roles so that everyone knows exactly how they fit and what their responsibilities are. For example, one student is the designer and sketches the solar setup. Another manages materials, while a third oversees testing and recording data. The communicator shares progress and prepares the team’s presentation.

These roles mirror the structure of real-world engineering teams and ensure that every student contributes meaningfully. Together, they brainstorm ways to use a small solar panel and simple circuitry to power a light or a miniature device. Some sketch ideas on paper, others are built in Padlet. Teams choose their project focus—either a solar house, a charging station, or another energy solution—and begin mapping out their plan.

A Manageable Process Keeps Students Engaged

When the building starts (we use Snap Circuits, but flashlight batteries and aluminum foil can make a basic circuit), students who once hesitated begin to lean forward. Chairs slowly scoot closer to the action. Students begin connecting wires, testing circuits, and helping each other troubleshoot. The low-stakes, tactile nature of the work dissolves fear of failure and replaces it with curiosity.

Breaking the process into small steps—connect, test, document—helps everyone see progress. Draw a simple tracking chart on the board to show which stage each group has reached (plan, build, test, improve, share). The rhythm of movement from planning to testing keeps the room focused yet lively. When something doesn’t work, the language matters. Instead of correction, the conversation turns to exploration: What happens if we try this another way?

Iteration is the heart of learning. Once circuits function, students look for ways to improve efficiency. Can the light shine brighter? Can energy be stored longer? Can they power more than one LED? Each question sparks another cycle of problem-solving. Short build sessions help students with attention challenges maintain focus, while reflection slips (brief notes on what failed and what changed) turn mistakes into data. Slowly, confidence grows. What began as confusion turns into discovery.

When it’s time to share, the classroom shifts again. The showcase might be a small energy expo or simply a round of peer presentations. In my particular case, students explain how their designs could help West Virginia communities use solar power to reduce costs or outages. Each team chooses how to present—live or recorded—through a visual display or a demonstration. The variety allows everyone to shine in their own way. A sentence starter such as “Our solar model helps because...” grounds nervous speakers and keeps focus on content. Watching a once-withdrawn student proudly hold up a working model and say, “We did it!” is often the project’s brightest moment.

Students Build a Stronger Sense of Self

Every step contains strategies that make inclusion effortless. The predictable five-phase flow provides structure for students who need stability through sensory-aware choices, lighting, noise buffering, brief movement breaks, and keeping energy calm. Visual cues, journals, and role charts scaffold organization and memory.

Teamwork builds empathy, communication, and resilience. Inclusion isn’t an added feature of this project; it is woven into its design. Students who begin the week uncertain often end it standing taller, not because someone made space for them, but because they built that space themselves.

When students engineer something real, they engineer a new self-concept. They stop seeing themselves as behind or different and start seeing themselves as essential. In the Bright Ideas project, the student who once avoided group work becomes the one holding the solar panel steady, calling out “Ready” as the light comes on. That moment, when the bulb glows and the room erupts in applause, is what inclusion looks like in action.