Ancient India STEM Challenges

Right now I'm in the process of creating a series of STEM projects for students who are studying Ancient Civilizations.. Next stop, Ancient India! :)

During the summertime in Ancient India (and still to this day), a monsoon would come every year, raining buckets and buckets of water. In Eastern India, a second monsoon would come as well during the end of summer. The ancient people of India had to figure out a way to save the water for the remainder of the year! 

The type of irrigation system that is shown in this sample STEM project is the Rahat (Lever System). A wheel is used in this type of irrigation. The wheel is often turned by oxen, cows, or buffalo.

In this STEM Challenge, students must design a model of an ancient irrigation system by selecting one using a guide (more information below). They must use their knowledge of simple machines by incorporating either a lever or pulley system in their design. The water must successfully be moved from one bin to another, the second bin representing the plants that need to be watered. The group that can create a system that moves the most water (without large amounts of spilling or wasting water) in the shortest amount of time wins the challenge! ***For more information and printable guides about the challenge, scroll to the end of the post!  

A stupa is a mound-like Buddhist structure that is typically used as a place for meditating. The earliest stupas were built around late 4th century BC! (400-300 BC) 

In this STEM Challenge, the students must protect their stupa from flooding due to a monsoon. Materials must be added around the fence to protect water from entering the stupa. Water must be poured around the fence of their design, the water height must be at least a third of the height of their stupa. (For example, if the stupa is 12 inches tall, the water height must be 4 inches in their container.  Students must brainstorm which materials would stop the water from getting past the fence for a full 2 minutes. ***Check out the link below for more information about the challenge. 


Would you like the printable guides and listed materials for these Ancient India STEM Challenges? Click here!

This resource is also part of the ​Ancient Civilizations Complete Curriculum.  The curriculum package contains Ancient Civilization STEM Challenges, Interactive Notebooks, PowerPoints, Google Classroom Projects, and Assessments. The units covered include Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Israel, Ancient India, Ancient China, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome! There are over 700 pages of interactive material.