Teacher Case Study: Sonicka Salisbury

Ninety-One K-8 School (OR)

A Defined STEM Learning Experience From:

Sonicka Salisbury

3rd Grade Teacher

Ninety-One K-8 School (OR)


Performance Task: 

Celebrating Hot Wheels


Here’s What We Did:

Students watched the videos, read the article, and discussed the process with each other. Then, they design a Hot Wheels care of their own. They drew their designs and wrote an opinion piece about why their car design is so great.


The kids loved this activity. It was creative and engaging but also grounded enough in science to give them a good foundation for the unit. This ELA unit had some of the best engagement that I’ve seen all year from my literacy students.


Why Defined STEM Was the Perfect Fit:

I was browsing the Defined STEM website and this activity sparked my imagination. It was easy to build a mini unit with the Defined STEM activity as our starting point.