What if you could challenge your second graders to build an outdoor STEM classroom-complete with a butterfly garden, birdbath, and sundial? Investigating Environmental Changes provides young children with a STEM context in which to explore how plant and animal life cycles coincide with the Earth’s movement around the Sun. To develop a proposal and data collection plan for their outdoor classroom, students will draw on life, Earth, and environmental sciences; the engineering design process; mathematics; and English language arts. In addition, they will make connections among local weather patterns, the seasons, and plant life cycles. They will also learn about recycling, including sorting and tracking recycled materials.