An Introduction to STEM for the science classroom: Home

A collection of resources to begin investigating and integrating STEM ideas and resources into the traditional science classroom.

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What is STEM?

STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.  This acronym is used to discuss education in these four fields and has been called a movement that will “drive much of the future economy and create successful careers” (“Editorial: STEM", 2011)

 

STEM education is important for everyone because it will “contribute to increased problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and analytical thinking in students as well as lead to better real-world connections in the curriculum” (Brown, Brown, Reardon, and Merrill, 2011).

 

There is still debate over whether or not STEM should be taught together or continue to be taught separately as it is traditionally taught – with additions of the other STEM subjects integrated throughout.  What we do know is that STEM education is focused on making science, technology, engineering, and math real and relevant to students.

STEM song

STEM SONG...

Select the link to listen to and read the lyrics to this song about what STEM is.

Diigo STEM links

Question...

Which STEM subject do you want more of in your education?

Question...
Science: 2 votes (66.67%)
Technology: 0 votes (0%)
Engineering: 0 votes (0%)
Math: 1 votes (33.33%)
Total Votes: 3

About this LibGuide

This LibGuide was created in order to facilitate better understanding about STEM education in the science field in particular.  How can we better integrate math, engineering, and technology into our teaching of the sciences?  That is the question that began this guide. 

As you go through this LibGuide you will see that it is broken down into subjects that our high school science teacher teaches.  It was organized in this manner to be helpful for both students and teachers to find relevant infrmation about their topic/class.  The guide is hopefully a place to go to find resources, information, and to help facilitate learning.  Although this is not by any means an exhaustive list, and it does not discuss integrating STEM altogether, it is a beginning point to think about how we teach our students science, how we can better engage them, and how we can begin to integrate the other areas of STEM into our teaching.  It is also a place for students to begin to think about how imporatnt science (and other elements of STEM) are important and relevant in their lives.

It is a starting point.

Please leave comments throughout the site so that your voice can be heard to make this the best resource it can be.  Thank you.

Science is Real

They Might Be Giants have some great songs and videos out there that relate to education.  They have an entire CD/DVD of songs and videos about science.  Here is one that relates the message about the importance of Science (and the other components of STEM education as well) in our lives.

Dreaming in Numbers

This video and other resources that can be found on the Flowingdata.com site where it is from, perfectly exemplifies why STEM education is important.  In this video  "Cristobal Vila, inspired by, well, numbers and nature, animates the natural existence of Fibonacci sequences, the golden ratio, and Delaunay triangulation. Watch it. Even if you don't know what those three things are, the video will rock your socks off."  

What we see is STEM at work.  We see that MATH is present in biological SCIENCES as life is ENGINEERED.  And we see this through the use of TECHNOLOGY by Vila in creating this video to demonstrate these concepts.

Video

Rube Goldberg machines are fascinating!  You can not create a good machine without knowledge of science, engineering, technology, or math.  Watch this video to see OK Go!'s successful Rube Goldberg machine... and be inspired to create your own!

Educate to Innovate

Video about why STEM Education is important and what it can do for you.

Educate to Innovate Partnerships

These are Partnerships with the Obama Administrations "Educate to Innovate" campaign.

Time Warner Cable’s “Connect a Million Minds” Campaign: This is a campaign "to connect over one million students to highly-engaging after-school STEM activities that already exist in their area." Time Warner Cable is devoting time, resources, and funds for the next five years to promote their campaign and to promote STEM education and activities.

Discovery Communications’ “Be the Future” Campaign: Discovery Communications launched this campaign that will "create content that reaches more than 99 million homes, including a PSA campaign across Discovery's 13 U.S. networks, a dedicated commercial-free educational kids block on the Science Channel, and programming on the 'grand challenges' of the 21st century such as their landmark Curiosity series. Discovery Education will also create rich, interactive education content that it will deliver at no cost to approximately 60,000 schools, 35 million students, and 1 million educators, and through a partnership with the Siemens Foundation, will create STEM Connect, a national education resource for teachers."

Sesame Street’s Early STEM Literacy Initiative: "Sesame Street’s new season kicked-off with “My World is Green & Growing,” which will be part of a two-year science initiative designed to increase positive attitudes towards nature, deepen children’s knowledge about the natural world and encourage behavior that shows respect and care for the environment.  Twenty of the 26 new episodes will have a focus on STEM; 13 focus on science and seven focus on math."

“National Lab Day,” Bringing Hands-on Learning to Every Student:  "National Lab Day is a historic grassroots effort, online at nationallabday.org, to bring hands-on learning to 10 million students by upgrading science labs, supporting project-based learning, and building communities of support for STEM teachers."   

National STEM Game Design Competitions: This site shares "a nationwide set of competitions that include the design of the most compelling, freely-available STEM-related video games for children and youth." Visit regularly for more information on new competitions.