"STEM Lesson Guideposts presents a clear and actionable approach for teachers and leaders to follow in developing meaningful STEM lessons and units. This companion to the best-selling STEM Lesson Essentials is a practical guide for helping you on your journey of creating integrated, interdisciplinary STEM units."--

Want to know how to implement authentic STEM teaching and learning into your classroom? STEM Lesson Essentials provides all the tools and strategies you'll need to design integrated, interdisciplinary STEM lessons and units that are relevant and exciting to your students. With clear definitions of both STEM and STEM literacy, the authors argue that STEM in itself is not a curriculum, but rather a way of organizing and delivering instruction by weaving the four disciplines together in intentional ways. Rather than adding two new subjects to the curriculum, the engineering and technology practices can instead be blended into existing math and science lessons in ways that engage students and help them master 21st century skills.

How do you create effective STEM classrooms that energize students, help them grow into creative thinkers and collaborators, and prepare them for their futures? This practical book from expert Anne Jolly has all the answers and tools you need to get started or enhance your current program. Based on the author’s popular MiddleWeb blog of the same name, STEM by Design reveals the secrets to successful lessons in which students use science, math, and technology to solve real-world engineering design problems. You’ll learn how to: Select and adapt quality existing STEM lessons that present authentic problems, allow for creative approaches, and engage students in meaningful teamwork; Create your own student-centered STEM lessons based on the Engineering Design Process; Assess students’ understanding of basic STEM concepts, their problem-solving abilities, and their level of engagement with the material; Teach STEM in after-school programs to further build on concepts covered in class; Empower girls to aspire to careers in STEM and break down the barriers of gender bias; Tap into STEM's project-based learning style to attract and engage all students. Throughout this user-friendly book, you’ll find design tools such as checklists, activities, and assessments to aid you in developing or adapting STEM lessons. These tools, as well as additional teacher resources, are also available as free downloads from the book’s website, http://www.stem-by-design.com.

This practical, hands-on guide shows K-12 school leaders how to support STEM programs that excite students and teachers—even if the leader is not an expert in science, technology, engineering, or math. Buckner and Boyd explore ideas for fostering equitable access to rich and rigorous learning experiences, acting as instructional leaders, and building community engagement and partnerships. You’ll get advice on creating a structure to help teachers examine, discuss, and improve students' learning experiences. And you’ll learn how to support teachers in designing challenging lessons that foster students' curiosity and ingenuity in working on real-world problems. Finally, you’ll learn ways you can effectively tap into the wealth of resources in your community to help achieve your STEM vision.

This book presents a collection of exciting ideas, suggestions, and real lesson plans from teachers who are already using STEAM in their classrooms.

A schoolwide solution for students’ mathematics success! Do you sometimes start to teach a mathematics concept and feel like you’re staring at a sea of bewildered faces? What happens when you discover students previously learned a calculation trick or a mnemonic that has muddied their long-term understanding? When "rules" seem to change from year to year, teacher to teacher, or school to school, mathematics can seem like a disconnected mystery for students. Clear up the confusion with a Mathematics Whole-School Agreement! Expanded from the highly popular "Rules that Expire" series of NCTM articles, this essential guide leads educators through the collaborative step-by-step process of establishing a coherent and consistent learner-centered and equitable approach to mathematics instruction. Through this work, you will identify, streamline, and become passionate about using clear and consistent mathematical language, notations, representations, rules, and generalizations within and across classrooms and grades. Importantly, you’ll learn to avoid "rules that expire"—tricks that may seem to help students in one grade but hurt in the long run. Features of this book include · Abundant grade-specific examples · Effective working plans for sustainability · Barrier-busting tips, to-dos, and try-it-outs · Practical templates and checklists · PLC prompts and discussion points When teachers unite across grades, students hit the ground running every year. Take the next step together as a team and help all your students build on existing understanding to find new success and most importantly, love learning and doing mathematics!

Is a widening “skills gap” in science and math education threatening America’s future? That is the seminal question addressed in The U.S. Technology Skills Gap, a comprehensive 104-year review of math and science education in America. Some claim this “skills gap” is “equivalent to a permanent national recession” while others cite how the gap threatens America’s future economic, workforce employability and national security. This much is sure: America’s math and science skills gap is, or should be, an issue of concern for every business and information technology executive in the United States and The U.S Technology Skills Gap is the how-to-get involved guidebook for those executives laying out in a compelling chronologic format: The history of the science and math skills gap in America Explanation of why decades of astute warnings were ignored Inspiring examples of private company efforts to supplement public education A pragmatic 10-step action plan designed to solve the problem And a tantalizing theory of an obscure Japanese physicist that suggests America’s days as the global scientific leader are numbered Engaging and indispensable, The U.S. Technology Skills Gap is essential reading for those eager to see America remain a relevant global power in innovation and invention in the years ahead.

Genre studies and genre approaches to literacy instruction continue to develop in many regions and from a widening variety of approaches. Genre has provided a key to understanding the varying literacy cultures of regions, disciplines, professions, and educational settings. GENRE IN A CHANGING WORLD provides a wide-ranging sampler of the remarkable variety of current work. The twenty-four chapters in this volume, reflecting the work of scholars in Europe, Australasia, and North and South America, were selected from the over 400 presentations at SIGET IV (the Fourth International Symposium on Genre Studies) held on the campus of UNISUL in Tubarão, Santa Catarina, Brazil in August 2007—the largest gathering on genre to that date. The chapters also represent a wide variety of approaches, including rhetoric, Systemic Functional Linguistics, media and critical cultural studies, sociology, phenomenology, enunciation theory, the Geneva school of educational sequences, cognitive psychology, relevance theory, sociocultural psychology, activity theory, Gestalt psychology, and schema theory. Sections are devoted to theoretical issues, studies of genres in the professions, studies of genre and media, teaching and learning genre, and writing across the curriculum. The broad selection of material in this volume displays the full range of contemporary genre studies and sets the ground for a next generation of work.

Research shows that activities associated with the arts can enhance creativity, problem-solving, memory systems, motor coordination, and analytical skills. Best-selling author David A. Sousa and veteran arts educator Thomas J. Pilecki demonstrate how arts education is integral to the development of the brain and to students′ overall academic achievement. This book provides: " Classroom-tested strategies and techniques for both integrating the arts in STEM instruction " Data from schools that have already integrated the arts into STEM subjects, plus anecdotes and student success stories " How-to′s for organizing curriculum and instructional strategies to allow for the integration of STEM subjects and the arts " Strategies for getting the entire staff and community involved in STEAM initiatives

A must-have for every elementary science teacher striving to be highly effective and for every support person addressing the needs of science teachers. - Linda Froschauer NSTA President 2006 - 2007 This important book helps us understand the details of effective science instruction in the elementary grades. Our job is to learn from this work and use it as we prepare future teachers and support current teachers as they collaborate to become effective elementary science teachers. - George D. Nelson Director, Science Mathematics and Technology Education, Western Washington University At last, we have a comprehensive resource that can help teachers, administrators, and anyone who deeply cares about the science learning of our children... help elementary teachers become both "highly qualified" and "highly effective" teachers of science. - Page Keeley Senior Science Program Director, Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance What does top-notch, learning-centered teaching look like in science? To move from competence to excellence, what should teachers know and be able to do? Tools & Traits for Highly Effective Science Teaching, K - 8 answers those questions and shows you how to make powerful practices part of your science instruction. Even if you have little formal training or background knowledge in science, Tools & Traits for Highly Effective Science Teaching, K - 8 pulls together cognitive and educational research to present an indispensable framework for science in the elementary and middle grades. You'll discover teaching that increases students' engagement and makes them enthusiastic participants in their own science learning. Tools & Traits for Highly Effective Science Teaching, K - 8 answers vital and frequently asked questions: How do you structure inquiry-oriented lessons? What assessment probes and seamless formative assessments work best? What is integration and what is it not? How can literacy be powerfully linked to science learning? How do you manage activity-based learning? How do you provide science for students with various abilities. language proficiencies, and special needs? Its practical, proven, and research-based advice helps you understand what strong science teaching looks like and gives you the repertoire of skills you need to implement it in your classroom. The National Science Education Standards say that "everyone deserves to share in the excitement and personal fulfillment that can come from understanding and learning about the natural world." Whether you are reassessing your own teaching or examining it in light of state and federal science-education mandates, Tools & Traits for Highly Effective Science Teaching, K - 8 will make a difference in your teaching and in your students' lives.