The Buck Institute for Education defines Project-Based Learning as, "a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge." (What is PBL, 2020). The idea behind this teaching technique is to…

"Against the backdrop of the daunting carbon-neutral energy needs of our global future, the largest gap between our present use of solar energy and its enormous undeveloped potential defines a compelling imperative for science and technology in the 21st century" (Lewis & Norcera 2006). Concurrently, the United States educational…

This article describes an efficient peer evaluation process that can be implemented at the middle and high school levels, and that holds students accountable for their individual contributions in a team-based project. Teachers faced with this challenge will welcome the web-based peer-evaluation interface that was capable of soliciting student…

In the fall of 2011, Park Forest Middle School (PFMS) students approached the STEM faculty with numerous questions regarding the popular television show Myth Busters, which detailed Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, and inventor, Archimedes. Two episodes featured attempts to test historical accounts that Archimedes developed a death ray…

STEM-based understandings and experiences that prepare learners beyond the classroom are of imminent need, as today's STEM education students are tomorrow's leaders in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and education (Prabhu, 2009). Integrative STEM education signifies the intentional integration of science and mathematics with the…

This article describes a cooperative project between eighth graders and first graders called "Going Green in the Neighborhood." The project entailed the first grade students sketching home designs on paper to make a model community, and the eighth grade students taking those drawings and making them into 3D computer models and then…

Innovations from the United States have often led the world to new discoveries and solutions to complex problems. However, there are alarming indications that the United States is falling behind other countries in the ability to apply science, technology, engineering, and math to complex problems facing our world. In order for the country to…