Across the United States, political leaders, educators, and business persons are issuing an urgent call for reform in STEM education (NGSS Lead States 2013). One important response to this call is Integrated STEM, which the National Governor's Association (2007, p. 7) says involves, "... an emphasis on design and problem solving in…

With the 2010 Winter Olympic Games prominent in the media, children were exposed to images of athletes skiing down snow-covered slopes, coasting furiously on bobsleds, and skating gracefully across the ice. Therefore, the authors capitalized on their children's natural curiosity about the world around them by exploring the concept of motion in a…

Boulder Creek runs literally in the backyard of Donnelly Elementary School and happens to be on the EPA list of impaired water bodies. Therefore, a unique opportunity for problem solving opened the door to an exciting chance for students to become scientists, while also becoming active in their community. With the help of the Idaho Department of…

Although not all teachers can invite scientists into classrooms on a regular basis, they can invite them into their students' worlds through literature. Here the author shares how she used the nonfiction selection, "Science to the Rescue" (Markle 1994), as an opportunity for students to investigate socially significant problems and empower them to…

Hands-on science activities and first-hand experiences of kindergartners studying trees demonstrate the true meaning of authentic assessment. The activities and teacher interactions had several things in common: (1) they asked students to perform or create something; (2) they invoked real-world applications; (3) they showed that there is more than…