STEM Lesson Essentials, Grades 3-8: Integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics / Vasquez, Jo Anne

"STEM Lesson Essentials moves beyond the rhetoric and provides knowledge, tools, models, and examples that make STEM a reality of teaching and learning in classrooms."
-Rodger Bybee, Executive Director (Retired), Biological Sciences Curriculum Study

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 21^st century skills.

STEM Lesson Essentials shows teachers how to begin the STEM integration journey with:

• five guiding principles for effective STEM instruction
• classroom examples of what these principles look like in action
• sample activities that put all four STEM fields into practice
• lesson planning templates for STEM units.

Explicit connections are made among the STEM practices, including the Common Core Standards for Mathematical Practice and the Framework for K-12 Science Education, helping you easily recognize ways in which STEM lessons can engage students in multiple standards at the same time.

With ideas that are practical and achievable in any classroom, STEM Lesson Essentials will give you the confidence and knowledge to weave engineering and technology concepts into your math and science curriculum. STEM teaching doesn't have to be hard. You just have to get started. Try it out with STEM Lesson Essentials, and watch student understanding, achievement, and motivation soar.