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Thank you for posting this. As an old science teacher, what I am seeing is the Scientific Process being expanded upon in this article. As teachers, teaching students to be thinkers and not regurgitators of facts is very important. I would much rather a student understand the process of "if I do A to B and C happens, but I wanted D to happen, what do I need to adjust to A and B to get the result I want." Rather than spitting out D happens when you do a to B. It is also interesting to see him mentioning at the top that the arts make STEM "sizzle" when you see what is happening at UVA.

It is interesting to see how STEM is being looked at in other places. One thing in the article, that I haven't heard someone else stress, is the importance of empathy. I think that empathy would ensure that the students would maintain interest in a topic. However, the article makes me wonder what curriculum will look like in the future if we make these changes. Certainly, different children in different places will have different interests and will want to learn about different things, which is fine, but will be difficult with the current system of standards. I also think that teaching and learning will be done in different "teams" rather than traditional classes where all subjects are compartmentalized and divided. Another interesting point, in one of the videos, was how the students should do the investigation and research rather than the teacher. I think this is a fundamental part of project based learning.

Good science teachers capitalize on the "aha" moments and work hard to help students not only understand science, but also foster a lifelong learning in science. Why is this so important? Because science is the one subject that encompasses everything in life and helps students be curious, ask questions, and make connections as to why the world exists as it does. It is the backdrop for understanding our world, and helps us to explain and appreciate it in new ways. 1 Science is the "S' in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education. We define STEM education as the preparation of students in competencies and skills in the four disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and math). A successful STEM education provides students with science, math, and engineering/technology in sequences that build upon each other and can be used with real-world applications. STEM education creates critical thinkers, increases science literacy, and enables the next generation of innovators. Innovation leads to new products and processes that sustain our economy. This innovation and science literacy depends on a solid knowledge base in the STEM areas. It is clear that most jobs of the future will require a basic understanding of math and science-10-year employment projections by the U.S. Department of Labor show that of the 20 fastest growing occupations projected for 2014, 15 of them require significant mathematics or science preparation. - See more at: https://www.isa.org/standards-and-publications/isa-publications/intech-magazine/2010/september/why-stem-education-is-important/#sthash.WOLuwEXC.dpuf

As always, you delivered a good definition.

This article defines STEM education and explains why it is important.

This a very good article. It is very informative.

Resourses + free image

PBS Kids has activities that do a good job of linking engineering to science, math, and technology. The website has many characters which my students identify with. Many of the activities and concepts, that are covered, are for younger students, but some are for the upper grades.

Great website- it is very "children" oriented due to the nice colors, drawings and simplicity. I love it for the content that is accessible by young learners but I appreciate it even more because it has very innovative classroom activity suggestions (as well as lesson plans) for teachers. Even more importantly, there have a listing for family activities for each subject, which I think is great because learning can be even more meaningful when it is done outside of the classroom.

Wolfram Alpha Demonstrations with Interaction

10 of the best apps for education As iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches become included in curriculum, here are several education apps you might enjoy As iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches become more integrated in classrooms, educators and students are looking for new ways to apply them to the learning process.

Ipads and Ipods are becoming a huge part of education. Unfortunately there are a limited amount of devices in my school, but whenever I can get them, my students love playing and creating on IOS devices. At the EdTech conference this year, they discussed BYOD (bring your own devices). I thought this was an interesting way to keep students up to date without stressing the schools budget.

TPACK Venn Diagram in 3 minutes describing the 7 categories seen on the model.

Keith's video "TPACK in 3 minutes" did a lovely job of summing up the TPACK framework in a few words with great examples. The speaker makes it a point to explain "context" within the TPACK model and how it is implemented. He states that the model will look very different depending on the perspective (corporate vs. teacher) and grade level (elementary vs high school/college). I think one of the driving forces is the realization and understanding by many teachers that implementing useful technology - in the context of what their teaching- is necessary to accommodate the students' needs regardless of if the teacher is technology smart or not. However, this is where I think the resistant force sets in as well. Even though TPACK is a package where each of the 3 domains work together, I think that teachers find it overwhelming or very "sudden" and big of a change that it makes some of them feel uneasy to fully adopt it. This goes with what Stephen had stated in a previous post- that maybe the best way to approach this framework is to have teachers take baby steps.

Thank you very much for sharing this link. The creator of this video does a very good job of explaining what TPACK is and demonstrating the dotted line for context was a nice addition to the TPACK model. A few other things I am taking from this video is that it shows the power of the internet. I think this teacher did this video in one take, which means he did not spend time editing or retaking what he was doing. I have a feeling this was created in about 15 minutes after setting up the camera, gathering materials and planning in his mind what he would say. This 15 minutes of effort has been watched over 5,000 times since its upload a little over one year ago. In this day and age, 5,000 views on Youtube might not seem like that much, but twenty years ago speaking to 5,000 people on a subject would almost be unimaginable. The power of online video is something I am taking from this course.

Ok, think I am starting to get this Diigo site a little bit.

This is an excellent resource for me. I will able to use it to help me in many ways.

Bull explained that digital fabrication provides an engaging entry point for integrating more math, engineering, science and technology in elementary schools.

Great resource if you have students needing makeup or home-bound. Virtual Chemistry Experiments are a collection of interative web-based chemistry tutorials. The tutorials employ Physlets and Chemistry Applets to simulate experiments or depict molecular and atomic structure. The guiding concept is to involve the read in making observations and acquiring data, and then using this information to draw conclusions and infer chemical principles.

I find these are best as additional to traditional lab experiences or, as I posted earlier, I use these for the students that can't be at school for usual labs. Understanding limitations of their own lab technique and evaluation of errors does not occur with simulations. Similar to difference between multiple choice assessment and free response.

I agree with Anna, virtual experiments wouldn't be my first choice in methodology for lab experiments, but there are somethings that you just, can't do in the classroom. Whether it is from limited resources, limited class time, or simply the experiment is too dangerous for the classroom, virtual experiments are a good alternative. I had a chemistry professor in my undergrad who was making a dvd textbook with lectures and experiments and there was a lot of cool experiments on the dvd that he would have never been able to do during his lectures.

I don't have too many go to sites yet (I hope that improves in the near future) but I did run across this compilation of youtube videos related to science that I think will be helpful in the future. Given some of them are way too basic to use, but there used to be really cool look inside the cell type stuff. The original site shut down so I had to find where someone else posted the links on their blog so my apologizes if you can not access it at this time.

Hey Eric- Thanks for posting this website- I was looking through the videos and happen to come across some that I think might be useful for me when I start teaching very soon!

This resource is webcast from UC Berkeley Lectures, maybe not the most practical for the classroom but its always interesting to look out how others are teaching similar content.

This site provides educational movies for K-3 students. Homework Help, leveled quizzes, games and activities for kids. Exceptional resource for teachers and homeschools. I use this site very often.

After I wrote the comment, I saw the brainpop.com site and was impressed with it none the less.

I like Brainpop for starting conversation in my AP classes.

One of the newest and greatest innovations continues to be video games. In the past, educational games have never quite met expectations, but with grants and contests such as this one, hopefully the games improve and students can learn something while playing video games.

This looks like a great tool for kids today- especially considering how attached some kids are to games. Children need to know how they get sick and what is going on inside of them when they are sick. One concern I have is that the game may be giving the message that all bacteria are bad and will make them sick. This is a common misconception that has led to the over use of antibiotics and hand sanitizer. Children should be taught that although some bacteria are pathogens, most are not, and they actually help other animals (ie. Humans) carry out every day functions. Bacteria ≠ Pathogen.

About four years ago, I went to a facility planners conference and they said the most improperly used space in the school is the library. It should not be filled with stacks of books, but it should look more like a media center where you have gaming centers, areas for public wi-fi access and a small section for books, but it would not be the dominant feature of the media center. It would also not close with the school, but be an area that would be open to the general public after hours. We will probably not build another school in Spotsylvania in the next decade, but it will be interesting to see if divisions will be starting to convert what we currently see as a library into something else.

For my undergrad, one of my professor's was working on a smart phone app to help with Dendrology for students currently learning the extremely boring subject. It's a really cool idea, and caused me to be very interested in a wide variety of education related apps on my smartphone. I think smart phones has the potential to take education the next mile, but much like video games they need the extra little push to help accomplish stem education.

Innovation with implications in currciulum areas of Physics, Chem, and Env. Science

I really like how the website provides "featured articles" that are very current and pertain to "hot issues" going around currently. It's great to have a wide variety of information in terms of subject so that student's can learn more; however, being able to read up on something more recent might intrigue them a bit more because they are familiar with it.

I use the website all the time for student independent research idea generation! For our students seeking to enter ISEF, Siemens, and other science competitions new & exciting ideas energize them and get them to push to the next level - find mentors and perform high caliber science.

Eight minute video that defines and explains implications of STEM. Created & Posted by nwpaworkforce. 9 Feb 2011

I think this is a good video that students can relate too. Nice find!

Anna - this is something that I think teachers should show their students, even if there is no STEM curriculum in effect. I love how the students described something very practical- like playing video games- to show how each of the four disciplines are intertwined.