Designing Meaningful Stem Lessons

Sure, there are lots of cool STEM activities you can use in class. But do they really help your students learn science? This book shows you how to take lessons you’re already familiar with and, through small changes, do what the title says: Design STEM lessons that are actually meaningful for teaching and learning science. You can also make sure your STEM lessons contain the content students need to learn. The book’s foundation is a conceptual framework that keeps science front and center, showing you how to embed engineering, technology, and science applications in your lessons-similar to how you would embed literacy skills in your classwork. To make it easy to use this conceptual framework, Designing Meaningful STEM Lessons provides 13 ready-to-use lessons in physical science, life science, and Earth and space science. True to the authors’ promise to be both relevant and exciting, the lessons have titles such as ＂Cell-fie＂ and ＂Aircraft Catapult.＂ All correlate with A Framework for K-12 Science Education, take a constructivist approach, and operate within the 5E instructional model. By presenting STEM as a ＂process and not a thing,＂ Designing Meaningful STEM Lessons helps you bring STEM learning to life in your classroom, easily and effectively.

Dr. Milton Huling is a nerd ... and proud of it. Milt loves modeling instruction in classrooms and making science come to life for students. Milt received a Bachelor of Science degree from Southern Illinois, Edwardsville, in Earth space/geology. He received a master’s degree in science education from Florida State University along with the additional course work to become a certified teacher. Milt received a Ph.D. from the University of South Florida in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in science education. Milt’s teaching career spans 14 years, starting in Illinois and continuing in Florida. He has been with the same Florida school district for 10 years. He has spent six of these years teaching physics and Earth science at the high school level. For the past four years, Milt has served as the District Secondary Science Coordinator and more recently as the District Elementary Curriculum Specialist. On a daily basis, Milt designs curriculum and liaisons with the district’s technology departments to deliver resources to both teachers and students. Milt also serves the school administration and teachers by developing and facilitating professional development opportunities.