June 11, 2018
By Tina Brown
We first heard the term “STEM” several years ago. In May of 2013, the National Science and Technology Council introduced their five-year strategic plan. It was a 127-page report on how to strengthen American schools’ science, technology, engineering, and math education programs.
Essentially, the goal of this plan was to produce children who would eventually be competitive in an international job market. However, within a few years of the STEM hype, educators realized there was something missing.
The Missing Element in STEM
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Elementary level, Middle School level, STEM | Tagged: Educational Innovations, fun experiments, hands-on activity, hands-on science, homeschool, parent friendly, PBL, PhenoBL, phenomenon based learning, phenomenon-based science, STEM, variables | 
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Posted by Donna Giachetti
April 13, 2018
By Cathy Byrne
Virtually all fourth grade students explore electricity and magnetism. As part of this unit, students are asked to do two things:
1 – Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents (4-PS3-2)
2 – Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another (4-PS3-4).
This year, the teachers at my school put a new twist on our electricity and magnetism unit… and the results were amazing!
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Posted by Donna Giachetti
March 23, 2018
by Priscilla Robinson
If you teach STEM, you’ll want to learn about the OneCar system.
The performance components in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have spawned many wonderful chances to explore STEM in the classroom. The STEM curriculum is based on the idea that an interdisciplinary, applied approach is the best way to teach students these four specific disciplines. When your students are searching for solutions to real-world problems, they are more engaged, and their learning is more authentic.
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Posted by Donna Giachetti
March 2, 2018
by Alex Scheeline
The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, on the national mall in Washington, D.C., has an especially fascinating exhibit on Thomas Edison. The exhibit highlights the development of electricity and lighting, and, more generally, invention. In late 2017, I visited an area that featured a set of lamps—including a low-pressure sodium vapor lamp, a mercury lamp, an incandescent lamp, and a compact fluorescent lamp.
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Posted by Donna Giachetti
January 24, 2018
You might be surprised how much news there is about the ubiquitous science fair! We have collected a few worthy articles for you. Some are funny, others are provocative—and they’re all worth a look.
If you come across an article of interest, please share it with us in the Comments section below.
Happy reading!
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Posted by Donna Giachetti
