More and more young people are learning about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in a wide variety of afterschool, summer, and informal programs. At the same time, there has been increasing awareness of the value of such programs in sparking, sustaining, and extending interest in and understanding of STEM. To help policy makers, funders and education leaders in both school and out-of-school settings make informed decisions about how to best leverage the educational and learning resources in their community, this report identifies features of productive STEM programs in

Many mathematics teachers agree that engaging students in high-quality discourse is important for their conceptual learning, but successfully promoting such discourse in elementary classrooms—with attention to the needs of every learner—can be a challenge. Activating Math Talk tackles this challenge by bringing practical, math-specific, productive discourse techniques that are applicable to any lesson or curriculum. Framed around 11 student-centered discourse techniques, this research-based book connects purposeful instructional techniques to specific lesson goals and includes a focus on

The imperative that all students, including English learners (ELs), achieve high academic standards and have opportunities to participate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning has become even more urgent and complex given shifts in science and mathematics standards. As a group, these students are underrepresented in STEM fields in college and in the workforce at a time when the demand for workers and professionals in STEM fields is unmet and increasing. However, English learners bring a wealth of resources to STEM learning, including knowledge and interest in

The CryptoClub Cipher Handbook is recommended for use in informal learning environments such as afterschool and enrichment programs. It teaches cryptography as an application of mathematics topics from the middle-grade curriculum. It covers six ciphers: Caesar, additive, keyword, multiplicative, affine, and Vigenère. The mathematics involved includes negative numbers, decimals, percents, prime numbers, common factors, inverses, methods for solving linear equations, division with remainder, and pattern recognition. Overarching themes throughout the book are problem solving and reasoning. The

How to engineer change in your middle school science classroom With the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards, your students won’t just be scientists—they’ll be engineers. But that doesn’t mean you need to reinvent the wheel. Respected science educator Cary Sneider has done the groundwork for you, collecting a full range of time-tested curriculum materials to seamlessly weave engineering and technology concepts into your math and science lessons. In this volume, you’ll find descriptions of instructional materials specifically created for—and tested in—middle school science

This book reports the results of a three-year research program funded by the National Science Foundation which targeted students and teachers from four Detroit high schools and discusses the creation of a Community of Designers-- an environment in which high school students and teachers, undergraduate/graduate student assistants, and STEM area faculty and industry experts worked together as a cohesive team.

This book brings together new media theorists, game designers, educators, psychologists, and industry professionals, including some of the contributors to the earlier volume, to look at how gender intersects with the broader contexts of digital games today: gaming, game industry and design, and serious games.

Technically Speaking provides a blueprint for bringing us all up to speed on the role of technology in our society, including understanding such distinctions as technology versus science and technological literacy versus technical competence. It clearly and decisively explains what it means to be a technologically-literate citizen. The book goes on to explore the context of technological literacy the social, historical, political, and educational environments.

Originally released in the Spring of 1999, has been expanded to show how the theories and insights from the original book can translate into actions and practice, now making a real connection between classroom activities and learning behavior. This book includes far-reaching suggestions for research that could increase the impact that classroom teaching has on actual learning.This book offers exciting new research about the mind and the brain that provides answers to a number of compelling questions. When do infants begin to learn? How do experts learn and how is this different from non

This guide will help educators and employers working in Information Technology School-to-Career partnerships understand the concept of organizational culture, recognize the common issues that interfere with partnership building, and implement strategies to build strong and successful educator/employer partnerships.