This is a story about learning STEM content and practices while making objects. It is also a story about how that learning is contextualized in one young man’s disruption of racism simply by trying to learn how gears work. Our project, Investigating STEM Literacies in MakerSpaces (STEMLiMS), focuses on how adults and youth use representations to accomplish tasks in STEM disciplines in formal and informal making spaces (Tucker-Raymond, Gravel, Kohberger, & Browne, 2017). Making is an interdisciplinary endeavor that may involve mechanical and electrical engineering, digital literacies and

Negative attitudes about mathematics and the poor performance of U.S. adults and students on measures of mathematical reasoning are well-documented problems that limit many people’s identities and career aspirations. At the same time, the last decade has seen a proliferation of out-of-school environments that foster making and tinkering activities. Enthusiastic participants in these activities are often engaging in mathematical reasoning without realizing it—and thus do not consider themselves competent mathematical thinkers. Is there a way we can leverage the popularity of making and

Fossils and the science of paleontology provide a charismatic gateway to integrate STEM teaching and learning. With the new Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), as well as the exponentially increasing use of three-dimensional (3-D) printing and scanning technology, it is a particularly opportune time to integrate a wider variety of fossils and paleontology into K–12 curricula. We describe a curricular prototype that integrates all four components of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) into authentic research using dentitions of the Neogene giant shark Megalodon (Carcharocles

The ITEST Small Working Group on Computational Thinking (CT) has completed its White Paper titled: Computational Thinking for Youth. The paper aims to describe what computational thinking looks like when practiced by youth in ITEST and other NSF funded programs and how educators can support growth in computational thinking. It shares examples of CT as observed in middle school projects. It also shares observations in the form of a model that describes three stages that youth appear to progress through as their computational thinking skills evolve.