Bloomington, Ind., Jan. 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Author Jason McKenna firmly believes STEM can change the lives of students and teachers. In his new book, What STEM Can Do for Your Classroom: Improving Student Problem Solving, Collaboration, and Engagement, Grades K–6 he shares the why behind integrating STEM into elementary school curriculum and offers practical strategies for how to do it.
McKenna wrote this book to help fuel the passion teachers have, or at least had at one time, for their craft. “When you think about why teachers got into the profession, it’s not because they thought ‘I want to inspire more students to become engineers someday,’ explains McKenna. “They are more likely driven by those moment-to-moment classroom experiences they can create for their students. What STEM Can Do for Your Classroom offers specific examples and strategies to help them create those experiences.”
Elementary teachers can find in this resource the research that defines the importance of STEM, as well as a more personal why, which McKenna shares through his own transformative teaching experiences. McKenna hopes to supplement the great teaching already taking place in the classroom with field-tested STEM strategies for how to cultivate creativity and inspire authentic student collaboration and choice.
The book focuses on elementary school because research shows that students who engage with STEM at an early age are more open to trying the activities and tend to form positive opinions on their abilities in STEM subjects. This carries into secondary education, instilling confidence in students to tackle even more complex tasks and subjects.
"From prompts teachers can use in response to student-voiced concerns to overarching design and instructional principles to the dozens of classroom-ready activities sprinkled throughout, it is clear that this is a book by a teacher for teachers," says David Weintrop, assistant professor in the College of Education and College of Information Studies, University of Maryland.
What STEM Can Do for Your Classroom: Improving Student Problem Solving, Collaboration, and Engagement, Grades K–6 is available to order at SolutionTree.com.
About the Author
Jason McKenna is the director of global educational strategy for VEX Robotics. An educational strategist with 20 years of experience teaching, Jason ensures VEX Robotics’ educational STEM solutions align with global educational standards and fulfill educators’ needs.
About Solution Tree
For more than 20 years, Solution Tree (https://www.solutiontree.com) has worked to transform education worldwide, empowering educators to raise student achievement. With more than 30,000 educators attending professional development events and more than 4,260 professional development days in schools each year, Solution Tree helps teachers and administrators confront essential challenges. Solution Tree has a catalog of more than 515 titles, hundreds of videos and online courses and is the creator of Global PD, an online tool that facilitates the work of professional learning communities. Follow @SolutionTree on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
