STEM, Standards, and Strategies for High-quality Units

Book excerpt: "Science education's two-fold challenge is clear: Schools need to (1) align their curricula with contemporary state standards and (2) meet the growing demand for STEM education. What's not as clear: how to meet the challenge if your school doesn't have the right instructional materials. STEM, Standards, and Strategies for High-Quality Units is designed to address both these needs. Thought leader and curriculum expert Rodger W. Bybee has assembled a guide to creating coherent, high-quality classroom materials that support the standards and STEM. The book provides practical background information and activities that can be adapted by individual teachers, professional learning communities, and professional developers. It starts with a section on making foundational decisions about your STEM unit's development. Later sections discuss getting started with preliminary designs, improving the designs with new knowledge and skills, developing the unit, and then teaching and further improving the unit as needed. Throughout, Bybee integrates contemporary educational strategies such as the 5E Instructional Model, backward design, and lesson study. "Because most states have new science standards, it only makes sense to incorporate various aspects of those standards in STEM activities," he writes. STEM, Standards, and Strategies for High-Quality Units is the book to help you do this. It's useful whether your school is developing a new STEM program, adapting current instructional materials, or creating new materials of its own"--