Editorial: Integrated STEM and Current Directions in the STEM Community

Abstract

uring this National Technology Leadership Summit (NTLS; see ntls.info), concurrent “strand” deliberations took place over 2 days. One of those strands was entitled American Innovations in the Content Areas: STEM, and the discussion within that strand is the focus of this editorial. The American Innovations project has students reconstruct and enhance early inventions using advanced manufacturing, while exploring related science and mathematical models. As a springboard for discussion, our group engaged in two project activities, one involved taking a series of measurements to derive Ohm’s Law and the other demonstrated an activity that had middle school students derive Ampere’s Law for Solenoids. This editorial outlines the three main areas of the group’s discussion, including (a) the benefits of integrated STEM activities, (b) difficulties of implementing integrated STEM activities in schools, and (c) action items to move forward as a STEM community.