Kindergarten to 5th grade integrated STEM curriculum

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has received increased interest in the past decade. Integrated STEM education can provide students with relevant and meaningful experiences that develop STEM knowledge and 21st century competencies. The world is increasingly becoming more reliant on STEM knowledge which makes quality integrated STEM education imperative for students. 
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There are five main tenets for assessing or developing integrated STEM curriculum. 

• First, the context should be motivating, meaningful, and engaging for students. 
• Second, there must be mathematics and/or science content as the main objectives of the curriculum 
• Third, the problems students work on should be open-ended with the teacher employing student-centered pedagogies including teacher as a facilitator and cooperative learning.
• Fourth, the curriculum should allow students to learn from failure and/or have the opportunity to redesign as they develop teamwork and communication skills
• Finally, the curriculum should enable students to become more technology savvy through the use of technology or design of technology through the engineering design process. 

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One of the main concerns that has been raised in regards to integrated STEM education is the need for further curriculum development where the STEM disciplines are integrated in a meaningful way. At the elementary education level there is great potential for this to occur.

I analyzed and described integrated STEM curriculum from articles in two elementary education journals: Science and Children and Teaching Children Mathematics. Both of these journals are published by leading organizations in mathematics and science education. Science and Children is published by the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA). Teaching Children Mathematics is published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).  I identified 85 articles that included integrated STEM curriculum. Click below for a full description of curriculum. The table below that has a description a few of the articles. 

link to full article