Making Science: Reimagining STEM Education in Middle School and Beyond

by Christa Flores, Steve Davee (Foreword by), Sylvia Martinez (Editor)

Overview

Making Science: Reimagining STEM Education in Middle School and Beyond is a new look at STEM education for the future. Steeped in research and history, but as modern as a trip to Mars, this book will make you think deeply about the nature of science and science learning.

Richly illustrated with examples of student work, this book offers project ideas, connections to the new Next Generation Science Standards, assessment strategies, and practical tips for educators.

Anthropologist turned science and "making" teacher Christa Flores shares her classroom-tested lessons and resources for learning-by-making in the middle grades and beyond. Take a journey through science that explores how to make classrooms more engaging, inclusive, and reflective of real science from the world. Imaginative, lyrical, and astonishing lessons come to life as Christa unfolds her Problem-based Science curriculum for the middle years.

For many students, middle school is a time when science class turns boring, as wonder turns to worksheets and dull experiments. Making Science: Reimagining STEM Education in Middle School and Beyond is about combining new technology from the maker movement, real world materials and a designer mindset to create personalized learning experiences that engage students in the wonder of science. Christa explores how to build science literacy that empowers students to become informed and engaged citizens and global problem-solvers.

The book also includes "Case Stories" from a diverse group of elementary, middle, and high school science classrooms, plus informal environments. These stories showcase how to use real science, digital fabrication, making, and design as a way to engage today's youth. Making Science: Reimagining STEM Education in Middle School and Beyond celebrates STEM and STEAM for every student, including those traditionally underserved in STEM education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780997554304
Publisher:	Constructing Modern Knowledge Press
Publication date:	11/11/2016
Pages:	194
Sales rank:	729,354
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.41(d)

About the Author

Christa Flores has taught lab-based science for ten years in K-8 classrooms. She graduated from the University of California San Diego with a degree in Biological Anthropology, has done graduate level work in primatology research through the New York Consortium of Evolutionary Primatology and obtained a masters in Secondary Science Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Christa is also a Stanford FabLearn Fellow evangelizing making in education with a focus on how to assess student learning while making. She is passionate about research and designing meaningful making experiences for all children in formal and informal learning environments.

Editorial Reviews

04/01/2017
A fascinating look at the intersection of science and the maker movement. Flores focuses on constructionism, or the science of learning by doing. True constructionist education is achieved through problem-based science in the learning space. Aimed at teachers and librarians seeking evidence of the benefits of the maker movement in the classroom or library, this title serves as a sampling of successfully executed projects for a wide range of ages. Case studies in electronics, robotics, recycling, and more provide excellent examples of learning in action. Open-ended questions fuel the projects, and students are asked to produce evidence of learning not through tests but through journals, portfolios, and other self-driven projects. However, the book does have drawbacks. The activities described were completed in schools, where there is already structure in place for maker-based learning. Reading the descriptions of these amazing endeavors will be inspiring but also potentially frustrating for those just starting to plan a maker space, especially since the schools mentioned are almost exclusively private or charter. However, the stories included are worth reading. VERDICT Despite some flaws, this resource has a place in the professional collection of any school or library interested in the maker movement.—Deidre Winterhalter, Oak Park Public Library, IL

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