Welcome to STEM by Design

I’m truly glad you’re here!

If you enjoy being at the cutting edge of education, then you’re going to love being a part of STEM. I’m passionate about STEM and about education, but I’ve found that passion alone isn’t enough. Teaching STEM takes knowledge, energy, and persistence.

I wrote STEM by Design: Tools and Strategies to Help Students in Grades 4–8 Solve Real-World Problems to give you a jumpstart in creating a dynamic STEM classroom. I also intend it to give you the momentum to refine and sustain your efforts, to help you create lessons, and to accept that it’s okay if your lesson initially fails to meet your expectations. I want you to learn to build and rebuild those STEM lessons to create learning experiences that cultivate kids who can successfully tackle real-world STEM challenges with that same tenacious spirit.

Wrapping our minds around great STEM learning

If you’re a teacher, or an educator who supports teachers in their efforts to implement genuine STEM in classrooms (including afterschool and Career and Technical Education) then I am passionate about your success as well. You’ll find help in my book. You’ll also find ideas throughout this website, including my personal blog.

You’re going to be glad you’re here! Check out my STEM blog at MiddleWeb as well for the latest commentary on the “state of STEM.” It’s all geared toward helping you become an outstanding STEM teacher and STEM leader and helping you wrap your mind around what that means.

Most of all, let’s collaborate. As you read entries and resources, take a moment to share ideas, questions or favorite resources at our Let’s Talk page. You can count on me to join your conversations. This is also the place to ask questions about things you’ve read in my book.

STEM education provide an amazing future for our 21st century kids if we all work together to make it so!

– Anne Jolly