Curriculum

Integrating Math and Science Through Engineering: Illustrative Examples from Curricula Implementation in Middle School Engineering Classrooms

Engineering has emerged as a promising context for STEM integration in K-12 schools. In the previous decade, the field has seen an increase in curricular resources and pedagogical approaches that invite students to utilize mathematics and science as they engage in engineering practices. This Innovation to Practice paper highlights one effort to meaningfully integrate mathematics and science through engineering in middle school classrooms. The STEM-ID engineering course sequence consists of three 18-week middle school engineering courses.

Author/Presenter

Jessica Gale

Dyanne Baptiste Porter

Meltem Alemdar

Sunni Newton

Jasmine Choi

Abeera Rehmat

Roxanne Moore

Year
2025
Short Description

Engineering has emerged as a promising context for STEM integration in K-12 schools. In the previous decade, the field has seen an increase in curricular resources and pedagogical approaches that invite students to utilize mathematics and science as they engage in engineering practices. This Innovation to Practice paper highlights one effort to meaningfully integrate mathematics and science through engineering in middle school classrooms.

Integrating Community Assets, Place-based Learning, and Career Development Through Project-based Learning in Rural Settings

Our study investigates the first year of a two-year place-based education (PBE) professional development model that focuses on career development in rural middle schools through project-based learning (PBL) units. Rural science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educators face unique challenges, including geographic isolation, limited resources, and reduced access to professional development opportunities, which can hinder the effective integration of career-oriented learning in the classroom.

Author/Presenter

DeNae Kizys

Christine Lotter

Lucas Perez

Rachel Gilreath

Dodie Limberg

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Our study investigates the first year of a two-year place-based education (PBE) professional development model that focuses on career development in rural middle schools through project-based learning (PBL) units. Rural science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educators face unique challenges, including geographic isolation, limited resources, and reduced access to professional development opportunities, which can hinder the effective integration of career-oriented learning in the classroom. We addressed these challenges by implementing professional development in which school counselors and teachers collaborate to design PBL units aligned with rural community local needs and STEM careers.

Developing a Visual Model to Represent the Implementation of an Ambitious Mathematics Program

We describe the development of a visual model to represent the implementation of an ambitious mathematics program, which serves as an example of a complex educational reform. Visual models can be both conceptual and empirical, representing aspirational and theoretical perspectives while simultaneously incorporating empirical details specific to the context. Integrating conceptual and empirical aspects leads to tensions in managing the complexity of the model. Our process began with a simple model that guided our empirical work, which involved qualitative analysis.

Author/Presenter

Jeffrey Choppin

Saliha Al

Junnan Li

Charles E. Wilkes II

Ernesto Daniel Calleros

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

We describe the development of a visual model to represent the implementation of an ambitious mathematics program, which serves as an example of a complex educational reform.

Culturally Responsive Mathematics Engagement Through a Family-Inspired Mathematizing Routine

There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill acquisition, and positive dispositions in early mathematics. This exploratory qualitative study looked at a mathematical routine, focused on family-provided photos and artifacts, that elicited children’s mathematical and general observations and inquiries and engaged families in mathematical communications.

Author/Presenter

Jennifer M. Suh

Stephanie C. Calabrese

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill acquisition, and positive dispositions in early mathematics. This exploratory qualitative study looked at a mathematical routine, focused on family-provided photos and artifacts, that elicited children’s mathematical and general observations and inquiries and engaged families in mathematical communications.

Culturally Responsive Mathematics Engagement Through a Family-Inspired Mathematizing Routine

There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill acquisition, and positive dispositions in early mathematics. This exploratory qualitative study looked at a mathematical routine, focused on family-provided photos and artifacts, that elicited children’s mathematical and general observations and inquiries and engaged families in mathematical communications.

Author/Presenter

Jennifer M. Suh

Stephanie C. Calabrese

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill acquisition, and positive dispositions in early mathematics. This exploratory qualitative study looked at a mathematical routine, focused on family-provided photos and artifacts, that elicited children’s mathematical and general observations and inquiries and engaged families in mathematical communications.

Culturally Responsive Mathematics Engagement Through a Family-Inspired Mathematizing Routine

There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill acquisition, and positive dispositions in early mathematics. This exploratory qualitative study looked at a mathematical routine, focused on family-provided photos and artifacts, that elicited children’s mathematical and general observations and inquiries and engaged families in mathematical communications.

Author/Presenter

Jennifer M. Suh

Stephanie C. Calabrese

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill acquisition, and positive dispositions in early mathematics. This exploratory qualitative study looked at a mathematical routine, focused on family-provided photos and artifacts, that elicited children’s mathematical and general observations and inquiries and engaged families in mathematical communications.

Culturally Responsive Mathematics Engagement Through a Family-Inspired Mathematizing Routine

There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill acquisition, and positive dispositions in early mathematics. This exploratory qualitative study looked at a mathematical routine, focused on family-provided photos and artifacts, that elicited children’s mathematical and general observations and inquiries and engaged families in mathematical communications.

Author/Presenter

Jennifer M. Suh

Stephanie C. Calabrese

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill acquisition, and positive dispositions in early mathematics. This exploratory qualitative study looked at a mathematical routine, focused on family-provided photos and artifacts, that elicited children’s mathematical and general observations and inquiries and engaged families in mathematical communications.

Co-designing Citizen Science Projects for Elementary Schools in New Hampshire Through Teacher and Community-based Extension Science Volunteer Partnerships

In the United States, reforms put forth by Next Generation Science Standards have increased the demand for K-12 teacher professional development in science instruction. This study investigates a new professional development model, entitled Schoolyard SITES, that partners elementary teachers with University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension science volunteers to create a community-based partnership that improves teachers' understanding of NGSS-aligned instruction.

Author/Presenter

Lara M. Gengarelly

Sameer V. Honwad

Megan E. Glenn

Erik A. Froburg

Malin E. Clyde

Haley A. Andreozzi

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

In the United States, reforms put forth by Next Generation Science Standards have increased the demand for K-12 teacher professional development in science instruction. This study investigates a new professional development model, entitled Schoolyard SITES, that partners elementary teachers with University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension science volunteers to create a community-based partnership that improves teachers' understanding of NGSS-aligned instruction.

Textbooks as a Resource for Teaching Mathematics Through Problem Posing: Catalyzing Instructional Change

Research has shown that teaching mathematics through problem posing, or problem-posing based learning (P-PBL), is a student-centered instructional approach that can improve students’ cognitive and affective aspects of learning. However, since textbooks continue to include very few opportunities for problem posing, researchers have been working to support teachers to integrate problem posing into classroom instruction, drawing on textbooks as a resource.

Author/Presenter

Stephen Hwang

Jaepil Han

Faith Muirhead

Amy Brown

Matthew Melville

Jinfa Cai

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Research has shown that teaching mathematics through problem posing, or problem-posing based learning (P-PBL), is a student-centered instructional approach that can improve students’ cognitive and affective aspects of learning. However, since textbooks continue to include very few opportunities for problem posing, researchers have been working to support teachers to integrate problem posing into classroom instruction, drawing on textbooks as a resource. In this paper, we describe how teachers in the P-PBL Project have engaged in instructional change with support from researchers around a high-quality middle school mathematics textbook series.

Restructuring the Science Curriculum Around Grand Challenges

Grand Challenges (GCs) are complex, global, and multifaceted science and societal problems such as climate change, viral pandemics, loss of biodiversity, and quests for new energy sources. In this article, we advance a position, based on current research and theory, that GCs should be a prominent feature of the science curriculum. This move towards a GC-based curriculum challenges the positioning of canonical scientific concepts as the central organising feature of the curriculum, which is typically the default position of most science education programmes.

Author/Presenter

Troy D. Sadler

Zhen Xu

David Fortus

Year
2025
Short Description

Grand Challenges (GCs) are complex, global, and multifaceted science and societal problems such as climate change, viral pandemics, loss of biodiversity, and quests for new energy sources. In this article, we advance a position, based on current research and theory, that GCs should be a prominent feature of the science curriculum. This move towards a GC-based curriculum challenges the positioning of canonical scientific concepts as the central organising feature of the curriculum, which is typically the default position of most science education programmes.