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There is no single strategy for approaching STEM integration.
Introduction
The field of STEM education is an educational framework that has surged in application over the past decade. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) is infused in nearly every facet of our society. Filling the gap of current research in middle school career and technical education (CTE) and STEM programs is important as traditional CTE programs transition to an environment that requires simultaneous academic and occupational instruction. The central strength of the current CTE and academic integration efforts has been "linking learned academic knowledge and skills directly with authentic applications in CTE programs and the courses of study opportunities" (Castellano, Stringfield, & Stone, 2003, p. 2).
Over the past decade, there has been an increase of research findings that "illustrate specific methods, actions, supports, and resources that facilitate the process of CTE and science content integration" (Spindler, 2011; see also Parr & Edwards, 2004; Stearn & Stearns, 2006; Washburn & Myers; 2010). There is no single strategy for approaching STEM inte- gration. No school or school system is the same. Each is unique in its own way, with differences in demographics, resources, socioeconomic factors, challenges being faced, or needs to be addressed. STEM integration, broken down into its simplest form, focuses on breaking down the silos of discipline-specific teaching by making the connections for students between the content being taught in the classroom and the real-world experiences they will be exposed to in the future.
The goal of this article is to provide additional research related to the STEM Integration in Middle School Career and Technical Education study (Wu-Rorrer, 2015) and to continue the expansion of the current base of knowledge related to STEM integration in career and technical education by providing an example of a project being incorporated into a middle school Inventions and Innovations course. The article focuses briefly on new research related to STEM integration and middle school programming while demonstrating how the current research can be implemented in a STEM classroom. The project being presented is titled the Future Space Colony Project (FSCP).
Review of Literature
Completed in 2015, the STEM Integration in Middle School Career and Technical Education study introduced readers to career and technical education, the Delphi design,...