Resources to Support STEM Education

STEM in K-12 Schools

STEM in K-12 Schools and Student Performance Expectations

• Each STEM discipline has specific skills and practices that are integral to the area. The overlap of these skills and practices provides students with opportunities to engage in cross-curricular learning while applying discipline understanding to authentic engineering problems.

  

  Share STEM Skills include:

  • Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
  • Data Collection, Analysis, Visualization, and Interpretation
  • Computational Thinking
  • Modeling
  • Mathematical Application
  • Iterative Thinking
  • Collaboration
  • Communication and Discourse
  • Systems Thinking

• The Science Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools identify academic content for essential components of the science curriculum at different grade levels. The content of the standards, in conjunction with effective instruction, provide a platform for creating scientifically literate students. The Science Standards of Learning reflect a vertical progression of content and practices. The Standards of Learning contain content strands or topics that progress in complexity as they are studied at various grade levels in grades K-5 and are represented indirectly throughout the middle and high school courses. These strands are:

  • • Scientific and Engineering Practices
    • Force, Motion, and Energy
    • Matter
    • Living Systems and Processes
    • Earth and Space Systems
    • Earth Resources

  The Science and Engineering Practices

  

  The Scientific and Engineering Practices reflected in the 2018 Science Standards of Learning describe behaviors that scientists engage in as they investigate the natural world and the practices that engineers use as they design and build models and systems.

   

• Virginia’s Computer Science standards aim to raise aspirations for computational instruction to enable students to engage and thrive in a digital world. Beginning in the earliest grades and continuing through 12th grade, students must develop a foundation of computer science knowledge and learn new approaches to problem solving that harness the power of computational thinking to become both users and creators of computing technology.

  Foundational principles that drive the 2024 Computer Science Standards of Learning include:

  • • Computational Thinking leverages logical reasoning and creativity to develop problem definition, component deconstruction and reconstruction, pattern identification, and systems interactions skills that develop resilient learners.
    • Responsible Digital Collaboration can expedite identification of solutions in a team setting, allowing diverse perspectives, and conflicting ideas to be incorporated and reconciled more efficiently.
    • Authentic Computing is paramount. Students must develop original work products, rather than relying on artificial intelligence (AI) , to produce meaningful and authentic mastery of concepts across educational disciplines.
    • Artificial Intelligence (AI) Must be Used Ethically. As the availability of artificial intelligence continues to increase, it is important to instruct students on effective and appropriate AI use. 

• Elementary Engineering

  Engineering design practices, built into the 2018 Science Standards of Learning and curriculum framework, use a system of problem-solving and testing to come to a conclusion. When engaging with the engineering and design process, students apply scientific, mathematics, and/or computer science concepts to solve a problem. The engineering process depends on research and experimentation and has the goal of solving a societal problem and may have multiple solutions. 

  The engineering design process is iterative.  Although there are steps to the process, movement between the various steps may not be sequential and may be repeated as the student or engineer develops potential solutions to the problem.  The process includes:

  • • Define the problem and determine the parameters
    • Brainstorm potential solutions
    • Research the problem (this can be done before the brainstorm session)
    • Pick one solution, plan a prototype, and determine what data to collect to determine its effectiveness
    • Build the prototype
    • Test the prototype
    • Improve the prototype and test it again
    • Communicate the results

  

  Secondary Technology and Engineering Education

  The technology and engineering education program through Career and Technical Education (CTE) provides experiences that lead to the development of technologically literate people. Consistent with their abilities, interests, and educational needs, students completing a technology education program will achieve the following goals:

  • Comprehend the dynamics of broad topics of technology, including its development, impact, and potential.
  • Employ the technological processes of problem solving, creating, and use the engineering design process.
  • Analyze the behavior of technological systems and subsystems, including the tools, materials, processes, energy, time, information, and people involved in systems.
  • Apply scientific principles, engineering concepts, and technological systems in the processes of technology.
  • Discover and develop personal interests and abilities related to a wide variety of technology-oriented careers.

  All competencies and curriculum frameworks for CTE programs are available from Virginia's CTE Resources Center website.

• The 2023 Mathematics Standards of Learning were approved by the Virginia Board of Education on August 31, 2023. The 2023 Mathematics Standards of Learning represent "best in class" standards and comprise the mathematics content that teachers in Virginia are expected to teach and students are expected to learn. 

  Mathematics Process Goals

  

  Students learn and apply the five mathematical process goals as they work to achieve the content of the Mathematics Standards. These processes support students in becoming mathematical problem solvers, communicating mathematically, reasoning mathematically, making mathematical connections, and using mathematical representations to model and interpret contextual situations. Contextual situations include real-world problems and problems that model real-world situations.

  Mathematical Problem Solving

  Students will apply mathematical concepts and skills and the relationships among them to solve problem situations of varying complexities. Students also will recognize and create problems from real-world data and situations within and outside mathematics and then apply appropriate strategies to determine acceptable solutions. To accomplish this goal, students will need to develop a repertoire of skills and strategies for solving a variety of problems. A major goal of the mathematics program is to help students apply mathematics concepts and skills to become mathematical problem solvers.

  Mathematical Communication

  Students will communicate thinking and reasoning using the language of mathematics, including specialized vocabulary and symbolic notation, to express mathematical ideas with precision. Representing, discussing, justifying, conjecturing, reading, writing, presenting, and listening to mathematics will help students clarify their thinking and deepen their understanding of the mathematics being studied. Mathematical communication becomes visible when learning involves participation in mathematical discussions.

  Mathematical Reasoning

  Students will recognize reasoning and proof as fundamental aspects of mathematics. Students will learn and apply inductive and deductive reasoning skills to make, test, and evaluate mathematical statements and to justify steps in mathematical procedures. Students will use logical reasoning to analyze an argument and to determine whether conclusions are valid. In addition, students will use number sense to apply proportional and spatial reasoning and to reason from a variety of representations.

  Mathematical Connections

  Students will build upon prior knowledge to relate concepts and procedures from different topics within mathematics and see mathematics as an integrated field of study. Through the application of content and process skills, students will make connections among different areas of mathematics and between mathematics and other disciplines, and to real-world contexts. Science and mathematics teachers and curriculum writers are encouraged to develop mathematics and science curricula that support, apply, and reinforce each other.

  Mathematical Representations

  Students will represent and describe mathematical ideas, generalizations, and relationships using a variety of methods. Students will understand that representations of mathematical ideas are an essential part of learning, doing, and communicating mathematics. Students should make connections among different representations – physical, visual, symbolic, verbal, and contextual – and recognize that representation is both a process and a product.