Making Science: Reimagining STEM Education in Middle School and Beyond

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 a foreword by Steve Davee, Chief Maker Educator, Maker Education Initiative and “Case Stories” from a diverse group of elementary, middle, and high school science classes. 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.

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.