Activities like dance, drama, film, literature, music and visual arts that use skill and imagination to communicate an idea or an aspect of the human experience.

Scientific research that is conducted through crowd sourcing.

When everyday citizens help scientists collect and analyze data for their research projects.

Academic learning goals that define what students should know and be able to do at different grade levels; typically organized around “big ideas” or overarching concepts that students encounter in school.

A problem-solving approach that's similar to the engineering design process as well as the creative process used in the arts. Students can use design thinking to develop a product that solves a real-world problem, or to create something people value and find meaningful. The process has five components: (1) empathize — research users' needs (2) define — state users' needs, (3) ideate — challenge your assumptions and document ideas, (4) prototype — create solutions, and (5) test, refine, repeat — try out solutions. The design thinking process includes five components.

A component of the design thinking process during which students research users' needs to help them put aside their own assumptions, put themselves in others' shoes to understand their perspectives, and think about how to make things better for the people they hope will use the product or solution they're designing.

The use of science and mathematics to design and make things.

A learning approach that provides opportunities for active learning and exploration (for example, through a makerspace).

A technique often used during the design thinking process to identify the root cause of a problem by repeating the question “Why?” at least five times to make sure you have the right target (problem) before you focus on solutions.

Ways of thinking; habits of mind associated with STEM include curiosity, openness to new ideas and critical thinking, along with mathematical and logical skills related to computation and estimation.

Learning through active exploration, problem solving and manipulation of materials rather than through the more traditional methods of content delivery, such as lectures and textbooks.

A component of the design thinking process during which students challenge their assumptions, document ideas, and use the "5 Whys" technique to identify the root cause of the problem or need they've identified.

A learning approach that uses inquiry processes like design thinking to elicit student questions, research, development and reflection; a characteristic of project-based learning and STEAM learning

A guided instructional approach in which learners ask questions, conduct investigations, make discoveries and apply their new understandings

Includes content and skills from more than one field of knowledge.

Students and others who are working in the makerspace and performing the act of “making.”

A collaborative environment designed to allow students to make, create, learn, invent and share. It’s a space that inspires students to be creative when completing a project or activity.

A grassroots movement focused on experiential learning that inspires young people to be creative, imaginative and inventive. At the heart of making are hands-on experiences that are student driven, invite creative exploration of materials, and harness children’s inherent love of play.

The study and use of numbers and their operations to describe, measure, predict and explain occurrences and relationships in the physical world.

Ability to suggest or design solutions to problems for which there may be no one right answer.

A component of the design thinking process during which student teams produce inexpensive, scaled-down versions of a product or solution to investigate whether the solution will solve the problem. This is a period of brainstorming, collaboration and experimentation. The aim is to identify the best possible solution to address the root problem.

A systematic way to collect and organize knowledge about the world.

The ability to understand and apply concepts from science, technology, engineering and mathematics, including computer science and interdisciplinary strategies, in order to make informed decisions, create new products and processes, and solve problems.

Any tool developed by a human to help solve a problem.