Beyond marshmallow towers and toothpick bridges: Progress and strategies for a whole-school STEM program

This paper describes strategies and activities that have been used in a Whole-School STEM Initiative at Laing Middle School of Science and Technology in Mount Pleasant, SC to bring hands-on STEM experiences into every subject in the school's curriculum. A key feature of this program is an emphasis on problem-solving with STEM tools, as opposed to emphasizing specific content of the STEM disciplines. Examples include descriptions of activities that have been used in English language arts, social studies, and science classes, as well as how the engineering design process can be used in every class as part of daily instruction.