THE BENEFITS OF

INTEGRATED STEM
in the K-12 classroom
A strong STEM workforce is needed to meet the multidisciplinary
problems of the 21st century, create a more equitable world, and
sustain science understandings and support globally. However,
there are low numbers of students entering STEM careers. In
response, science standards recommend the use of integrated
STEM instruction. This form of instruction, which engages
students collaboratively in providing solutions to real-world
problems, has several benefits. These include:

INCREASED STEM POSITIVE STEM

ACHIEVEMENT
Engaging in STEM tasks with their peers has
been shown to increase students'
understanding of STEM concepts and skills
(Bethke-Wendell & Rogers, 2013)
ATTITUDES
STEM has also been shown to help build
students' interest and attitudes in
pursuing STEM as a career (Haverly et
al., 2016)

INCREASED
CREATIVITY
STEM also offers students the
opportunity to address open-ended
problems with multiple solutions.
These require students to work
collaboratively and creatively (Crotty
et al., 2017)
INCREASED
COLLABORATION
As students work on open-ended STEM tasks,
these tasks require that they work together,
just like STEM practitioners. This requires
learning to communicate, ideate, and make
decisions with their peers (Wendell et al.,
2019)

ENGAGING IN INCREASED
DESIGN EQUITY
STEM tasks require an anchoring
Integrated STEM also offers an
discipline and process to guide
equitable method of science
students' problem solving. As such,
instruction. Students can participate
students have the opportunity to
according to their abilities and can
engage in engineering design (Bryan
apply their own ideas (McFadden &
& Guzey, 2020).
Roehrig, 2018)

TAKEAWAYS
Effective integrated STEM instruction provides several benefits to
students, from increased learning to fostering 21st-century skills
(NSTA, 2020). K-12 teachers everywhere should consider engaging
their students in collaboratively solving authentic problems. If we
intend to fix the leaky STEM pipeline, we need to start engaging
students in STEM as soon as they enter school.