There are a lot of books about STEM Education. But the best book on STEM Education I've found is STEM, STEAM, Make Dream: Reimagining the Culture of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics by Christopher Emdin.

For a few reasons:

• Reason #1: Restores Distortions

  • It is common for many students to fear STEM subjects, which leads to distortions that students create and embed in their minds. Emdin proposes project-based learning as a solution to the standardized testing methods that schools around the U.S. utilize where students engage in individual and group projects that are interdisciplinary and hands-on.

• Reason #2: Addresses Inequities

  • With how STEM has been used to marginalize young students, Emdin emphasizes the need to include various subjects like the arts and culture to advocate for sustainable change. He also provides insight from his interviews with professionals like Ron Eglash, an ethnomathematician who discusses rediscovering complex mathematics in Indigenous cultures.

• Reason #3: Incorporates Culture

  • Emdin interviews various educators, policy makers, and community leaders such as Leland Melvin, an American engineer and retired NASA astronaut. He shares his experiences of how he was raised to have the mentality of limitless thinking outside of the box that society creates for him by his father. 

• Reason #4: Prioritizes Empowerment

  • Emdin encourages and challenges students to dream big by provoking their minds to see endless possibilities in terms of what they can become. He stresses the importance of establishing maker culture where students can build objects, combining academic and intellectual rigor to creating something.

• Reason #5: Emphasizes Identity

  • The book challenges the belief that STEM courses are merely academic subjects, but rather languages that students can learn to become fluent in by placing them in spaces where they are spending time around people who read, write, and speak the language. He also expresses that STEM requires not only the work of the mind but also the work of the heart and soul, combining what you know with what you do.

If you are at all interested in STEM Education, I can't recommend this book enough. (And if you've read it, do you agree? What other book would you recommend?)