Whole-School, Interdisciplinary STEM in Action—Real-World Problem Solving Through Co-Teaching.

Research shows that teaching the design process enhances students’ college and career readiness by building essential skills like critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. This session provides educators with a way to work as team-teaching pairs to increase the students' understanding of how subjects link in the real world, allowing both educators to share instructional responsibilities, model collaboration, and support all learners through active engagement and differentiated instruction. We will provide ready-to-use, hands-on STEM lessons that will feature activities that are real-world, open-ended challenges that encourage students to apply the engineering design process to develop innovative solutions. Students work in teams to tackle meaningful problems, adapt to changing parameters, and iterate their designs which mirror the collaborative problem-solving used in today’s careers. When extended to a school-wide format, these challenges create a unified learning culture and inspire healthy competition across grade levels. Through repeated exposure to the design process in a team-taught setting, students develop the ability to approach problems methodically and creatively. This session will empower educators to strengthen student engagement, promote inclusive practices, and build transferable 21st-century skills through the power of engineering and teamwork.