STEM and STEAM learning must become more than an educational ‘sound bite.’ More importantly, STEAM learning needs to be fully understood and implemented. Step Into STEAM examines and addresses issues regarding the importance of STEAM learning and provides the support that elementary classroom teachers and instructional leaders need to truly guide their planning, teaching, and assessment of integrated and inquiry-based STEAM instruction. What an amazing ‘must-have’ resource!

Francis (Skip) Fennell, McDaniel College

Step Into STEAM takes a sophisticated pedagogy from appearing as a complicated challenge to an approach that is accessible to each and every classroom. What separates this work from others? Oh, right: There are no other books like this one! The authors’ practical approach to getting started and go-to resources recognize the reality of busy educators’ lives. Here you’ll find planning tools and examples of investigations that don’t trivialize any of the STEAM subjects to merely ‘cover’ a subject. Rather, they integrate the subjects in a way that leverages community and societal interests; they exemplify student-driven instruction that capitalizes on learners’ strengths; and they focus on equity, empathy, and experience to help learners seamlessly blend their noncognitive skills.

Karen S. Karp, University of Louisville

Step Into STEAM offers a rare opportunity for anyone concerned with education to consider what learning would be like with equity, empathy, and experience. By providing examples from educators who have dared to put children first, this book offers more than just a new way to teach; it offers hope for youth today. By considering what youth will need to be successful in jobs that are not yet created, Bush and Cook provide a platform for educators to create authentic, real-world problem solving in classrooms and beyond with attention on the often forgotten component of STEAM—the M! As a proponent of STEAM education, my recommendation is to grab this book and watch your students love learning again!

Cassie Quigley, University of Pittsburgh

While some STEM and STEAM books tend to be heavy on one discipline and can leave out other disciplines, this book advocates interdisciplinarity and in fact emphasizes the concept of transdisciplinarity. Transdisciplinarity is meaningful STEAM instruction that goes beyond simply connecting the disciplines but supports meaningful connections among the disciplines that creates learning beyond the disciplines themselves. This idea melds throughout the book with examples and suggestions for how to develop such a program that provides meaningful learning experiences across and among the STEAM disciplines.

Valarie Akerson, Indiana University

Step Into STEAM is a must-read for anyone interested in STEAM! Rather than supplying a set of prescribed lesson plans to follow, the authors provide guidance, practical suggestions, and thought-provoking questions to assist the reader as they successfully plan for and implement STEAM inquiries. These STEAM inquiries, which maintain a sharp focus on mathematics and science content and practices, hold the potential to highly affect learning for each and every student.”

Susie Katt, Lincoln Public Schools

Step Into STEAM is a timely guide for those interested in framing their work in STEAM instruction. The authors’ unique and innovative approach is transformational and takes readers on a journey into STEAM teaching and learning. Bush and Cook have written a must-read primer for everyone involved in STEAM education . . . Read this book—and learn from the best!

Rommel J. Miranda, Towson University

Through carefully crafted research-based frameworks; inspirational, authentic, and approachable practical strategies rooted in the reform efforts of student-centered STEAM instruction; and opportunities for professional self-reflection, Step Into STEAM rightfully re-elevates educators to their proper places as innovation experts and agents of change in their own classrooms, schools, districts, and communities. An inspirational step in a needed direction, Drs. Bush and Cook have carefully crafted the type of book educators have been craving: a guide to transforming ourselves, our learning spaces, and our profession.

Richard Cox Jr., The Community and Social Impact Atrium Health

Step Into STEAM provides a remarkable resource in bringing together mathematics and science learning in authentic ways that inform and reflect the world around us. This book thoughtfully integrates STEM literacy and a research-informed focus to implement content and practice standards for PreK–5 students, teachers, and leaders. Students are empowered through equitable STEAM instruction to connect their lived experiences in order to impact local communities and society at large.

Farshid Safi, University of Central Florida

Every craftsperson needs a good set of tools. A painter needs their collection of brushes, a carpenter their assortment of saws, an engineer their pencils and scales. Each tool is related, and some may seem indistinguishable to a casual observer—but the right tool in the right hands can make a world of difference. Teachers—especially STEAM teachers—are no exception, and for them Step Into STEAM can be both toolbox and tool: at once an indispensable collection of ideas, guidelines, hints, and tips, and a single convenient place to find them all. You might not use every tool on every job—but when you need just the right one, you’ll be glad you know where to find it.

Alan Perez, Jefferson County Public Schools