Is It Just Glitter?

It is that time of year when we gear up to celebrate the season with children!  As a colleague shared how much her family looks forward to decorating their holiday tree, I got to be thinking about all the glitter, tinsel and festive decorations!  Many schools say they are STEM schools, but if you look closer, they are just decorating trees! Lots of glitter & sparkle! STEM activities that delight & entertain children are not the same as STEM lessons that require children to conduct their investigations using science and engineering practices in A Framework for K-12 Science Education (NRC 2011).