ABSTRACT
Like many standards worldwide, the Sustainability transdisciplinary education model (STEM) standards imagine the goal of teaching to inspire students to reach their full potential. Each set of STEM standards contains practices that spark student interest, prompt creative ventures, and inspire students to dream of a better world. When students first approach STEM-based problem solving, they tend to continue practicing faulty habits. In all comprehension, whether it’s reading, listening, or STEM, learners need to take what is given and use what is given to reason through to understanding. Nancy Wolf laments the common but misguided teaching practice of modeling meaning for students, thinking students will understand if they are shown or that students can be guided step-by-step into meaning. Students gain conceptual knowledge by working and laboring and struggling to think and visualize meaning. When students are learning this STEM practice, they are learning to make quality observations that are complete, accurate, clear, objective, and labeled with scientific and mathematical vocabulary.
