Science / STEM / STEM and the Future / STEM By Design
by MiddleWeb · Published 03/01/2026 · Last modified 04/04/2026
When STEM learning blends innovation with empathy, critical thinking with collaboration, and technology with ethics, your students will gain critical skills that can prepare them to lead, adapt, and shape an AI-driven world that’s still unfolding, writes STEM expert Anne Jolly.
Plastics Pollution / Science / STEM / STEM By Design
by Anne Jolly · Published 10/05/2025 · Last modified 04/04/2026
Discarded microplastics are everywhere, including inside humans. To advance students’ awareness of the effects of plastics and the options for decreasing them, author and science educator Anne Jolly shares STEM project ideas that focus on recycling, reusing and reducing plastic.
Anne Jolly’s STEM By Design 2nd Edition is a well-organized and practical resource to help students respond to a wide range of real-world problems in the classroom. The book is complemented by a resource-filled companion website, writes middle school teacher Heidi Braden.
STEM and the Future / STEM By Design
by Anne Jolly · Published 06/30/2025 · Last modified 05/03/2026
Creating a well-rounded middle school student goes way beyond the textbook! Anne Jolly shares the core learning skills and life skills middle-schoolers need and invites teachers – especially STEM teachers – to take up the challenge to help students achieve their potential.
AI should be more than a tool; it could be a true creative partner and not a crutch. It is our job to get our students to that point. Practice at choosing the best words for prompts, refining those prompts, and evaluating and adjusting the responses can help get them there.
Women’s history is no longer in hiding, thanks to scholars who are documenting women’s impact on society. Middle grades teachers can help their students trace that history with these resources, just updated and expanded, for Women’s History Month and beyond.
Tamra Stambaugh and Paula Olszewski-Kubilius provide a guidebook to move forward with gifted programs that meet the needs of students living in poverty. “This will be a resource that shapes our gifted education program a long time into the future,” writes district coordinator Kim Rensch.
For well over a decade MiddleWeb has shared helpful ideas for new middle grades and MS teachers. In this post we’ve selected recent articles along with several classics and book reviews that might be MOST useful before and during your first months in the classroom.
India is different from the U.S. in many ways, writes Fulbright teacher Marilyn Pryle, but many of the issues they are trying to address are global issues that all countries face. Here are three things India’s public schools often do better than their American counterparts.
Todd Stanley’s A Teacher’s Toolbox for Gifted Education gives honest, practical research and evidence-based strategies to increase engagement in most classrooms. ELA teacher Erin Corrigan-Smith notes the inclusion of STEM and PBL focused activities to inspire learners.
