Maryville Center for Access and Achievement

Q. How do you incorporate STEM into your classroom?
✍In my classes, students don’t just learn concepts—they design products, code projects, and build business ideas from the ground up. For example, students might use computer science skills to build a website for the business ideas of their peers.


Q. Can you share one STEM activity or project that made a meaningful impact on your students?
✍ One of the most meaningful projects in my classroom has been a cross-curricular restaurant project combined with a BBC micro:bit and Global Goals collaboration. Students were challenged to create their own restaurant concept while also addressing a real-world issue connected to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
In the entrepreneurship portion, students developed their restaurant brand. At the same time, they incorporated computer science by using micro:bits to design interactive or functional elements.
What made this impactful was how it pushed students to think beyond just creating a business. They had to consider how their ideas could make a positive difference in the world.

Q. How have you seen STEM influence student engagement or confidence?
✍ Integrating STEM has had a noticeable impact on student engagement and confidence. When students are creating something meaningful they are more motivated to stay engaged and push through challenges.
I’ve seen students who may not typically excel in traditional settings gain confidence when they discover their strengths. Because the work is hands-on and relevant, students begin to see themselves as capable creators and innovators.

Q. What advice would you give to educators who want to bring more STEM into their classrooms?
✍ Start with real-world, meaningful projects. When students are solving problems and building something that matters, engagement naturally follows.
Take it beyond your classroom—display student work, involve the whole school in voting or showcases, and add friendly competition like pitch days or “Shark Tank”-style events. Pair that with a feedback cycle so students can refine and improve their ideas.

We’re excited to spotlight another educator making a meaningful impact!

Meet Amber Haven.

Q. How do you incorporate STEM into your classroom?
⭐️My classroom is the district STEM Lab. I teach 5th graders STEM for a quarter, and I also teach 6th-8th graders STEM for a full year.

Q. Can you share one STEM activity or project that made a meaningful impact on your students?
⭐️Recently, I taught a mini-structural engineering unit to all of the grade levels. After learning why engineers use triangles in their structures and how triangles distribute weight evenly through tension and compression, students were challenged to build a bridge with limited materials while also remaining within a "budget." Having the students work within a budget was a great way to encourage them to be purposeful with their material choices.

Q. How have you seen STEM influence student engagement or confidence?
⭐️I have a sign on my wall that says, "Fail Forward." Making mistakes, making modifications, and learning from each iteration of a design are common practices in our classroom. Students are feeling more confident in conversations with classmates. They are viewing the process over the product within themselves.

Q. The "Fail Forward" motto has become something we say with a smile. I have heard 10-year-olds pick up their peers' moods by saying, "Hey! It's okay, you just figured out a way to fail forward!"

Q. What advice would you give to educators who want to bring more STEM into their classrooms?
⭐️Practice routines! Hands-on activities can create big messes and big feelings of excitement. When routines are automatic, the activities feel less chaotic.

Q. What excites you most about teaching STEM?
⭐️I love figuring out ways to connect general education class content to STEM activities. I was able to tie the triangle engineering activity into math classes when students were learning about 45-45-90 triangles and the Pythagorean Theorem. Students built cantilevers with certain criteria, then calculated an extension of the cantilever using the Theorem. The hypotenuse was used as a suspension, keeping the cantilever parallel with the ground. It was really powerful!

Congrats to our amazing STEM champions, Kimberly Berry and Vivianne Young, for presenting at this year’s NSTA Spring Conference in Anaheim, CA! We are so proud of the knowledge you are sharing with educators everywhere!

We would like to give a huge shout out to one of our STEM Champion educators, Amy Pritchard!

Q. How do you incorporate STEM into your classroom?
✍I am a reading interventionist, so I use STEM activities in after school clubs like Lego Builders Club or the KAPLA Club. STEM is a fun way to engage students and make them want to come to school by having the after school activities.

Q. Can you share one STEM activity or project that made a meaningful impact on your students?
✍There is an extremely simple Lego Six Bricks activity that really opened the eyes of the first graders. The only instruction given is to build the tallest tower possible with six Lego bricks. Some students placed conditions on themselves by building traditionally and connecting the bricks. Others discovered the power of questioning. It really opened their minds to questioning, conditions, and unlimited thought.

Q. How have you seen STEM influence student engagement or confidence?
✍There is a lot of power in finding a solution. Once they discover that ability, they crave it and build their own confidence.

Q. What advice would you give to educators who want to bring more STEM into their classrooms?
✍It's never as hard as you think it is. You don't have to build an entire program to incorporate STEM. Start here and there and try to make it cross-curricular. Attach a STEM activity to something you are already doing.

Q. What excites you most about teaching STEM?
✍It's total fun and it's real stuff! You may be using a model in the classroom, but models become real life.

We would like to give a huge shout out to one of our STEM Champion educators, Anne Cummings, of Brittany Woods Middle School!

How do you incorporate STEM into your classroom?
In the Brittany Woods Middle School Education for Sustainability and Agriculture program, we teach leadership, entrepreneurship, and stewardship through gardening, beekeeping, chicken tending, and cooking.

Can you share one STEM activity or project that made a meaningful impact on your students?
We raise money for our program through our Brittany Brand pop-up shops. Each class develops a value-added project using ingredients we grow or produce. As part of that process, they use mathematical analysis to create profit/loss statements and learn how to plan for success.

How have you seen STEM influence student engagement or confidence?
Because our learning is hands on, students have a greater opportunity to apply STEM principles in real time. This is particularly important for struggling students who don't see themselves as "being good at" or "doing" STEM.

We recently completed construction on a classroom kitchen and we tried to figure out why our Granola tasted bad. Once we experimented with temperature, I pointed out that the steps we'd taken aligned with the Scientific Method. They were shocked at how easy it was. As a result of the experience, they see the practical link between cooking and science.

What advice would you give to educators who want to bring more STEM into their classrooms?
Remember that learning begins with a sense of wonder. I became a far better STEM teacher when I stopped prescribing learning experiences for students and instead joined them in the process.

What excites you most about teaching STEM?
Because students share meaning as they learn, I see STEM through many minds and hearts. My wonder is renewed daily!

👏 Experiences like these remind us that STEM isn’t just about formulas or labs — it’s about curiosity, problem-solving, and helping students see themselves as capable creators and thinkers.