This post by Natacha Meyer and Tania Tauer was first published in Education Week on April 24, 2015. The authors are senior curriculum develpers with Engineering is Elementary.

Today's unprecedented push to train students in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math) has been primarily motivated by the need to produce a workforce capable of addressing the 21st century's global challenges. Research suggests that engaging middle school-aged youth in interactive STEM activities does more than just prepare them for STEM careers. Hands-on, open-ended engineering challenges provide youth with a fun and meaningful way to develop the 21st century skills that are critical to competency in today's interconnected global community.

Here are the top four 21st century skills you can promote in youth by facilitating engineering activities in your out-of-school time program.

Each Thursday on the EiE blog, we answer your questions about classroom engineering.

Q: I know that each Engineering is Elementary Teacher Guide comes with one copy of the storybook for the unit. Do I need to buy additional copies for my students to read?

A: The answer is, it depends on the ages and abilities of your students.

EiE storybooks are written at about a 5th-grade reading level; they're classified this way because of all the science and engineering vocabulary words in the stories!

If you teach upper elementary students (or students with advanced reading skills), a class set of storybooks allows each student to read independently. Or you might have your students read in pairs, or small groups.

Occasionally on the EiE Blog, we introduce you to the folks on our team and the work they do. Today, meet Richard Sutton, research coordinator. We’ve got a mountain of data coming in from a major, NSF-funded study, and Richard is the gatekeeper. Student assessments, journals, performance evaluations . . . more than 200,000 pieces of data must be entered into our system, and Richard makes it happen.

Richard is a noteworthy EiE’er for another reason. Over the past several months on the blog, we’ve been talking about engineering habits of mind. His personal story is a perfect example of the habit of mind of persistence.

Are you planning a STEM Night? Need a short video that introduces parents to Engineering is Elementary? Do you want to implement EiE at your school, but need to apply for a grant to fund the purchase? Are you hoping to offer an EiE workshop at a regional NSTA conference, but need help with your proposal?”

• The EiE Collaborator Toolkit, for professional development providers
• The EiE Outreach Toolkit, for parents, teachers, and administrators

The school year is coming to an end. When I say “summer slide,” do you picture fun on the playground?  Actually, summer slide is a serious concern. Students can lose up to three months of learning progress over the summer, according to the National Summer Learning Association. They may return to school in the fall with academic skills significantly lower than when they left the previous spring. The risk of a slide is especially great in STEM subjects.

And students from low-income families are particularly at risk; they’re less likely to be enrolled in summer camps and other formal education activities, which can be costly. Out-of-school time programs that serve diverse populations are making fighting the summer STEM slide a priority, with programs like Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s "Summer Brain Gain" and 4-H's STEM Camps.