The Missing Link: Literacy as the Engine of STEM Success

Outline

1. Welcome & Framing the Challenge (5 minutes)
Content:
Introduce the problem: high school STEM PBL often lacks structured opportunities for students to communicate their thinking in writing and comprehensively document the design process and its iterations.
Briefly share context: student participation in authentic challenges (Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, Invention Convention, Lemelson-MIT SOLVE).
Connect to ISTE Standards for Students & Educators and Transformational Learning Principles
Engagement:
Quick interactive poll: "What writing artifacts have you used in project-based learning cycles?"
Invite participants to share one challenge they face in getting students to write about their work.

2. Why Writing Matters in STEM PBL (8 minutes)
Content:
Show how executive summaries, mini business plans, and engineering design documentation help students:
Plan and justify design choices.
Receive actionable feedback.
Communicate with authentic audiences and judges.
Present research connections (student belonging, self-efficacy, real-world readiness, problem-solving).
Engagement:
Display student work samples (short excerpts of executive summaries and design documentation).
Ask attendees to analyze a student artifact for clarity and technical communication.

3. Core Writing Scaffolds & Formative Assessment Strategies (15 minutes)
Content:
Introduce three anchor writing tasks with examples:
Executive Summary: concise pitch of the project vision and impact.
Research paper: comprehensive modern assessment of the problem and its effects on society and communities.
Mini Business Plan: describing potential users, feasibility, and sustainability.
Engineering Cycle Documentation: iterative design journals and data collection.
Show how to build each into a project timeline to support iteration and final deliverables.
Engagement:
Small Group Activity (brief): Provide sample writing prompts and ask groups to determine where each fits in the PBL cycle (early planning, iteration, and finalization).
Share rubrics and feedback comment banks; participants identify one adaptation for their own classrooms.

4. Tools, Templates & Feedback Systems (15 minutes)
Content:
Walk through adaptable Google Docs/Slides templates for writing tasks.
Show how to embed check-ins for feedback.
Overprepare students by creating writing assignments that exceed challenge deliverables to provide a deeper context.
Challenge students to transition from a colloquial tone to a professional tone in descriptive and informative writing.
Peer review protocols
Teacher notes and competition rubrics.
AI self-checks
Discuss the use of digital tools for collaboration and writing.
Engagement:
Hands-on activity: Participants work individually or in pairs to modify a template (e.g., an executive summary outline) tailored to their own project.
Share one revision idea or a student-centered adaptation.

5. Student Voice & Impact Stories (7 minutes)
Content:
Share short video clips or quotes from students describing how writing shaped their project outcomes and confidence.
Show real competition deliverables that advanced to recognition or awards.
Engagement:
Attendees complete a quick reflection: "How would you change your writing requirements for PBL projects?"
Invite volunteers to share.

6. Wrap-Up & Resource Sharing (5 minutes)
Content:
Summarize key takeaways: structured writing supports deeper design thinking, reflection, and authentic communication.
Provide a curated digital resource folder (templates, rubrics, sample student work).
Engagement:
Live Q&A for specific contexts.

Outcomes

After this session, participants will be able to design and integrate structured writing tasks into interdisciplinary project-based learning (STEM and otherwise); apply rubrics and feedback strategies to use these tasks as formative assessments; and adapt provided templates to support authentic, real-world student deliverables.

Supporting research

Arochman, T., Margana, M., Ashadi, A., Achmad, S., Nugrahaeni, D. A., & Baihaqi, I. (2024). The effect of project-based learning on English writing skill for EFL learners. Journal of Pedagogical Research. https://doi.org/10.33902/jpr.202423961

Boardman, A. G., Polman, J. L., Scornavacco, K., Potvin, A. S., Garcia, A., Dalton, B., Stamatis, K., Guggenheim, A., & Alzen, J. L. (2024). Examining enactments of Project-Based Learning in Secondary English Language arts. AERA Open, 10. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584241269829

Imbaquingo, A., & Cárdenas, J. (2023). Project-based learning as a methodology to improve reading and comprehension skills in the English language. Education Sciences, 13(6), 587. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13060587

Lee, M. Y., & Lee, J. S. (2025). Project-Based Learning as a Catalyst for Integrated STEM Education. Education Sciences, 15(7), 871. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15070871

Liu, Z. (2025). Study on design and practice of PBL teaching model based on STEM Education Concept. Scientific Reports, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-18485-x

Markula, A., & Aksela, M. (2022). The key characteristics of Project-Based Learning: How Teachers Implement Projects in K-12 science education. Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43031-021-00042-x

Odell, M. R., Kennedy, T. J., & Stocks, E. (2019). The impact of PBL as a STEM school reform model. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 13(2). https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1846

Santos, C., Rybska, E., Klichowski, M., Jankowiak, B., Jaskulska, S., Domingues, N., Carvalho, D., Rocha, T., Paredes, H., Martins, P., & Rocha, J. (2023). Science education through project-based learning: A case study. Procedia Computer Science, 219, 1713–1720. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2023.01.465

Simamora, A. M. (2024). A Decade of Science Technology, engineering, and Mathematics (stem) project-based learning (PJBL): A systematic literature review. Journal of Computers for Science and Mathematics Learning, 1(1), 58–78. https://doi.org/10.70232/pn3nek61

Smith, K., Maynard, N., Berry, A., Stephenson, T., Spiteri, T., Corrigan, D., Mansfield, J., Ellerton, P., & Smith, T. (2022). Principles of problem-based learning (PBL) in STEM Education: Using expert wisdom and research to frame educational practice. Education Sciences, 12(10), 728. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12100728

Zhang, L., & Ma, Y. (2023). A study of the impact of project-based learning on student learning effects: A meta-analysis study. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1202728