Learning in science depends on actively doing science. Active engagement in hands-on, minds-on science learning experiences enables students to make personal sense of the physical world and to solve problems. Toward these ends, the Essential Academic Learning Requirements for science were developed based on the following set of guiding principles.

1. All students should be expected to attain satisfactory achievement and performance on all Essential Academic Learning Requirements.
   
2. All students should have access to a carefully articulated science program each year in kindergarten through 10th grade with opportunities for continued study in grades 11 and 12.
3. All students should receive quality feedback about their performance and achievement in science on a continuous basis.
4. All students, regardless of gender, cultural or ethnic background, physical or learning disabilities, aspirations, or interest and motivation in science, should have the opportunity to attain scientific literacy.
5. All students should have access to effective and appropriate teaching from well trained teachers who are supported with high quality instructional resources.

If all students attain mastery of the Essential Academic Learning Requirements for science, we will be much closer to attaining the national goal of being the first in the world in science achievement and performance.

Educational technology, which can be defined as the combination of human imagination, inventiveness and electronic tools that transform ideas into reality to meet a need or solve a problem, used in schools to support learning and teaching. Our goal is to assist schools in applying educational technology effectively and appropriately to meet student learning needs, ensure that all schools are performing at high levels, and advance strategic goals for education policy.

Within the curriculum STEM activities explore the interdisciplinary connections between the contributing school subjects science, design & technology and mathematics with special reference to those sorts of activities that might be termed engineering or have a strong engineering component.

Engineering is a very broad area of professional activity, hence the definition from the Royal Academy of Engineering as the knowledge required, and the process applied, to conceive, design, make, build, operate, sustain, recycle or retire, something of significant technical content for a specified purpose; a concept, a model, a product, a device, a process, a system, a technology.

Mathematics for Today and Tomorrow - Mathematics continues to grow at a rapid rate, spreading into new fields and creating new applications, in its open-ended search for patterns. Several factors -- growth of technology, increased applications, impact of computers, and expansion of mathematics itself -- have combined in the past century to extend greatly both the scope and the application of the mathematical sciences. The changes must be reflected in the schools if our students are to be well prepared for tomorrow's world.

What is Mathematics? - Mathematics is a language and science of patterns.

As a language of patterns, mathematics is a means for describing the world in which we live. In its symbols and vocabulary, the language of mathematics is a universal means of communication about relationships and patterns.

As a science of patterns, mathematics is a mode of inquiry that reveals fundamental understandings about order in our world. This mode of inquiry relies on logic and employs observation, simulation, and experimentation as means of challenging and extending our current understanding.

Toward a deeper study of important mathematics - More than at any other time in history, society is placing demands on citizens to interpret and use mathematics to make sense of information and complex situations. Computers and other technologies have increased our capacities for dealing with numbers, for collecting, organizing, representing, and analyzing data. Tables, lists of numbers, graphs of data, and statistics summarizing information occur in every form of the media.

To be well informed as adults and to have access to desirable jobs, students today require an education in mathematics that goes far beyond what was needed by students in the past. All students must develop and sharpen their skills, deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts and processes, and hone their problem-solving, reasoning, and communication abilities while using mathematics to make sense of, and to solve, compelling problems. All students need a deep understanding of mathematics; for this to occur, rigorous mathematical content must be reorganized, taught, and assessed in a problem-solving environment. For students to develop this deeper level of understanding, their knowledge must be connected to a variety of ideas and skills across topic areas and grade levels in mathematics, to other subjects taught in school, as well as to situations outside the classroom.