Strengthening Rigor in STEM: Putting the R in STEM...Wait, What?

As we embark on our journey to make our children and students more critical thinkers and problem solvers, we often come upon really fun activities for students to engage in.  (Those who know me are cringing because they know how much I hate the word "fun". Fun implies that nothing is being learned, so I much prefer the word "engaging".)

Unfortunately this hazard transfers to students because the engaging activities that we're asking them to participate in really are...um, well, fun.  And that's great, but we want to make sure that we don't lose site of the goal to learn so we need to introduce our R into STEM- Rigor.

How do you Strengthen Rigor in your STEM projects?  In this series, we'll explore different ways to keep students engaged yet ensure that they are learning and stretching both in content and STEM Skills.