By Maggie O'Brien

We had such a great response to our post on the Top 10 STEM Education Articles of 2016 that we decided to share our favorite articles on STEM education every month. Hopefully this will help shine a spotlight on the exceptional work educators are doing to ensure their students are college and career ready.

Here's what we liked this month:

Think big, start early: New effort to close gender gap in science starts in preschool | CBS News

After years of teaching science, Phaedra Brown recognized the importance of engaging girls in STEM at the “very beginning of their educational journeys” – years before the stereotype can take hold.  Brown explains that it’s not just about making girls better at science and math as “numerous studies show that early exposure to STEM has a positive impact across the entire spectrum of learning".

STEM Starts Early: Grounding Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Education in Early Childhood | Joan Ganz Cooney Center

This report provides intriguing insights and recommendations for education leaders to improve opportunities for children to become confident learners in science, technology, engineering and math.

Five Guidelines to Make School Innovation Successful | KQED MindShift

After ten years of transforming the traditional model of education, Chris Lehman and others working on the Innovative Schools Network offer their recommendations on five areas that leaders need to consider for change to be successful.

Scientists Take on New Roles in K-12 Classrooms | Education Week

This article discusses how the Next Generation Science Standards have caused scientists to rethink how they work with schools to advance understanding of their field. The National Board on Science Education brought together science educators and members of professional science groups last month to discuss guidance for developing partnerships between scientists and teachers.

A STEM Story for Early STEM Learning | The Joan Ganz Cooney Center

Susan Nall Bales, founder and advisor to the FrameWorks Institute, describes the components of a “core story of STEM education" that can help scientists, teachers, and advocates share the science—and be sure that the learning is getting through to students.