ST. PAUL, Minn. - s4story -- As an esteemed science educator, Dr. Artika Tyner knows the importance of STEM education. She worked at the Science Museum of Minnesota for two decades. Her newest books in the Read for a Better World™ series, "STEM Educator Guide Grades Pre-K-8," were just released.

"I'm excited to share with educators an invaluable STEM teaching guide," said Tyner. "This is critically important when STEM careers are growing at a rate of three times faster than all careers combined. Let's help our children explore new career pathways."

Tyner wrote four books in the Read for a Better World™ series. The series encompasses STEM guides for Pre-K through 8^th grade. All of the guides are published by Lerner and available on Bookshop.

This series serves as an essential guide to build and use in an inclusive STEM classroom library, combining theory and lesson plans for educators. Teachers will learn how to audit classroom collections to support exploration and discovery. The book assists teachers in how to build STEM awareness and interest in ways that include reading, literacy activities, and virtual resources. The teaching guide inspires youth to dream about STEM career paths that allows them to create, imagine and build a better world.

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Even as the demand for scientists, engineers, and mathematicians continues to increase, the number of African Americans in those fields is falling, according to The Hechinger Report. One of the major problems is that Black children typically aren't exposed to STEM careers at an early age and many only learn about them in college.

According to the Pew Research Center, African Americans account for just 7 percent of people in STEM careers overall. The statistics are daunting, particularly for Black women. The largest growing STEM field is computer science and the number of women in the field has actually gone down 7 percent since 1990. African American men account for 9 percent of all STEM workers overall.

"STEM Educator Guide Grades 6-8" in the Read for a Better World™ series shows educators how to incorporate STEM education in the classroom in unique and interesting ways. Her series (www.artikatyner.com) is an essential resource for introducing youth to the many possibilities available in STEM fields from PreK to 8^th grade.