ABSTRACT
As Manak and Puig write this article amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they are more aware than ever of the overlapping and interconnected nature of science, literacy, and real-world issues. This pandemic is not simply a problem to be solved by expertise in any one discipline but necessitates a transdisciplinary approach requiring the integration of many fields including biology, virology, economics, politics, engineering, education, and psychology. As they adapt instruction to educate students and support social-emotional learning, we must collaboratively seek new solutions to these dynamic, real-word issues in our global society. We propose building on the STEM acronym (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) with Stamina, Transdisciplinarity, Engagement, and Mindfulness crosscutting STEM subjects to foster students' acceleration of critical thinking of disciplinary practices across core ideas. Within the concept of three-dimensional learning, they situate stamina, transdisciplinarity, engagement, and mindfulness as a framework for enhancing instruction across the disciplines to engineer solutions to real-world issues.