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Susheela Shanta earned her bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from India, a Master of Urban Planning degree from the SUNY at Buffalo, NY and more recently, a doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction: I-STEM Ed from Virginia Tech. With ten years of experience in municipal planning in Philadelphia, PA, and Harrisburg, PA, and ten years in community development, planning, financing and redeveloping inner-city neighborhoods, urban main streets, creating housing for seniors and families in low-income communities, Susheela decided to pursue teaching and learning. Since 2009, she has been teaching math and engineering courses and directing the engineering program in the Governor's STEM Academy in Roanoke County, VA. Her doctoral research focused on teaching and learning real-world (authentic) problem-solving and critical thinking skills through engineering design-based learning within an integrative STEM education environment. Susheela continues her interest in researching and practicing ways of teaching and learning to better prepare students for the 21st Century challenges.

Collectively identified as one of the 21 st century skills, critical thinking and problem solving skills (CT and PS) involved in solving authentic design problems are not assessed in traditional science and mathematics standardized testing or in most technology education K-12 classrooms. 21 st century learning outcomes are realized when students are able to gain deep understanding of science and math concepts, and, use the content and practices of these disciplines with the content and practices of technology and engineering to solve problems situated outside the classroom. For this to occur, integration of the disciplines in the instructional approach is essential (NRC, 2009;Sanders, 2012). Researchers have argued that the integrative STEM education (I-STEM ED) pedagogical approach (with its roots in technology education) promotes active learning through student discovery of using science and mathematics content and practices in novel situations. This paper presents the results of the literature review conducted to develop a framework for characterizing and defining CT and PS skills. Specifically, this paper is organized around the following four themes: 1) the foundations of STEM education and theories of learning that underpin the I-STEM ED pedagogical approach, 2) the need for CT and PS skills among students to meet the 21 st century educational goals, 3) the relationship of CT and PS skills to the T/E DBL approach used in I-STEM ED, and, 4) gaps in the research focusing primarily on studies within the 21 st century. Furthermore, a potential framework for a rubric for assessing CT and PS skills is proposed.

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