Tanya Mantooth believes that students are more engaged in a lesson and will learn more when it’s hands on and centered around problem solving. This is her philosophy in all her classes. In STEM she would present a problem from a variety of realms (technology, engineering, science, process management, etc.) for them to develop a solution, either in teams or an entire class so that they could test if it works. This often resulted in a failed attempt, so they would have to go back to their team, do more research, change something about the design and try again. She did similar things in programming where they worked with a partner or team and designed a program that would meet a need; in chemistry where they learned concepts through a focus problem that would take several discussions and data acquired in their labs to solve; even in her yearbook classes they work as a team to create a book and cover stories from the school in the most efficient and effective way as decided by the students with little guidance from her. She has found more success with student engagement and understanding when she behaves more as a facilitator and guide.