In this first of a two-part series, the authors report that STEM is still mostly science and mathematics, taught separately with little or no attention to technology and engineering. Where connections do get made to technology and engineering, too often they happen through several disconnected projects that lack coherence in content standards and student performance objectives. This paper highlights a process that science, math, engineering, and technology teachers may utilize to collaborate and design integrated STEM courses. The article proposes a conceptual framework that could provide a premise upon which educators interested in delivery of STEM content may reflect to integrate STEM disciplines in the classroom. At the heart of this framework is problem-based learning, pragmatism, and four theoretical constructs: systems thinking, situated learning theory, constructivism, and goal orientation theory, that blend together to accentuate Lee Shulman's (1986) Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). For the purposes of this paper, designing a safe swing set will be utilized to illustrate how science, math, engineering, and technology teachers may forge a collaborative teaching effort to integrate STEM concepts into teaching practices.