The role of technology in educational settings has become increasingly prominent in recent years. When utilized effectively, these tools provide a higher quality of learning for students. "Optimizing STEM Education With Advanced ICTs and Simulations" is an innovative reference source for the latest scholarly research on the integration of digital tools for enhanced STEM-based learning environments. Highlighting a range of pivotal topics such as mobile games, virtual labs, and participatory simulations, this publication is ideally designed for educators, professionals, academics, and students seeking material on emerging educational technologies. Following a Foreward by David Mioduser and a Preface by Ilya Levin and Dina Tsybulsky, this book contains the following chapters: (1) From Wearing to Wondering: Treating Wearable Activity Trackers as Objects of Inquiry (Joel R. Drake, Ryan Cain, Victor R. Lee); (2) The Use of Complementary Virtual and Real Scientific Models to Engage Students in Inquiry: Teaching and Learning Climate Change Science (Allan Feldman, Molly Nation, Glenn Gordon Smith, Metin Besalti); (3) Using Virtual Labs in an Inquiry Context: The Effect of a Hypothesis Formulation Tool and an Experiment Design Tool on Students' Learning (Tasos Hovardas, Nikoletta A. Xenofontos, Zacharias C. Zacharia); (4) Collaborative Learning and Assessment of Science: Structuring Effective Groups (Yigal Rosen); (5) Learning About Genetics in an Elementary Classroom Using a Web-Based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) Unit (Amal Ibourk, Michelle Williams, Merle Heidemann); (6) STEM Inquiry Through INPLACE Mobile Games (Denise M. Bressler); (7) Learning about Complex Systems from the Bottom Up: Role- Playing Together in a Participatory Simulation (Sharona T. Levy); (8) Simulations in Chemistry for Conceptual Understanding and Assessment of Student Knowledge (Tanya Gupta, Zachary P. Ziolkowski, Gregory Albing, Akash Mehta); (9) Science Educator Professional Development: Big Data and Inquiry Learning (Anna Lewis, George Matsumoto); (10) A Case Study of Infusing Collaborative STEM Inquiry Learning With Available Technology Into Undergraduate Student Learning: Perceptions, Benefits, and Challenges (Katarin Alinta MacLeod); and (11) The Use of Tablet Technology to Support Inquiry Science for Students Incarcerated in Juvenile Justice Settings (Michael Krezmien, Wardell Powell, Christina Bosch, Tracey Hall, Martina Nieswandt). A compilation of references, information about the contributors, and an index are included.