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Kristine Bullock
SE Hub Manager
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SE Advisory Board Meeting
September 15, 9:00-11:00, Ashford University, Clinton
September 26-27, Double Tree Hotel and Conference Center, Cedar Rapids
Making STEM Connections Webinar
September 27, 4:00-6:30 pm
Last Friday night of every month, 5:00-8:00 pm, Iowa Children's Museum
SE Advisory Board Meeting
October 20, 2:00-4:00, TBD
Making STEM Connections Webinar
October 25, 4:00-6:30 pm
Making STEM Connections Webinar
November 8, 4:00-6:30 pm
SE Advisory Board Meeting
November 17, 9:00-11:00, TBD
November 30, 4:00-7:00 pm, Kirkwood Washington County Regional Center
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| Submit Your STEM Event HERE |
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| The Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council is a bipartisan collaboration of legislators, educators, businesses, students and families to increase STEM awareness and opportunities in Iowa. To learn more about STEM programming going on in southeast Iowa, visit us at http://se.iowastem.org. |
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SE STEM Region Gains New Advisory Board Members
We are excited to announce that effective July 1, 2016, two new board members, Dr. Dan Peterson and Linda Zachar, joined the SE STEM Region Advisory Board!
Linda Zachar, originally from Albia, is a partner/CFO for Panera Bread of Iowa and currently resides in Cedar Rapids. Zachar homeschools her two young sons, which was part of her motivation to join the Advisory Board. Zachar has a particular interest in representing gifted students and other "overlooked or under-served" students in the SE Region and brings valuable insight into gifted education in both formal and informal education environments.
Dr. Dan Peterson is serving his ninth year as the superintendent of Central DeWitt Community School District. In his reasons for wanting to participate in the Advisory Board, Peterson described how Central DeWitt CSD has tried to "ramp up the STEM programming" to include programs like FIRST Tech Challenge, ST Math and A World In Motion. Peterson also wants to "be a voice for schools" in his work on the Advisory Board.
Re-appointments for board members Dana Millard, Dr. Ellen Kabat Lensch, and Joe Crozier were also made effective on July 1, 2016.
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Teacher Externships Wrap Up With Year-End Forum
 On August 2, Iowa teacher externs and their business hosts gathered at the Huxley Learning Center to celebrate the exciting teacher externships that took place across the state this summer.
Teacher externs and their business hosts were able to share their respective summer experiences and how the teachers plan to integrate their learning into their classrooms. The forum also featured discussions of expectations of the externships and how collaboration and planning could be further improved with this program next year.
"I am walking away from this externship with a whole new 'tool belt' full of information that I can bring back to my classroom," described Erin Allen, a life science teacher at Bettendorf Middle School who completed an externship with the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Matt Cain, STEM teacher at West Branch High School, described his externship experience at the State Hygienic Lab as meaningful due to "making the connections with professionals at the lab" who will then be able to collaborate with students "on authentic work."
Ben Kuker, a technology teacher at Mount Vernon High School in the SE Region, and Mark Thoeny, his business host, gave the keynote speech at this year's externship forum. Kuker, who was placed at American Profol both this year and in 2015, shared how he integrated his experiences from the externship into classroom learning through problem-based lessons. Not only have teachers found this to be a meaningful experience but business hosts as well. Many business representatives, including Gale Kraft from MA Ford in Davenport, have increased their number of teacher externs based on the significant return on investment from the teachers' summer projects.
The SE Region placed 17 teacher externs this summer at a variety of businesses, including Monsanto, Rockwell Collins, MA Ford, Climax Molybdenum, HawkeyePedershaab, Johnson County Conservation Board, Siemens, John Deere Computer Center, and John Deere Technology Innovation Center.
For more information about the STEM Teacher Externships program, click here.
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Positive Results in 2015-16 STEM Evaluation Report
On August 22, Gov. Terry Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, Executive Director of the Governor's STEM Advisory Council Dr. Jeff Weld, and Waukee second-grade teacher Heather Anderson, accompanied by five of her students, discussed results from the 2015-2016 independent evaluation that measures the success of the STEM Council's efforts to advance STEM education and STEM economic development across the state.
Highlights of the 306-page Iowa STEM evaluation include:
- Students who participated in the high-quality STEM education programs the council delivers to students statewide - called STEM Scale-Up Programs - scored an average 7 percentage points higher in National Percentile Rank on the Iowa Assessments in mathematics, 6 percentage points higher in science and 4 percentage points higher in reading than peers.
- The percent of students who said they were very interested in someday working in Iowa was 45 percent of STEM Scale-Up Program participants compared to 39 percent of students statewide.
- Nine in 10 Iowans thought STEM education should be a priority in their local school districts, but only 46 percent said it actually is a priority.
- 46 Corporate Partners contributed $559,239 in 2015-2016, a 20 percent increase in private investments over 2014-2015.
"As co-chair of the STEM Council for the past five years, I've seen how the growing emphasis on STEM is transforming learning across the state," said Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds at the Governor's press conference this morning. "STEM provides students with knowledge, confidence and problem-solving skills that will help them succeed in their personal and professional lives. STEM provides educators with professional development that redefines the classroom, including working with business partners, so what students learn is more relevant and linked to the real world."
In addition to these council-driven gains, evaluators also found more students are taking Advanced Placement (AP) STEM courses, more females are pursuing STEM degrees at Iowa's four-year public universities, more high school teachers are earning a STEM endorsement and more students are aspiring to earn a STEM degree compared to five years ago.
"This annual report provides vital information for the STEM Council to determine areas of strength for the program as well as areas for improvement," said Kemin Industries President and CEO Dr. Chris Nelson, co-chair of the STEM Council. "The results will shape our programming and develop stronger connections as STEM education efforts continue to move forward in our state."
This independent evaluation is conducted by an inter-university consortium of Iowa State University's Research Institute for Studies in Education (RISE), University of Iowa's Iowa Testing Program and the University of Northern Iowa's Center for Social and Behavioral Research (CSBR). Key findings of this year's report range from measuring public attitudes and awareness of STEM to interest and achievement among Iowa students. The evaluation is funded in part by the STEM Council and a grant from the National Science Foundation.
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Recognize Outstanding Iowa STEM Teachers
Do you know a STEM teacher that goes above and beyond? Nominations are open for the 2017 I.O.W.A. STEM Teacher Award sponsored by Kemin Industries. This award celebrates teachers whose leadership and dedication to STEM in Iowa increases students' interest and awareness in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
One teacher from each of the six STEM regions will receive a $1,500 award along with an additional $1,500 to be used in their classroom. Deadline for submissions is October 14, and recipients will be announced spring 2017.
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SE Region Seeking Innovative STEM Proposals
In support of inspiring youth to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), the Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council is piloting the Southeast Iowa STEM Innovation Fund, a financial resource pool available to organizations with ideas for innovative STEM programs that show promise for supporting this goal. The intention of this fund is not to support past or current STEM scale-up programs with additional resources, but rather serve as an incubator for STEM activities outside of current or past Iowa STEM Council programming.
The STEM Council invites applications for ideas that will have an impact upon Iowans locally, regionally, and potentially on a statewide level. The Council will not fund marketing or promotional campaigns for commercial products or services, nor will it fund policy advocacy activities.
Estimated Funding
Awards will range from $500 (minimum) up to a maximum of $10,000 per award. Applications for the STEM Innovation Fund will be accepted
August 3- September 16. Matching funds are not required, but strongly encouraged. All programs funded must be completed within one calendar year of award date with a final report due at the end of the award period. A template will be provided. Funding will be provided on a cost reimbursement basis.
Eligible Applicants
Organizations eligible to apply for the Southeast STEM Innovation Fund are Iowa's public and private educational institutions, home school associations, and Iowa-registered nonprofit organizations in the 17 counties in Southeast Iowa (Benton, Cedar, Clinton, Des Moines, Henry, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Keokuk, Lee, Linn, Louisa, Muscatine, Scott, Van Buren, Wapello, and Washington). The Governor's STEM Advisory Council does not make awards to individuals or for-profit entities-though those groups may be partners in the work conducted by the award recipient. Although for-profit businesses do not meet the eligibility to apply, they are encouraged to be a part of a partnership program which would be submitted by an eligible entity on behalf of all of the partners.
More information about the proposal application as well as details about eligible projects can be found
here.
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Rockwell Collins Sponsors Iowa Teacher of the Year's Trip to NASA Space Camp
 Scott Slechta, this year's Iowa Teacher of the Year, was given the exciting opportunity to attend NASA's Space Camp thanks to sponsorship by Rockwell Collins. Slechta is an English teacher at Fairfield High School in Fairfield, Iowa.
In his description of his experience at NASA Space Camp, Slechta highlighted his participation in simulations of space exploration, including one that featured "Mission Control" scenarios. Slechta also met the founder and creator of Wikipedia and professional astronauts at the camp.
Other Teachers of the Year as well as international teachers from countries such as Norway, Germany, and Australia attended the camp with Scott Slechta. Networking with these other teachers was the "biggest surprise" of the experience, claimed Slechta.
In his plans to integrate the experience into his own classroom in Fairfield, Slechta described his desire to incorporate problem-solving activities like the ones he experienced through space exploration simulations; he also wants to include Reader's Theater activities based on his time at space camp in his curriculum.
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Available Resources
A collection of resources for STEM educators, businesses, and community members
Renewable Energy Activity Kits
The Southeast STEM Hub is proud to partner with the ATEEC Interactive Learning Lab at Eastern Iowa Community College to offer renewable energy activity kits to educators throughout the southeast region. Thanks to the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust, ATEEC is able to offer a variety of kits that are sure to engage any student.
If interested in checking out a kit or for more information on the available kits, click
here
Pint Size Science Kit Check-Out
Four types of kits from the Science Center of Iowa that
are designed for 3-5 year old students are currently available for checkout. If interested in checking out a kit or for more information on the kits that are available, click
here.
A World In Motion Activity Kit Check-Out!
Three types of kits designed for primary or elementary students are currently available for checkout.
If interested in checking out a kit or for more information on the kits that are available, click
here.
Materials may be checked out for 6 weeks. They can be picked up and returned at the Kirkwood Regional Center at the University of Iowa, 2301 Oakdale Boulevard, Coralville, IA 52241
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Please replace any consumables you use.
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Sincerely,
Kristine Bullock
SE Iowa STEM Manager
[email protected] |
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