Opinion: Statewide STEM playbook is producing results in Iowa

A defining challenge to modern education is to match the rate of change occurring in the workplace. Iowa’s STEM programs bridge the yawning gap with strategies applicable to any academic discipline.

Iowa’s statewide STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) program — the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council — has upped the educational experience for more than a million K-12 students during its nearly 12-year existence. The innovations pioneered by the council readily adapt to any course of study for all kids and their teachers, not just those in STEM classes. What STEM has done is to drive deeper, broader connections between schools and communities — Main Street businesses, firefighters and peace officers, faith and nonprofit organizations, airports, farmers, hospitals, manufacturers, elected officials, and more.

All are practitioners of STEM helping to paint futures for students who grapple to solve for x in algebra and balance equations in chemistry, wondering no longer about where it may lead. The effects of Iowa STEM, independently measured by research centers at Iowa’s three state universities, include higher academic performance, greater interest in STEM classes and careers, and heightened interest in staying in Iowa as grown-ups. Bridging classroom-to-community could work equally well for the arts, too, along with social studies, foreign language, physical education, literature, and any other class where theory and abstraction could use some real world relevance. Iowa’s STEM Council has simply accelerated the rate of change for a few subject areas within K-12.

One tried-and-true program of the council now readily replicable is summer externships for teachers. Thanks to major employers including John Deere and Collins Aerospace as well as regional businesses like Interstates Electrical in Sioux Center, Merrill Manufacturing in Storm Lake, Sears Seating in Davenport, and hundreds more, STEM teachers cross the threshold from classroom to commerce each summer to hone their skills and knowledge base. Students of past extern teachers express more interest in STEM classes and careers, an effect particularly pronounced among females. After externing at Kemin Industries, science teacher Marc Pedersen believed the experience “…has given me opportunities to work on my chemistry lab skills. I really hope this topic on essential oils, molecules and smells (his work at Kemin) will open up a life-long journey into enjoying the wonderful creation that is around the students.” Similar benefits would likely follow English teachers immersed in communications firms, P.E. teachers embedded with wellness centers, history teachers at the museum, and on across the school.

Another playbook page of the STEM Council with expansion capacity is the STEM BEST program, which stands for Business Engaging Students and Teachers. Since 2014, 155 uniquely named partnerships between schools and workplaces have been established throughout Iowa ranging from large-scale APEX in Waukee and BIG in Cedar Rapids, to smaller Blue Apples in the BCLUW school district, Spark Tank in Ottumwa, and No Boundaries of Okoboji middle school. STEM BEST "has drastically changed the trajectory of eighth-grade students participating in No Boundaries,” said Okoboji teacher Becky Rients, “On any given day you will see students leading partner meetings, working on their Trello boards discussing tasks that need to be completed … and off-site at the Space daily or in the community.”

Participants in STEM BEST are nearly twice as likely as their peers to major in high-demand STEM fields at Iowa’s community colleges and universities upon graduating. The Council trademarked STEM BEST, but there’s no restriction on launching a Literature BEST where students collaborate with local newspapers and radio. Or a Psychology BEST connecting classes with mental health providers. And why not a Foreign Language BEST partnering with immigrant re-settlement organizations?

The STEM Council provides state-of-the-art kits and software as well as teacher training for about 100,000 K-12 youth each year in a program called Scale-Up. Children who get access to Scale-Up consistently outperform their peers on the Iowa Tests in science, mathematics, and reading, and express higher interest in STEM study and careers. Every kid in all subject areas ought to get the state-of-the-art.

Dozens of Iowa communities are the sites of annual STEM Festivals showcasing for families the careers and collegiate partners eagerly awaiting graduates. Knock-offs welcome. Elementary schools expressly focused on computer science now dot the state. Outstanding teachers of STEM are recognized annually for preparing future ready graduates. Inspirational Iowans working in science, engineering, computing, and data are poster-ized for decorating classroom walls across 328 school districts. The Iowa State Fair features “STEM Day” the final Sunday. These and more solutions make up the portfolio of Iowa’s STEM Council, all prime for cloning to other academic disciplines.

An independent survey of Iowans, who agree on almost nothing lately, found that 95% favor more STEM education in the schools. Likely it is not more solving for x or balancing of chemical equations they seek. It’s the connection STEM is making — connecting class work to applications in the community, thereby connecting school to productive and impactful futures. Iowans, no doubt, feel the same about connecting art class, history class, social studies, physical education, etc., to what is happening in the community.

What’s good for STEM is good for school.

Jeff Weld is executive director of the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council and former STEM Education Policy Advisor with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Opinion: STEM playbook is producing results in Iowa