Paul Gibbins
North Central Regional Manager
Iowa State University
1259 Stange Rd
Ames, Iowa 50011
515-294-0645 (office)
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In This Issue
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North Central STEM Teacher of Year Awardee:
Ed Birkey
Iowa STEM School+Business Conference
SAVE the Date
2016-17 Scale-Up Application Record Year
2016 Summer STEM Teacher Externships
Spots Available!
2015-16 Scale-Up Awardee
It is Evaluation Time
Middle School STEM
Resource Highlight:
STEM in 30
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STEM Event Calendar
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APRIL
Apr 19
Future Ready Iowa Summit,
Des Moines
Apr 25,
World Food Prize
Iowa Youth Institute at
Iowa State University
Apr 28-29
Apr 29-30
Ames
MAY
May 3
May 7, 8-4
Iowa Assoc. for the Education of Young Children,
Des Moines
May 10
North Central STEM Advisory Board Meeting, Ames
May 26, 5:30-7:30 PM
Lincoln Intermediate
STEAM Festival
Mason City
JUNE
June 1
North Central STEM Advisory Board Meeting, Ames
June 29
9 AM - 3:30 PM
Des Moines
JULY
2016-17 STEM Scale-Up Program Training BEGINS!
July 22
1 PM - 4 PM
Marshalltown STEM Festival
Emerson Fisher, Marshalltown
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2015-16 NC STEM Advisory Board
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Jose Amaya, Ames
Robin Anderson, Mason City
Emily Banks, Marshalltown
David Barajas, Marshalltown
Paul Bartelt, Forest City
John Bonner, Vincent
Julie Graber, Ames
Doug Jacobson, Ames
Ben Petty, Conrad
Richard Ritter III, Marshalltown
Kathy Rogotzke, Mason City
Sarah Rosenblum, Marshalltown
Camille Sloan Schroeder, Ames
Jan Westrum, Boone
Richard Wrage, Marshalltown
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Ed Birkey, Ft. Dodge Sr. High
2016 I.O.W.A. STEM Teacher Award
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Fort Dodge FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics Team & Ed Birkey, Awardee |
The Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council and Kemin Industries have announced the recipients of the 2016 I.O.W.A. STEM Teacher Award sponsored by Kemin Industries.
The North Central STEM Region's honoree is Ed Birkey, technology education and engineering teacher at Fort Dodge Senior High School. He strives to display to his students the interesting and endless opportunities available in STEM career fields, through hands-on assignments in his classroom and collaborative projects with Iowa Central Community College and local businesses. Birkey also holds the
advancement of STEM learning to a high standard, by serving on a handful of advisory boards for STEM development organizations statewide and at Fort Dodg
e Senior High School.
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John Bonner, NC STEM Advisory Board Member; Penny Woods, Kemin Industries; Ed Birkey, Awardee, Paul Gibbins, NC Regional STEM Manager
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This award recognizes a
nd cele
b
rates o
ne teacher from each of the six STEM regions who goes above and beyond to increase their student's interest in STEM. Each recipient was selected by a panel of judges after b
eing nominated for the award by a colleague, school administrator, parent, student or community member and completing an application show
casing th
eir contributions to STEM education. Each recipient will receive $1,500 for personal use and another $1,500 for their classroom.
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Dr. Chris Nelson, Iowa STEM Advisory Council Co-Chair, Ed Birkey, Fort Dodge High School, Governor Terry Branstad, Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds, Iowa STEM Advisory Council Co-Chair
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Birkey and the other five recipient
s have each been ho
nored with s
urprise ceremonies in their classrooms with their students and peers, and will also be recognized together at the Iowa Governor's Mansion, Terrace Hill, by Gov. Branstad, Lt
. Gov. and STEM Council Co-Chair Kim Reynolds and Kemin Industries President and
CEO, and STEM Council Co-Chair, Dr. Chris Nelson the evening of Monday, April 18th
. For more informati
on about the award and all current and previous recipients, please visit
www.stemaward.fluidreview.com
.
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S
AVE THE DATE:
June 29, 9 - 3:30, Des Moines Iowa STEM
School+Business Conference
The Iowa STEM School+Business Innovation Conference will highlight the partnerships across Iowa that are connecting schools to local businesses and other employers. Best practices in aligning education to workforce will be shared by practitioners on the front edge-both industry and school leaders. Among the models to be profiled are the
STEM BEST (Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers) and
STEM RLE (Redesigned Learning Environment) partnerships of the Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council.
The conference goal is to equip attendees with the knowledge, connections, and resources to build school+business partnerships in home communities.
TOPICS featuring...
- Best practices in school+business partnerships;
- Surmounting challenges to school+business partnerships;
- Roles for business alongside educators in courses and instruction;
- Work-based learning at the secondary level;
- Showcasing STEM BEST and STEM RLE partners.
WHO should attend...
+ Community Business Leaders;
+ K-12 Leaders, Administrators, Principals, Educators;
+ Workforce and Economic Development Professionals;
+ School-to-Work Advocates;
+ Higher Education Professionals;
+ Informal Education Partners;
+ Policy Leaders;
+ Teacher-Preparers and Professional Developers;
+ Others interested in school+business partnerships.
REGISTRATION (free) and Latest Updates:
More details about this event will be provided on this webpage as well as e-mailed to those who register as the conference agenda unfolds leading up to the event.
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2016-17 Scale-Up Award
Applications
Break Record
On April 4, the Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council awarded over 250 educators from across the North Central region with the STEM Council's STEM Scale-Up Program which will impact over 11,000 students in the region during the 2016-17 academic year.
The North Central STEM Advisory Board had some very tough decisions to make this year regarding determining which scale-up applications to fund. We would have needed an increase of over 40% to fund all the requests. Ultimately we were able to fund awards that will be implemented by over 250 educators and over 11,000 students in the North Central STEM region.
Just as 14 current STEM programs draw to a close for the 2015-2016 school year, the STEM Council selected 11 more high-qualified STEM programs from a pool of dozens in January to "scale up" across PreK-12 in Iowa's schools, after-school programs and other educational settings for 2016-2017. Interested educators applied to receive these programs, ranging from building robots and coding programs to conducting agricultural field experiences and learning about STEM careers.
"It's incredible to know we will inspire another 100,000 young learners in this fifth round of the STEM Scale-Up Program," said Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, STEM Council co-chair. "The credit for the continued growth and outreach of this program in the last four years goes to our regional STEM managers and their regional advisory boards, who keep the STEM Council's priorities on the forefront and deliver these programs to the areas of Iowa with the highest need."
All six regional STEM managers, guided by their regional STEM advisory boards, awarded these programs with vital funding from the Iowa Legislature, leveraging $3.1 million spread evenly across the six STEM regions of the state. The demand from this year's applicants equated to nearly $6 million with interest from 256 cities in Iowa and the highest application rate from elementary educators.
"The evidence of effect for this program has been remarkable," said Kemin Industries President and CEO Dr. Chris Nelson, STEM Council co-chair. "Independent evaluators provide us with data that shows strong gains on both aspects of the STEM Council's overarching goal to improve performance and increase interest in STEM among young Iowans."
During the next couple of months, awarded educators will receive communication from the North Central STEM Hub Manager Paul Gibbins and their respective program providers regarding professional development sessions, which will start in July for some programs.
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Summer 2016 Teacher Externships
Positions Available in Ames & Marshalltown
Apply Now!
The Iowa STEM Teacher Externships, a program of the Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council, is supported through state-appropriated funds along with investments by Iowa business and industry partners.
There is an Externship available at Lennox Industries Inc. in Marshalltown, and engineering and industrial technology teachers are encouraged to apply. Potential projects will include collecting and analyzing data for the Braze quality improvement DMAIC teams, an analysis, process capability, and development of Process Control Plans for fabrication components used internally within their facility and subsequent operator training.
There is an Externship available at the Renewable Energy Group in Ames, and chemistry teachers are encouraged to apply. Potential projects will include working in a laboratory environment doing chemical testing throughout the biodiesel process.
This gives you the exposure to answer your students' question of "When am I ever going to use this?"
Teachers can earn up to $4,800 and graduate/license renewal credits while gaining valuable real-world experience and applying their content skills.
Iowa STEM Teacher Externships are full-time, six-week experiences that occur in June and July with flexible schedules.
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Were You a STEM Scale-Up Awardee for 2015-16?
If So, It is Evaluation Time!
PLEASE REMEMBER to evaluate your STEM Scale-up Program
While the 2015-2016 implementation of your STEM Scale-Up Program winds down, evaluators are winding up to capture effects of your work bringing high quality STEM programming to students across Iowa.
ALL schools and organizations awarded a STEM Scale-Up Program are expected to complete the 1) Educator Survey and 2) Student Participant List.
In addition, SOME schools and organizations were randomly selected to complete the 3) Student Survey. Selected schools were notified in the Fall 2016 to complete a "Beginning of the Year", i.e. pre-program, and "End of the Year", i.e. post-program, student survey. If you completed the "Beginning of the Year" survey with your students, please remember to complete and submit the "End of the Year" survey.
Instructions for all parts of the evaluation can be found here:
The final DEADLINE for submitting all evaluation tasks is May 30, 2016.
Evaluation is key to our future success.
THANK YOU for helping us evaluate our work together!
Please direct questions to:
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Resource Highlight: STEM in 30:
Smithsonian Institution National Air & Space Museum
Want to engage middle school students in STEM topics ranging from WWI airplanes to kites to mars rovers? This is an interactive classroom program with 30-minute live webcasts at 10 am and noon CST that are archived for ease of access to meet your schedule. Experts are available to chat, questions can be submitted during the live show, or you can email them in advance.
Upcoming shows: Helicopters on May 11, Moon Rocks on May 25
Archived shows: Kites, Mars Rovers, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, WWII and Tuskegee Airman, International Space Station: 15 Years of Continuous Human Presence, and many more
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