Contact the STEM Hub

North Central Regional Manager (Open)

Iowa State University
1259 Stange Rd
Ames, Iowa 50011

ncstem@iastate.edu
515-294-3760  


STEM Event Calendar

November

November 17
Mega Board Meeting
Ankeny

November 18
Ramps and Pathways Training

February

February 14
STEM Day at the Capitol

2017-18 NC STEM Advisory Board

Jose Amaya
Ames

Emily Banks 
 Marshalltown

David Barajas 
 Marshalltown

John Bonner
Vincent

Ashley Flatebo
Garner

 Doug Jacobson
Ames

Michael Pedersen
Marshalltown

Ben Petty
Conrad

Richard Ritter III Marshalltown

Corey Rogers
Waterloo

Kathy Rogotzke
Mason City

Sarah Rosenblum Marshalltown

Camille Sloan Schroeder
Ames

Kerry Weig
Nevada

Richard Wrage 
 Marshalltown

STEM Council Announces 2017-18 STEM BEST Partners

The Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council has awarded 19 new STEM BEST® Partnerships across Iowa. The STEM Council's executive committee voted unanimously to award and support 19 of 31 proposed partnerships including Marshalltown Learning Academy and North Iowa Community School District.
 
STEM BEST Partners transform typical K-12 classroom environments and methods to unite the workplace with the classroom and develop clear pathways from STEM education to STEM careers in the state. From 2014 through 2016, the STEM Council established eighteen STEM BEST Partnerships that exemplify school-business partnerships uniting what is taught and learned in K-12 mathematics, science, technology and engineering classes with what skills, knowledge and behaviors are going to be needed at work.
 
"Iowa companies must be able to hire enough skilled workers so they can grow and innovate, and more Iowans deserve to have the skills needed for rewarding careers," said Gov. Kim Reynolds, co-chair of the STEM Council. "Through STEM BEST, educators and business leaders work together with students to strengthen Iowa's talent pipeline and close the skills gap. STEM BEST is one of many programs that promise to help reach our Future Ready Iowa goal of 70 percent of Iowa's workforce having education or training beyond high school by 2025."

 
STEM Council Initiatives Continue to Make Gains 
 
 
Gov. Kim Reynolds and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg released the results of the annual Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council's independent evaluation.  The report measures the success of the STEM Council's efforts in advancing STEM education toward economic development across the state.
 
Highlights of the 200-page Iowa STEM Evaluation Report include:
  • Students who participated in the STEM Scale-Up Program, a program of the STEM Council that brings STEM programs to students around Iowa, scored an average of three percentage points higher in National Percentile Rank on the Iowa Assessments in mathematics and reading, and four percentage points higher in science compared to all students statewide.
  • For minority student STEM participants the gains were even stronger: 6 percentage points higher in National Percentile Rank in math and reading, and 7 percentage points higher in science.
  • STEM Scale-Up participating students (about 15% of all K-12 youth) were also more interested in someday working in Iowa compared to all students statewide (46% to 38% averages, respectively).
  • Over 75% of all students statewide indicated they were very interested or somewhat interested in science, technology, engineering, or in pursuing a STEM career in 2016-2017.
  • Greater than nine in 10 Iowans thought STEM education should be a priority in their local school districts, but only 50% said itactually is a priority.
  • A total of $3,169,738 in grants, Corporate Partner gifts and cost-sharing by other STEM partners was invested in Iowa STEM for 2016-2017 (about a 60% match to state investment).
 
North Central Hub Welcomes New Board Members

All Hub regions are guided by a state appointed advisory board. During the three-year term of service, members volunteer as evaluators/readers, festival participants, financial decision makers, ambassadors, and much more. 

New Board Members and Position on Board:
Ashely Flatebo - K-12 Student/Parent
Michael Pedersen - Business/Industry
Kerry Weig - Business/Industry

Engineering is Elementary  Spanish Translations

Since 2012, the Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council has scaled Engineering is Elementary to Iowa educators both in and out of the classroom.  A goal of the STEM Council is to engage all learners no matter their zip code, gender, race or ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.  In the United States, English learners are the fastest growing group of public school students which can create a huge barrier to access if student materials are only available in English.  Recently, the Museum of Science, Boston released Spanish translations of the student notebooks for all 20 Engineering Adventures and Engineering Everywhere units.  These new translations are in addition to the 20 in-
school curriculum units available in Spanish.

According to the Museum, " The  EiE team's research  has shown the  power of engineering notebooks  in helping students organize their information, scaffold their work, and collaborate and communicate effectively with their peers. And because 77% of English Learners speak Spanish at home , we want to provide those same supports while promoting literacy in their home language. "

The Museum also provides a Spanish-language family letter on their website  on the individual page for each unit .   
 
Download the notebooks and curricula  here.

Free biotechnology resources for Iowa's educators  

This school year is the 24th consecutive year that Iowa State University's Office of Biotechnology is offering free equipment, supplies, and instructional materials for biotechnology lab activities to Iowa teachers and ISU Extension educators.

Free laboratory supplies and/or instr uctional materials for 27 biotechnology laboratory protocols and three biorenewable fuels modules are available to Iowa educators for the 2017-2018 school year. Teachers receive the supplies by parcel service or mail, postage paid. Instructional materials can be downloaded free from www.biotech.iastate.edu/laboratory-protocols/ . 

For more information please contact Mike Zeller or Lori Miller or go to the  website.