Bettendorf teacher Kevin Roling banding Canadian geese for his Externship

The fifth summer of Real World Teacher Externships began last month, with placements in the southeast region at the State Hygienic Laboratory, MA Ford, Monsanto, HNI, American Profol, Siemens, Axalta Coating Systems, Mairet's Garden Center, and the US Army Corps of Engineers.

This summer, Bettendorf Middle School's 6th grade general science teacher Kevin Roling is working with the Rock Island District Corps of Engineers. Roling's externship involves "banding Canada geese, a turtle survey, and collecting and tracking the endangered Indiana and Northern Long-eared bat." The Bettendorf teacher has also worked on the management of timber forests along the Mississippi River as a part of his externship.

Teachers Krystle Stehno and Gordon Hackett have been placed at the State Hygienic Laboratory. Stehno is a teacher at Williamsburg Jr/Sr High School and is working in the quality assurance and disease control departments this summer to enhance her mathematics curriculum. Hackett, a teacher in Fairfield, will be using his externship to study various laboratories; one of these will be the microbiology and virology department, where he will focus his study on the avian bird flu and its impact on agriculture. We look forward to sharing more teacher externship experiences later this summer and fall!

Krystle Stehno, Beth Hochstedler, Gordon Hackett at the State Hygienic Laboratory

Teacher externships aim to create partnerships between businesses and schools and demonstrate real-world applications of STEM content to secondary teachers. Externships are full-time temporary positions that last for six weeks during the summer. For more information on Real World Teacher Externships,  visit iowastem.gov/externships.

On July 3, the student teams from Iowa City West High School and Northwest Junior High returned from Dallas, Texas after competing in the National TEAMS (Test of Engineering Aptitude, Math, and Science) competition. This competition involved four main components: an oral presentation, a written essay, engineering mathematical problems, and a hands-on activity involving designing and building wind turbine blades. 

Iowa City West High School's two teams ranked in the top ten "Best in Nation" as #6 and #7 while NWJH's three teams ranked #2, #3, and #7 "Best in Nation." With between 30-40 teams from around the country competing, these rankings are incredible for our Iowa schools!

Student participant Akash Borde explained how this competition applied STEM coursework in "a fun and satisfying way." He said that his involvement in TEAMS and being exposed to real STEM work substantially influenced his decision to study engineering in college this fall. 

"It is a low cost STEM competition that is fun and challenging," said teacher Dominic Audia, explaining how great it would be to have more Iowa schools involved in the TEAMS competition.

Many thanks go out to the sponsors of these teams, Rockwell Collins and the North Liberty Optimist Club. Dr. Robert C. Brown from Iowa State University also spent hours consulting with the students during their preparation. For more information about the TEAMS competition, visit the competition's website here.

Iowa City West High School Team 1 in the 11th/12th grade competition ranked top ten "Best in the Nation." From left to right: Josh Jensen, Kevin Liu, Schuyler Cantrell, Benjamin Johnson, Daniel Smith, Maggie Southwick, Adam Weis, and Sabrina Bretz.