College of Engineering remains a partner in statewide program dedicated to providing hands-on STEM experience to Iowa’s youth
Iowa Project Lead The Way (PLTW) continues to grow its mission in providing relevant teacher development and hands-on curriculum in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to young people throughout K-12 schools. In particular, the organization focuses on real-world connections and inquiry-based approaches to learning.
Four of PLTW’s curricular programs were recently selected to be part of the 2015-16 Iowa Governor’s STEM Scale-Up initiative. This is the highest number of PLTW programs to be selected in the three years of the initiative, which was established to make exemplary STEM programs available to a larger number of organizations and schools across the state and expand STEM programming and access to Iowa youth.
Iowa State University’s College of Engineering has been connected to Iowa PLTW since 2005 as a national university affiliate, providing professional development to K-12 educators, STEM conferences, student activities and community engagement. The partnership helps introduce more Iowa youth to engineering and other STEM disciplines.
“We are excited to have the opportunity of providing greater access across K-12 to high-quality STEM curriculum through Project Lead The Way programs as part of this initiative. Through these programs, we can help ensure all children get to see themselves as future engineers and STEMists,” said Camille Sloan Schroeder, Iowa PLTW affiliate director and manager of engineering community outreach at Iowa State.
The 2015-2016 Iowa Scale-Up Programs provide funding to 14 programs throughout the state. PLTW’s Scale-Up Programs include:
- PLTW Launch: An introductory program for kindergarten through fifth grade students
- PLTW Gateway: Design and Modeling & Automation and Robotics for middle school age students
- PLTW Engineering: Principles of Engineering (POE) course for high school students
- PLTW Computer Science and Software Engineering: (CSE) course (part of PLTW Engineering or PLTW Computer Science pathways) for high school students
The Iowa Governor’s STEM Initiative funds STEM Scale-Ups in six regions throughout Iowa, including the North-Central STEM Hub, housed at Iowa State University. The STEM advisory council is a partnership of leaders from across the state dedicated to making STEM education and innovation better for Iowa’s youth and economy.
Check out the Iowa Governor’s STEM Initiative for more information on the scale-up programs and other STEM initiatives in the state.