The Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council is a proud contributor to the mission of Future Ready Iowa.
Building a culture to grow and expand workplace experiences, the STEM BEST Program encourages teachers and industry professionals to work side-by-side on curriculum and projects that give students actual workplace experience and an understanding of the opportunities and required skills for careers in STEM fields.
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As part of the STEM BEST® Program, Ottumwa High School launched SparkTank in August 2018. This project-based experience connects students with local businesses and organizations, allowing students to solve real problems in authentic learning environments, while becoming immersed in a professional culture.
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Work-based learning got personal for a West Delaware High School chemistry student. In 2017-2018 the high school offered a new elective, DelCo BEST. This class connects students with local businesses to undertake real-world, work-based projects and create authentic learning opportunities.
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As one of thirteen most recently awarded STEM BEST models, Woodbine Community School District and its community partners understand the value of engaging students with businesses. They provide their students with a unique opportunity to interact with local businesses through their STEM BEST Lunch Guest Program.
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What began as a hunt for innovative excellence that routed through Kansas City's CAPS (Center for Advanced Professional Studies) and Brooklyn, New York's P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) in 2013 has become a bona fide movement custom-fitted to Iowa: STEM BEST® (Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers).
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"Our community partners were reinforcing the idea that students needed to learn in a way consistent with the current world of work," said Greg Smith, principal at Fort Madison High School. "They agreed with us that to be successful as adults, students needed to practice problem-solving in group settings.
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STEM BEST® is a win-win-win. It creates projects for students to explore their passions. It opens doors for businesses to contribute to career awareness and shape the future workforce. It presents examples for teachers to connect content areas to the jobs outside school walls.
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Around this same time in 2014, the STEM Council first welcomed the inaugural five STEM BEST® (Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers) Partners to the team.
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“Davenport West High School is working to ensure that the coursework offered is reflective of community needs and meant to graduate students into post-secondary programs that further their manufacturing education, with eventual placement in local jobs that strengthen the industry in the Quad Cities,” said Jennifer Boyd, curriculum specialist for Davenport West High School’s “INSPIRE” program.
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