SAE Foundation Annual Report 2013 - 4

The soluTion sTarTs here
A WORLd iN mOTiON iS ScALiNg-UP STEm
iN iOWA
The Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council is a collaboration of bi-partisan Iowa
legislators, educators, businesses, nonprofits, students and families focused on
improving STEM opportunities and awareness in Iowa. Charged with this task, the
Council developed the Scale-Up Iowa Initiative to recruit STEM education programs
that deliver the highest quality hands-on, project based experiences to Iowa youth. For
the second year in a row, Iowa chose SAE International's A World In Motion® (AWIM)
program to deliver the Engineering Design Experience to its' K-8 graders.
The Governor's Council made it clear that the goal of increasing STEM interest and
achievement is critical to regaining Iowa's historic legacy as a leader in education and
workforce development. In fact, STEM will be a vital economic development advantage
for quality job growth in Iowa, as STEM graduates are in great demand to meet current
and future workforce needs.
Twenty-five percent of educators established a new partnership with a business
as a result of participating in an Iowa STEM program. Teachers using SAE's AWIM
program partnered with engineers from John Deere & Co., Iowa Department of
Natural Resources, The Society of Women Engineers, Northwest Mechanical, United
Healthcare, Champion Chevrolet, and both Iowa State University and the University
of Iowa. Amongst Iowa STEM education program participants, over 80% reported
interest and awareness of STEM topics, and over 50% reported increased interest
and awareness in STEM careers. On average, students who participated in Iowa STEM
Council programs ranked 10% higher in math and 8% higher in science compared to
the overall achievement scores on the Iowa Assessments.
AWIM is a significant part of the success in Iowa's STEM initiative. Last year we gave
the Engineering Design Experience to 15,726 students and based on current activity,
this number will increase significantly over the next year. The AWIM curriculum was
also delivered through out-of-school venues. Some of these included: reading hours
at the library which tied the primary curriculum to a piece of children's literature, 4-H
programs, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, home schooling support networks and even child
care centers.

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SAE Foundation Annual Report 2013

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