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By: Jeff Weld, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council

Former White House Senior Policy Advisor, STEM Education, Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2018-2019

STEM Ecosystems are a lead-off recommendation of the five-year Federal STEM strategic plan of 2019-2023*. They are also now cited as a key strategy to be incentivized by the $52 billion CHIPS & Science Act. Ecosystems will drive a national agenda for innovation through connectedness, just as they have for local, regional and statewide networks for years. A well-documented means for scaling preK-12 STEM education innovation, STEM ecosystems carry the promise for fully realizing American ingenuity. That’s why a team of forty writers, backed by contributors and reviewers numbering in the thousands, served up Ecosystems alongside eight other critical recommendations in the five-year Federal STEM plan. But five challenges lie between the current state and that idealized state of STEM excellence nationwide. A triad consisting of well-coordinated STEM ecosystems and the support of the CHIPS Act, buttressed by the Federal STEM plan, will overcome. The five challenges this triad can solve are:

  1. Include everyone. The Federal STEM plan set diversity, equity and inclusion as over-arching goals toward fully realizing each and every American’s potential for high quality of life. The CHIPS Act funds research, recruitment and retention programs to support the growth and potential of Americans in STEM, especially those historically underrepresented and in regions underserved. And STEM Ecosystems here in Iowa and across the country execute diversity professional development with equity and inclusion strategies supported by the backbone organization and co-founder of STEM Ecosystems, the Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (TIES).
  2. Broaden the traditional scope of STEM to emphasize creativity and innovation. The Federal STEM plan challenges the nation to integrate knowledge beyond STEM to include the arts and humanities, for it is at the juncture of disciplines, convergence, where transformation occurs. The CHIPS Act will support the development of STEM curricula that incorporate art and design to promote creativity and innovation. And STEM Ecosystems here in Iowa and across the TIES network embed transdisciplinary considerations within educator professional development (e.g. economics, historical perspectives), youth programming (e.g., writing, film-making, world languages) and outreach (e.g. convergent podcasts, sports/arts career profiles).
  3. Manage Information. Computational literacy is a major pathway of the Federal STEM plan given society’s digital transformation. “Today’s students,” we’re reminded on page 21, “… are tomorrow’s data analysts, artificial intelligence and machine learning specialists, software developers, automation technicians, quantum information scientists, and cybersecurity experts.” The CHIPS Act cites artificial intelligence 38 times and cybersecurity 138 times, funding scholarships, collegiate program designs, and workforce readiness initiatives and other information management system upgrades. Here in Iowa as well as in numerous other STEM Ecosystems supported by TIES, computational literacy is being advanced through “coopertitions”, bootcamps, formal and informal coding experiences, educator professional development, and more.
  4. Connect school to communities and employers. Educator-employer partnerships, key pathways to success in the Federal STEM plan, are natural offshoots of STEM Ecosystems. Work-based learning, also known as Career-linked learning, is one of the most potent teaching tools available to educators. The CHIPS Act supports a sweeping mission to incorporate WBL across undergraduate, postdoctoral, graduate, as well as elementary and secondary school learning experiences. Many of the STEM Ecosystems supported by TIES, including Iowa, prominently advance WBL/CLL through apprenticeships, internships, and a variety of other school-business partnerships that connect education and employment.
  5. Connect formal and nonformal education systems. Consensus across the STEM education stakeholder community inspired the authors of the Federal STEM plan to issue a clarion call to unite formal and nonformal educators. Most young Americans enjoy high quality STEM educational experiences not only at school but through local clubs, 4-H, or other out-of-school providers, or by visiting science centers, museums, zoos, nature centers, aquariums, libraries, and other community nonformal educational assets across the Nation. Each of these contributors will better prepare their learners if they connect and coordinate. Right on cue, the CHIPS Act will fund training opportunities for informal educators in hands-on pedagogy, and expand nonformal STEM education programming especially in regions and localities serving underrepresented and rural populations. All of this is the bread-and-butter of STEM Ecosystems in Iowa and across the country – bringing to the table the spectrum of agents and stakeholders of interest and impact to collectively amplify and accelerate results.

In conclusion, “Genius is in collaboration” said Doctor Lisa Schulte-Moore, explaining how she came to receive the MacArthur Foundation’s “Genius” Fellowship last year. The modest Iowa State University professor jumps into the middle of seemingly intractable challenges of modern agriculture – how to feed eight billion people without destroying environments – to build collaborative teams toward solutions. Similarly, there is genius in STEM ecosystems where the great challenges and opportunities of our times are incubated and solved in collaboration. Thanks to the CHIPS & Science Act, the hope and promise of STEM ecosystems will come to more people and places poised to tap their own collaborative genius.