Interesting project and collaborations! Win-Win. Could you also share some ways you’re capturing student impact? Would it be comparing students taking courses from teachers who participate in the externships compared to those who don’t participate?

Very interesting project. What’s the incentive for teachers to participate in these externships? Is it only the incentive to increase their knowledge and expertise? Or are there material incentives, awards, etc., from the schools or from the industry?

This seems like a very strong project for bringing together teachers and professionals. In particular it helps keep teachers up to speed on tools and techniques used in industry. Can you talk more about how these partnerships were established, and any recommendations that you might have for corporations that wish to approach teachers, or vice-versa?

Appreciate your observation, Marcelo. Each year of the grant we’ve expanded our roster of business partners, enjoying the support of the state’s economic development agency and similar organizations all of whom see the merit of the project and eagerly help recruit partners. Nevertheless, we spend considerable time each winter cultivating additional workplace hosts through “cold calls” and introductions by established friends. Each year the “sell” gets easier, partly because it appears to us that businesses across our state are beginning to catch the STEM bug and want to be involved. And partly, the sell is easier because of the undeniable data we’ve been able to accumulate regarding the ROI to our business partners by taking in a teacher, the ongoing relationships that result, and of course the demonstrable benefits to teachers and their students. The piece-de-resistance will be talent showing up at these company’s doorsteps ready to work, in a few years, that will cement this program in to the DNA of employers across Iowa.

Thanks again Jeff for sharing this work. Its a critical pipeline for cutting-edge science in schools. My work examines novice secondary science teacher preparation working with ELs in mainstream classrooms. Have issues of access to science content related to English Learners come up so far from your observations of teachers and students?