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For several years, the 6th grade teaching team at Sioux Center Christian School has been taking students to Oak Grove Park. They are affectionately known as the "Trailblazers" in the community. The kids enjoy time out of the traditional classroom helping park staff with projects like building trails and addressing invasive species, and teachers enjoy connecting students’ classroom lessons to real-world applications.
“Last year, they researched Newton’s Laws and erosion mitigation,” said Alan Bandstra, sixth grade science teacher at Sioux Center Christian School and 2026 Iowa STEM Teacher Award recipient for the Northwest STEM region, as he pointed out steps and a one-rock dam that students helped build after noticing issues with erosion and flooding that washed out trails or made them difficult to navigate. |
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The most recent initiative comes at the direct request from park staff, providing an opportunity for students to continue learning about STEM through hands-on activities.
“Oak Grove gave us the idea. They recognized the problem and then brought it to us to see how to fix it,” said Nate Breen, a sixth grade teacher at Sioux Central Christian.
The idea? The park received an accessible track chair to allow visitors with mobility issues to better enjoy the park. This chair, however, has limitations on the incline it can climb and areas it can fit through.
“The chairs can only handle certain slopes, but they weren't sure how to figure out what trails met that,” Bandstra said. “I said we could help.”
The project has been about three years in the making. Previous sixth grade students presented at a school board meeting and fielded questions from adults in the community. Those same students, now eighth graders, were given the opportunity to apply to be student chaperones on this year’s trip, gathering data and seeing their hard work progressing further.
The students took ownership of the project, self-assessing trails and determining when to take measurements. When they stopped to take measurements, the groups assessed potential problematic measurements or what might be within the margin of error and should be double-checked.
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“If it’s less than four feet, it’s a pinch point, and this is only two,” said sixth grader Louisa, as she measured the path heel-to-toe just as Bandstra had instructed.
For grades, “25% is the limit, I’d say 24 is questionable,” Gavin said.
Students took notes on clipboards as they went around the park and will put their data into a spreadsheet to share with Oak Grove staff.
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“They have to put in their location, the coordinates from north and west, they have to put in the slope, camber and grade, and then that will actually appear in Google Maps,” Breen said. “It’s fun to see their work being used by the Oak Grove staff.”
Students at Muscatine’s Susan Clark Junior High School are turning data into action, using data science to tackle real questions in their community and presenting solutions that could leave a lasting impact beyond their school walls as they “Reinvent Muscatine.”
Towhead Island, an island in the Mississippi River near Muscatine, was recently donated to the Community Foundation of Muscatine. Pam Joslyn, STEM educator at Susan Clark Junior High and 2026 Iowa STEM Teacher award recipient, and her students are partnering with the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine to see how the land can be used.
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“Our seventh and eighth graders spent six weeks conducting background research, collecting original data and developing real proposals for the future of Towhead Island in partnership with the Muscatine Community Foundation,” Joslyn said. “They design all of their surveys, they analyze all of their data. It’s demanding work.”
After weeks of work, students presented their findings to community members at the Reinvent Muscatine: Towhead Island Civic Data Science Fair earlier this month.
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Student projects covered an array of topics, including the island’s impacts on indigenous culture, microbial fuel cells, poison ivy removal, repopulating native muscles, installing trail cameras, building accessible boardwalks and establishing ecology tours, among others.
“Our problem was that not many people have gotten on Towhead Island, so we want to create boat rides to the island, and we want to be sure they are accessible to everyone,” said seventh grade student Janvier Horne. “The guide could tell you about animals there and trees and plants. We thought it would be good to get people of all types out there.”
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Ahead of each group of presentations, Joslyn acknowledged her students’ efforts this semester, reminded them of good presentation etiquette and offered words of encouragement to work through nerves and giggles. She always sent them off with her number one rule, “Have fun!”
“I really believe these are just the initial steps,” Joslyn said. “Getting students to generate the questions and look at the data is hard, but it's getting them to realize how important it is in a way that's fun and in their own community.”
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Mark your calendars for this fall’s Iowa STEM Summit: Where Bold Ideas Take Flight. While registration is not yet open, we are sharing the date as the school year comes to a close to help educators, partners and attendees make scheduling plans well in advance.
Watch for schedule updates, keynote speaker announcements and breakout session topics in upcoming Iowa STEM newsletters and on our social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn and X).
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In the meantime, you can sign up to receive an email notification as soon as registration opens this fall.
We look forward to welcoming you alongside fellow Iowa educators, industry partners and STEM leaders on November 6 for another exciting day of learning and collaboration.
Iowa State University is leading the Iowa Cyber Resilience Initiative, which provides cybersecurity services to cities, counties, schools and other public entities across Iowa through the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) at no cost. The goal is to ensure every community has access to cybersecurity tools, knowledge and support.
ISU currently offers three core services:
- Cybersecurity Asset Inventory - identify and protect critical systems
- Cybersecurity Assessment – uncover opportunities to improve cyber defenses
- Cybersecurity Incident Management Exercise - effectively respond to cyber threats
These services, delivered in partnership with participating teams, are designed to help organizations understand their current position and prepare for the future. They believe investing time now could save millions later.
 Congratulations to our Iowa STEM Youth Ambassador 2026 graduates! These hard working individuals have balanced numerous school activities and commitments while working on expanding STEM opportunities and knowledge to their peers statewide. We are cheering them on as they continue on to college and careers!
Special shoutout to James and Ishika for their leadership of the group this past year!
Iowa Governor's STEM Advisory Council
Iowa Department of Education
214 East Bartlett Hall
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0298
515-335-1531
info@IowaSTEM.org
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