MiSTEM Matters: June 2023
Updates, happenings, and news from within the MiSTEM network
Megan from the Road
- From the data reports and the tour of the EUP region that we did May 16-18 with some from MDE and the Bosch Foundation--we are seeing networks across various sectors as a promising practice to replicate in other regions. Also, the EUP MiSTEM region has really moved the MiSTEM goals forward in terms of the relationships that they have built--particularly telling are the collaborations with their economic development councils and community foundation. It is clear that they have a clear identity and strategy for the region and that they are collectively sharing their resources to meet their goals.
- Also working with Bosch and EGLE on a potential proposal for how we build stewards and talent for jobs focusing on climate impacts, modeled off our current work with EGLE to build water stewards and talent. Also, the feds working with EGLE that supported our most recent 3P playbook work are interested in discussing our model as we are currently their only granted effort that is linking student programming / teacher professional learning to future workforce impacts.
- Adam Zemke, Christian Velasquez, Lee Graham and I have wrapped up additional meetings with the chairs/vice-chairs of the education and LEO budgets as extra insurance that our funding request goes through. There continues to be interest in full district STEM transformations, but we are trying to maintain focus on operations now. Hopefully once the budget passes, we will be able to transition completely to the policymaker vacancies on the Council.
- On May 31st we had interviews for Region 16—there was a lot of interest in this posting. While we will miss Emily and few could come with her expertise, a fresh perspective is always exciting!
- Colleagues at LEO/MEDC continue to reach out with new partners to engage—on June 1st I shared about MiSTEM at the United Tribes of MI meeting as a guest of the MEDC and the MDE Indigenous Education Initiative, we continue to make great strides in this arena as place-based experiential learning is central. Hopefully some will reach out to you.
- I wrapped up the Council draft agenda on May 29, so look for that attachment update in your calendar hold. We will have one new Council member at the June meeting, David Rowe from the WUP.
- The state board of education MiSTEM presentation will kick off the June 13th meeting—it is during our biweekly. They do record meetings, so you can review it later. Fingers crossed we don’t get pushed back again as we have a larger block of time during this meeting, then LEO and then MCAN will follow us. It should be a solid theme.
- Finally, this is our push to have evaluation and recommendations drafted ahead of the June meeting for the Council. We are excited that the Council and GUD suggested two different reports this year—and we will most likely be able to see the full drafts in June instead of waiting for one large report in September.
- On June 8th Megan and Scott attended the press conference at the Toyota headquarters as part of the launch of their driving possibilities program in MI. It was great to see this come to fruition after hearing from Toyota and Spencer from MEDC at our March quarterly meeting. Scott has done a nice job connecting with all the partners that were in that room in support of this effort! I truly believe we are on the cusp of seeing more announcements such as this—truly moving 3P transformations forward. View the press announcement here.
Upcoming Deadlines & Office Hour Offerings
Upcoming Biweeklys:
June 13th: Slide development time for June Quarterly
*During this meeting, Megan will be presenting (with Delsa & Sarah) to the State Board of Education, so they may wish to watch the presentation (or the recording later).*
Grant Office Hours:
This schedule is for every Tuesday 11am-12:30pm.
Click here to join the meeting
SAMPI: Evaluation Support Office Hours
This is scheduled for every Wednesday, 10:00 - 11:30am.
This time can be used for questions for our SAMPI evaluators, data collection etc. Please follow the link for Evaluation Office hours. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2993568085?pwd=dEE1TVNGNXJzbm0zVVVRSXVjNUxtdz09
****Quarterly meeting**** Please have your slides completed and in the presentation by next week Tuesday. We will be reviewing them in the biweekly. We are holding everyone to a strict 3 min presentation to the Council.
Grant & Communication Updates
99s7 Playbook Grant:
Press Release will be issued early this week for the new round of playbook grants
Communication to ALL grant applicants went out last week; will be following up in June and offering to help with supports
(6) regional allocations (99s7 funds - $25/each) currently in process at GVSU
Phase II playbook content - Meeting with GUD this week to obtain feedback from GLSI/authors
Regional Grant:
If you have or are going to request a modification to the Region grants please reach out to Lori to discuss further. rasmussel2@michigan.gov.
Action Area Grants:
Computer Science:
Budget Submitted - The CS Action Area has submitted its first half of the budget to MDE. This budget will allow us to continue to build out the consortia, finish the strategic plan, and have opportunities for the consortia to meet face-to-face. We are waiting on approvals from MDE.
Workgroups Started - The CS Action Area has kicked off four workgroups around the strategic plan outcomes. These workgroups are meeting initially to create a list of activities aligned to the goals/outcomes of the strategic plan. They will also be generating a list of invites for other work group members and individuals to consult.
Summer PL Update - Summer professional learning will be kicking off soon for the CS Action Area. We currently have over 300 teachers that will be going through summer CS training! This will be the largest year for CS professional learning that has been funded by Advisory Council Grant dollars. Also, we have been in conversations about expanding professional learning offerings from kids through 12th grade. It is an exciting time for computer science and we are asking everyone to help push the gas pedal for districts trying to implement CS.
Science and Engineering Action Area:
The Science and Engineering Action Area has completed their Strategic Plan and Budget and have uploaded all required items. The Strategic Plan was completed on June 1 and the Budget was uploaded to NexSys on June 6.
As a result of the statewide strategic planning in August 2022, the Science & Engineering Action Area is committed to the following Outcomes:
- Outcome 1: By 2026, a Science & Engineering Consortium will be built to support an integrated STEM approach.
- Outcome 2: By 2026, the Consortium will increase professional learning and on-going support in Project-, Problem-, and/or Place-Based pedagogy by 15% in every region of the state.
- Outcome 3: By 2026, the Consortium will increase Michigan students’ positive STEM identity by 15%.
The Science and Engineering Action Area Consortium met with a facilitator on March 23 and April 11 to develop the goals and activities for the strategic plan using a consensus building model. In the month of May the Action Area Standing Committee came together to use the ideas from the facilitation to develop the goals and activities for each outcome. We are looking forward to bringing on a co-lead and building work groups around each Outcome. This will be completed by September.
All of our summer professional learning opportunities, including registration information can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ov_7LevHu08RkvQqMviNHr2eLSj0UiYimJ41qIVdyTw/pub
Communications Update:
Thank you to everyone for sharing out the recent Organic Social!
❗REMINDER: Have upcoming events in your region? As you initiate planning these events, LEO Comms & Güd are eager to help with sharing about all of the great work. Here is the form to fill out to alert them to the work, if you would like help filling it out, Lori would be happy to help!
*Information must be shared ahead of time and they will do the communications pieces for you and help to brainstorm ways to share the information further.
Committee Corner
Steering Committee:
- Link to our ongoing committee agenda can be found here
Evaluation Committee:
- Link to our ongoing committee agenda can be found here
- The Evaluation Committee reviewed the CEDER and SAMPI reports which was the primary focus for the May meetings. The AC evaluation members met to outline the focus for the annual draft reports for the June Council meeting, currently reviewing the drafts.
Network Learning & Professional Development Committee:
- Link to our ongoing committee agenda can be found here
- This committee is on a brief pause until August 2023.
Strategic Partnerships and Fund Committee:
- Link to our ongoing committee agenda can be found here
- Please go in and sign up for conferences you plan on attending, and whether you have submitted for a presentation
- Fill out column V of the attached Liaison sheet for organizations that you have established relationships with
Shout-outs & Feedback
MiSTEM shared publicly:
For MiSTEM Newsletter and press releases by LEO/Güd, sign up here.
Let's hear about all the good work!
Network Shout-Outs/Highlights:
- Dr. Betsy Diegle won a women’s leadership award through Michigan Women’s ACE network as an institutional rep for SVSU. Two women win each year. She will be receiving her award on Tuesday 6/13 at the state conference in Novi Suburban Showcase.
****PLEASE REMEMBER to include you Shout-Outs/Highlights in our slide deck for the Quarterly Meeting in June 2023!
Have share-outs or shout-outs within our network, for yourself or others, take a moment to share them in this quick form here!
Newsletter Feedback: Have questions/comments about the content within this week's newsletter - please reach out to the state team and/or add them to our biweekly agenda for next week here.
STEM Happenings around Michigan
Learning Opportunity:
- Have you heard of WiredTC? It's the northern Michigan (lower northern MI for my Yooper friends) premier ed tech conference on August 8th. It's $45 and the theme this year is about building community connections. If you have educators who'd like to attend, have them register today!
- On July 25 – 27, 2023, the Smithsonian Science Education Center will host a free education summit as part of its Zero Barriers in STEM Education Accessibility and Inclusion Program.
- PISA 2025 Science Framework Launch Event - The PISA 2025 Science Framework has been signed off by the PISA Governing Board and now I am delighted to invite you to the online launch event of the Framework on Thursday 15 June 2023. Oxford University Press and the OECD are holding the event to mark the publication of the Framework and we are honoured to be joined by an expert panel to discuss what the Framework tells us about the future of science education. We would love to see you and your colleagues take part; please do sign up and share with your contacts to help more people find the event – here is the link to the registration page, for you to copy and paste into emails or social media posts: https://events.oup.com/oup-global/How-can-we-shape-science-citizens-PISA-2025
- Kellogg Biological Station. July 18-19th, Hickory Corners, MI
- The Smithsonian Science Education Center is hosting a free, intensive 10-hour professional development academy the week of June 12-15th from 7-9 pm Eastern Time on our Global Goals "Biotechnology!" Community Research Guide for youth ages 11-18 (this guide is freely available at: https://ssec.si.edu/biotechnology). Please feel free to share widely with your networks. If you would like to find out more, please go to our event page at:(https://ssec.si.edu/ssec.si.edu/event/biotechnology-academy); or, contact my colleague, Jacqueline Kolb, at kolbj@si.edu.
- **NEW** AASI Professional Learning OpportunityMETA24 professional learning is available for schools that a) already have META24 labs and b) for schools looking to increase engagement and attendance through a hands-on learning model.If you're interested in learning more about META24 or visiting a META24 location in Michigan, please reach out to Dr. J at griffinj9@michigan.gov for more information and to schedule a tour. See included application/information as well as the META24 informational booklet. For all AASI learning opportunities, please reach out with questions, inquiries, etc. to Dr. J (griffinj9@michigan.gov).
Note: Mo has been in several conversations with Dr. Prince, CEO of META24, about their “learning labs” educational/entrepreneurial model (and attended the launch of META24 at Romulus High School); they are doing some incredibly good, ground- breaking work in the educational space. For anyone interested, see the information. from Dr. Jill at MDE to learn more about this learning model and to schedule a tour. I know at least a few of us are familiar already, as we’ve been in conversations around this work as related to our playbooks, as we look for ways to better connect MiSTEM to partners doing this type of work. “META24 targets youth who need it most to provide access to the latest technology and software to help them master transferable skills. Most schools do not have the proper 21st century trade school opportunities for the majority of kids who will not finish college and leave a host of opportunities on the table. Our mission is proven, kids have opened up their own community stores in the poorest of neighborhoods, secured career jobs out of high school, and have increased engagement and attendance in the school. Make. Enterprise. Teach. Achieve. META24 has been described as the Montessori for the Disengaged.” Dr. Flavian Prince
Partnership Awareness & Opportunity:
- Flyer for STEM Showcase and Summer Institute -https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_n4MaKkEfWjGZWbuvxAlQ898U-A2ZH0V/view?usp=sharing. Showcase- Event will take place on June 2 at WCCCD Downtown Detroit. Summer Institute Event will take place virtually, Monday- Thursday June 18-June 29 Their plan is to review the applications, hopefully this week, and make selections based on their funding.They are trying to recruit more people from the other MiSTEM regions.
Cherron Ramsey RamseyC@resa.net requested that I reach out to you. If you have specific questions or comments, please contact Cherron directly. Cherron Ramsey RamseyC@resa.net
- FUNDING OPPORTUNITY - National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA) - Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom
Learning Opportunity for Teachers:
- Elementary CS Bootcamp professional learning workshops - Elem CS Bootcamp Workshop Details. Application Link for CS Bootcamp
Summer Option 1
Dates & Location
July 26-28, 2023
Eberhard Center, GVSU
301 Fulton St. W
Grand Rapids, MI 49504
Summer Option 2
August 1-3, 2023
Seaborg Center, NMU
2805 Presque Isle Ave
Marquette, MI 49855
- Introduction to Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles in the Classroom Workshop - Register Here
- State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) the State of Michigan is conducting a survey to determine the interests and needs of the eligible population. The survey is designed to collect information from local government entities who are eligible to participate in the Fiscal Year 2022 State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP). This participation may include receiving state provided services, or future year SLCGP funding opportunities. The survey is an assessment, designed to ascertain a local entity’s interest and potential need for cybersecurity services outlined in this survey through the grant period of performance ending 8/31/2026. Information regarding the grant’s requirements can be found on the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Website and at Michigan.gov/Cybergrants. A local government entity’s participation in this survey signals an interest and an intention to participate in the SLCGP, provided that an award is made available to the State of Michigan. Participation in the survey and needs assessment provided will be used to understand and prioritize the use of awarded funds, but survey participation does not guarantee funding will be available to meet the needs for all submissions.
To complete the survey, please use the link below:
URL: https://dtmb.state.mi.us/DTMB_MCSSurvey - Password to the Survey: 2022state038grant
If you have any questions regarding the survey, or do not receive the passcode to access the survey please email:
dtmb-cyberpartners@michigan.gov
STEM Information:
Job Opportunities to share, where appropriate:
- Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI) has launched a formal search process with a goal of hiring a new executive director. - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tvQbRXAChuyE0xxD1b5JtdEwvZEKY0pF/viewfbclid=IwAR0gOM8kzK5vG4_BERGR0uesyOt1UHhybsI7asfojWGbd2MsG1AgCimAOGk
Do you have other events, updates, or interesting information to share with the network? Email rasmussenl2@michigan.gov to get it included in the next newsletter.