Photo by Steve Patchin Emily Geiger is the Western U.P. director for MiSTEM, an innovative education program that seeks to integrate science, technology, engineering and mathematics education statewide for students of diverse interests and aptitudes

On a mission to develop strategies to effectively teach STEM subjects to K-12 students in Michigan, the MiSTEM Advisory Council was created.

The council, which was born in 2015 and housed under the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, is made up of 11 members from around the state, including the Copper County’s own David Rowe, CEO of MTEC SmartZone.

In 2022, the council conducted a public awareness survey with Michigan residents. The results found 77% of Michigan residents supported investment in STEM education. It also found that 64% of respondents felt STEM topics (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) were difficult for students to learn and were only for students that excelled at math or science. The challenge is to create STEM-focused programming in which students with many diverse interests and aptitudes could engage.

The council created 16 regional hubs across the state to help accomplish this goal. Dr. Emily Geiger, the Western U.P. director, earned her doctorate from Michigan Technological University in biochemistry and molecular biology, is founder of Craft Culture Yeast Labs, serves as staff microbiologist at Keweenaw Brewing Co., and was a biochemistry instructor at Gogebic Community College. As an instructor, she ensured her courses were filled with a mix of rigorous learning and activities that allowed students to immediately apply what they were learning.

Emily’s work with the MiSTEM network is broad based, which is needed to engage our students at multiple grade levels with multiple interests. Activities range from larger STEM festivals to cross-curricular STEM-themed hands-on curriculum. A larger event will be the STEM Festival/Science & Engineering Fair hosted by Michigan Tech next March for grades 4 to 8. This will host students’ science projects and many different hands-on STEM activities operated by groups such as Michigan Tech’s student led Mind Trekkers program. Newly added to the event will be Henry Ford’s Invention Convention, a K-12 invention education program that will teach students problem-identification, problem-solving, entrepreneurship and creativity skills.

Two years ago, the Michigan Department of Education began a pilot program known as SCRIPT, which stands for the Strategic CSforALL Resource & Implementation Planning Tool. Coordinated with MiSTEM, this worked with area districts to integrate learning of computer science across curriculum, not just in through a stand alone computer coding class. Funding from MDE provided districts and teachers physical resources and professional development, often outside the area, to creatively tailor educational programming for K-12 students that matched the unique resources and curriculum activities in each district.

The Computational Thinking pilot is following this same developmental model. Computational Thinking is a process to solve complex problems by breaking them down into smaller, simpler problems which is known as decomposition. Students then make connections between similar problems and experiences, called pattern recognition. They then identify the important information needed, sifting out irrelevant information, which is called abstraction. Finally, students design simple steps to solve the problems, known as algorithms.

The MiSTEM mission is to provide unique STEM-based experiences for our students, but more importantly to provide them problem-solving skills using technology-based skills that will be ever present in jobs and careers of tomorrow.

Stay tuned for more articles featuring Gieger and her work with the MiSTEM network, partnering and supporting work by area educators as they work to engage students in all areas of interests and aptitudes in STEM-focused activities.

Steve Patchin, PhD, a dynamic and creative education leader, can be reached at shpatchi@mtu.edu.