Cedar Valley Students Practice Entrepreneurial Skills
From a University of Iowa article:
“New Hampton residents spent a summer Friday night at Mikkelson Park, where area high school students’ portable theater screen was used to show a movie from the How to Train Your Dragon series. The theater business is an outgrowth of STEM Innovator, an education framework for K–12 students created by the University of Iowa’s Jacobson Institute to develop 21st-century and workforce-readiness skills.
Teachers participate in both online and face-to-face professional development sessions, including a weeklong conference held every summer at the Kirkwood Regional Center in Coralville, Iowa.”
Mike Kuennen, a teacher in New Hampton, took what he learned from STEM Innovator and developed The Iowa Big North Program.
The Iowa Big North program at New Hampton and other area high schools is an innovative way to give students real work experience in problem-solving, entrepreneurship and teamwork!
“Kuennen helped the students arrive at their solution by drawing on the lessons he’d learned through STEM Innovator, an education framework for K–12 students to develop 21st-century and workforce-readiness skills. Created by the University of Iowa’s Jacobson Institute, STEM Innovator puts students alongside business and industry leaders in their communities to apply entrepreneurial principles and solve real-world business problems. The program also provides teachers with tools to help students think creatively.”
To learn more about K-12 Education and employability initiatives in the Cedar Valley, visit our K – 12 education resources page.
