The emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics will continue to be vital and strong in Owatonna.
Owatonna Public Schools was awarded a $35,000 grant from Bosch Community Fund this year. The district has been a recipient of the grant each year since 2014 according to District STEM Education Coordinator Tom Meagher.
The grant supports Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) certification for multiple teachers in the district, the creation of a ZSpace Virtual Reality Learning Lab at the area learning center at the high school and Science Olympiad competitions according to Michelle Krell, director of teaching and learning for the district.
Stephanie Darkow, a kindergarten teacher at Washington Elementary, said she received her STEM Certificate from St. Catherine’s University in December of last year with the help of the grant.
“The Bosch grant allowed me easier access to continue my education as a recent college undergraduate,” Darkow said. “Receiving the Bosch grant allowed me to kickstart my graduate level learning. Since completing my STEM certificate, I have continued my studies and will complete my Masters in Elementary Education from Minnesota State University, Mankato this May.”
Meagher said so far 46 teachers in the district have earned their certification with the help of the grant.
“It acts as tuition reimbursement for the certification course,” he said. “It covers about 70-75% of the tuition costs.”
The certification program allows teachers to choose courses from different focus areas to enhance their understanding of science, engineering, math and computer science, according to the St. Catherine University website. There are 12 credits, and most participants in the program earn their certification in less than a year.
Darkow said that part of the requirements included research and collaboration opportunities that in turn allowed her to develop lesson plans to implement directly in the learning activities in the classroom.
“The training process involved learning how to bring engineering, the outdoors, collaboration, connecting literacy with science and integrating all the components of STEM into the classroom.” said Kara Fradet, first grade teacher at Washington.” It has changed the instruction in my classroom to focus more on student collaboration and providing students with more opportunities for exploration. My students work more often on enriched activities on STEM topics and show excitement when learning outdoors.”
Meagher said the grant has been able to do amazing things for the teachers and students in their classrooms. He said STEM is a way to learn and inspires students to think outside of the box in and outside of the classroom. He spoke of some first grade students who had thought to use the cameras on their iPads as microscopes to get a better look and understanding of the fossils they were learning about. Fradet said that she has noticed that students are showing more excitement when learning outdoors with the enriched activities on STEM topics.
“I am grateful to Bosch for providing me the opportunity to further my education and helping create a culture of teacher learning within the Owatonna Public School District,” Darkow said. ”Programs such as these create a ripple effect of learning from teachers to students to families.”