Giving Compass' Take:

• Universities are partnering with k-12 schools in an attempt to get more students into STEM education, especially those that live in areas that have less access to education. 

• How can philanthropists become involved in this partnership and contribute to expanding access to STEM for students in rural areas?

• Read about the ways in which teachers are expanding access to makerspaces for students. 

The University of Iowa College of Education is collaborating with K-12 schools in a new program to encourage gifted students in rural areas to take rigorous STEM classes and pursue careers in those fields. The program benefits the schools and students and improves the connection for them to the Iowa campus.

Through its Belin-Blank Center, the college is using funding from the National Science Foundation and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to create the STEM Excellence and Leadership Program, which works with 10 schools throughout the state.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers a variety of outreach programs through its School of Science, including a week-long program for economically disadvantaged middle school students in which it hopes to inspire “students to be interested in the STEM fields through fun and educational activities, challenges, and projects.”

Meanwhile, Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, has developed a K-12 STEM program where students from various area schools “design, build and test ideas in an interactive learning environment filled with like-minded peers, college student mentors and Clarkson faculty.” The University of Illinois has a special program that connects campus researchers with local schools.

When high students don’t have a college nearby, they are less likely to attend, researchers have discovered. A survey by Inside Higher Education found more than half of admissions officials intend to recruit more often from rural schools.

Read the full article about STEM education by James Paterson at Education Dive