Iowa educators are invited to apply to expand and launch world-class STEM programs for the 2025-26 academic year through the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council at the Iowa Department of Education’s STEM Scale-Up Program. The STEM Scale-Up Program empowers educators to provide students with a diverse range of STEM units and activities, serving on average nearly 100,000 students each year.

“Scale-Up lowers the barrier to entry to trying something new - for our schools, our educators, and most importantly, our students," said Justin Lewis, Bureau Chief for Iowa STEM. “By providing opportunities that can be scaled in both rural and urban learning environments, STEM Scale-Up brings applied learning and hands-on experiences to students all across Iowa both in and out of the classroom."

A higher portion of students who participate in the Scale-Up Program indicate they were “very interested” in science, technology, and mathematics subjects when compared to all students statewide. Scale-Up Program participants also said they are more likely to pursue a STEM career and to work in Iowa in the future than students who did not participate in the program.

Through the Scale-Up Program, the following 13 evidence-based programs are being offered to PK-12 educators across Iowa for the 2025-26 academic year:

• All About Balance
• Barobo C-STEM Afterschool and Summer Robotics and Robotics-Math Programs
• CodeJoy Presents: Micro:bit in the Wild
• CodeXcursion: Teach Python Coding with CodeX Grades 4-12
• Drone Designers: Exploring STEAM Careers
• Getting Started with Elementary OpenSciEd Curriculum
• Grow, Create, Innovate: The STEAM-Powered Art
• MathNation.com
• Overcoming Barriers to STEM Engagement: A Cross-Curricular Structural and Wind Energy Project Using Sketching as the First Step
• Plant the Moon Challenge
• Positive Physics, Chemistry, Physical Science, Biology, Environmental Science & Engineering
• Spintronics: Engineer and Design Mechanical Circuits
• STEAM Innovators K-8: Pathways for Future Leaders

These 13 programs were selected from a pool of 80 proposals from across the country based on the STEM Council’s strategic priorities that are aligned to workforce needs: including agricultural science, applied engineering, computational thinking, ecology and energy education, mathematics, STEM and arts integration, STEM careers, integration into existing curriculum and transdisciplinary learning. A team of expert reviewers also considered evidence of effect, scalability, diversity impact, cost-benefit ratio, sustainability and alignment with Iowa’s academic standards when selecting final programs.

The application period for the STEM Scale-Up Program closes on March 3, 2025, at 4:59 p.m. Awardees will be announced in April 2025.

Visit educate.iowa.gov/STEM/ScaleUp to apply and to learn more about each of the 2025-26 STEM Scale-Up programs.