District aims to win STEM education grant

EAST COUNTY — Doug Wagner wants the youngest of Manatee County’s public school children to begin preparing for the competitive job market they will face years from now.

To give them a head start in the race to success, he envisions elementary school students competing to build the fastest cars inside districtwide STEM labs.

Wagner, director of adult, career and technical education for the Manatee County School District, hopes his own dogged persistence forces the vision to become realty.

The U.S. Department of Education announced Nov. 22 that the Manatee County School District is a finalist for a $28.7 million “Race to the Top” grant.

The grant would fund a plan to implement science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) labs in elementary schools.

It builds off a grant application that fell short last December, when the district learned its “Manatee County is F.I.R.S.T (Fully Integrated Reading Science Technology) in the Race to Student Success” grant finished 22nd, short of the top 16 finalists that earned funding.

“We did so well last year, so we looked at the results, kept the same focus and said, ‘Let’s do this again,’” Wagner said. “We think we have an even stronger application. But the challenge is getting the judges to see what you see. We think we have a model for the country.”

More than 400 school districts across the country applied for this year’s national competition.

Manatee County is one of 31 school districts — and the only one in Florida — to be chosen as a finalist.

The district’s revamped plan seeks to fulfill the same goal: to equip young students with technology, engineering, career and problem-solving skills using hands-on methods.

It also continues a focus on community engagement.

The march toward the goal would play out in STEM labs, which would be implemented in every elementary school, both public and charter, and staffed with full-time coaches called “STEMulators.”

There are already 10 elementary-school STEM labs in the county.

Seven years ago, East County schools McNeal and Freedom elementary schools were the first to get the labs, which resemble mini manufacturing hubs.

“If people could see what goes on, it’s amazing,” Wagner said. “We have seen significant learning gains in the schools that utilize the labs.”

Each lab is stocked with bins of pulleys and levers and manipulative objects, such as LEGOs, K’NEX and Tinkertoys.

One can also find robotics equipment, solar panels and 3-D printers.

In a new concept this year meant to emphasize multimedia, “STEMulators” will push portable carts — “Wonder Wizard” stations — that carry wireless tablets that can be used for research to assist with a project.

There are no desks inside the labs, only tables.

That’s because no one sits down.

“It’s up to a team to solve a problem together,” Wagner said. “Say you are learning about the moon in your science class. Can you use the skills you learned, take them inside the lab and build a rocket? We want every student to have those skills.”

Under the proposal, all grade levels would cycle through the classroom in the way students attend special classes, such as music and art.

Although the district wants students to have the same employable skills, Wagner and his team realize students take a different path to get there.

Money from the grant would fund training for teachers in differentiated instruction, which covers how to teach individual needs through personalized student plans.

The plan also calls for visits to Manatee Technical Institute for activities and tours of college programs.

The outreach will extend beyond the classroom into the community.

Manatee County’s application calls for “STEM Saturdays,” for which venues such as the Boys and Girls Club host learning activities.

Wagner said Manatee would make its STEM curriculum available to other districts nationwide online.

Two tries in, the district doesn’t want to limit itself.

The U.S. Department of Education is expected to select five to 10 winning applications that will be announced by the end of the year.

“We want to change the lives of all students in Manatee County,” Wagner said. “In the real world, everything is a competition. It’s good to give students a bar to shoot for. But everyone is a winner at this age.”

Where will the money go?
• STEM labs at 41 elementary schools = $13,775,650.15

• Establishing elementary personalized student learning environments = $3,354,334.44

• Instituting elementary teacher leadership learning= $5,922,481.84

• The STEM experience at the MTI Tech Zone = $1,138,325.09

• Creating sustainability = $4,594,087.27

Contact Josh Siegel at [email protected].