In 12th grade, I took physics at Grosse Pointe North High School from a Physics Modeler, named Don Pata. My first exposure to Modeling Instruction was as a student. I later found out that Don, and his mentor from Grosse Pointe South High School, Mark Davids, had both gone to Arizona State University to be trained in this method of teaching and brought it back to Grosse Pointe Schools.

Grosse Pointe teachers have been using Modeling Instruction successfully since the late 1990s with high school students, many of whom go on to pursue STEM careers.

Growing up with an eye disease known as Keratoconus, I learned the importance of STEM in my personal life through the work of the healthcare professionals who helped to restore my sight.

Corning is one of the world’s leading innovators in materials science. For more than 160 years, Corning has applied its unparalleled expertise in specialty glass, ceramics, and optical physics to develop products that have transformed people’s lives. Today, Corning’s products enable diverse industries such as consumer electronics, telecommunications, transportation, and life sciences.

Years ago, their need for engineers exceeded the domestic candidate pool, and they had to look elsewhere for staff. Deciding that they wanted to have home-grown talent, they decided to look down the career pathway to K-12 STEM education.

They partnered with local universities and K-12 education systems to better train STEM teachers, by investing in Modeling Instruction training programs for teachers, and ultimately to better prepare students for STEM fields so that they could have an insource of engineers.

Building the capacity for STEM education has direct connection to industry and the economy via career trajectories and opportunity pathways for students.

While MI students are increasingly performing better on state assessments and college readiness exams, science and math proficiency levels still leave much to be desired.

Between 2011 and 2014, mathematics proficiency, at the high school level (as measured by the Michigan Merit Exam) has improved only slightly across the state.

Between 2011 and 2014, science proficiency, at the high school level (as measured by the Michigan Merit Exam) has improved only slightly across the state.

Less than one-third of our high schoolers are demonstrating proficiency on our state assessments in math and science. Without a change to the way we are teaching students, can we expect there to be an improvement in student learning?

My first teaching position was in Arizona, where I was surrounded by an entire science department that taught using this same method. They trained me in it before I came back to Michigan to teach in Grosse Pointe. Don is now a colleague of mine in Grosse Pointe Schools and we have cooperated with education leaders from around the state to coordinate STEM training in the Modeling Instruction Methodology for Michigan teachers.

Instead of relying on lectures and textbooks, the Modeling Instruction program emphasizes active student construction of conceptual and mathematical models in an interactive learning community. Students are engaged with simple scenarios to learn to model the physical world.

In comparison to traditional instruction, under expert modeling instruction high school students average more than two standard deviations higher on a standard instrument for assessing conceptual understanding of physics.

This program was the result of the cooperation of our Michigan math-science centers, intermediate school district science consultants, higher education partners, and numerous teacher leaders from around the state.

The goal of the program is to train many Michigan STEM teachers to be better prepared to educate their students, train new facilitators to increase the capacity for continuing to provide ongoing professional development to STEM teachers, and to partner with institutes of higher education to support teacher education programs for pre-service STEM educators.

A hallmark of this professional development opportunity is that teacher cost to attend is nothing, a stipend and SCECH offerings are provided, and access to workshops is in all major regions of the state.

Several university partners worked with the math-science centers during year one to either participate in Modeling Instruction workshops or develop modules that could be infused into current teacher education programming for STEM teachers.

Six workshops were held targeting the areas of physical science, notably first year courses in physics and chemistry.

Year one of the program was a huge success and increased awareness of, and interest in, the program itself. With a budget carry over of nearly $200K, the program seeks to increase the number of workshop offerings in year two.

Eight workshops planned, expanding the program to include a first-year course for Modeling Instruction in biology.

Currently, we are applying for a continuation of the grant to provide a third year of first-year course offerings to Michigan teachers, an academy for educators interested in becoming trainers, math modeling courses, and second-year course offerings in physics and chemistry.

To apply for a workshop in summer 2015, or to learn more about the program, you can visit the Michigan Modeling Instruction Program website or the American Modeling Teachers Association (modelinginstruction.org) for more information.

Ultimately, for the number of STEM career opportunities and the appeal for STEM industries to increase in Michigan, a better educated candidate pool needs to exist. That can happen through the systematic improvement of STEM education in K-12 schools to better prepare students for professional trajectories later in their lives. The Michigan Modeling Instruction Program is an approach committed to a better Michigan through a better STEM education.

This program is made possible through a grant from the Michigan Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.