Sierra STEM Collaborative  

Through a grant secured by Sierra College, employers and educators formed the Sierra STEM Community Collaborative in 2008 to shape relevant, applied academic education and develop integrated curriculum that prepares students for careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The goal of this California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office grant is to strengthen education through hands-on project based learning that incorporates academics into technical education and adds hands-on technical projects to academic courses.

By engaging students and educators, the STEM Collaborative projects pilot methods to transform education and prepare students for technical careers with local employers. In 2013, the STEM Collaborative announced the Applied Critical Thinking for Advanced Technological Education (ACTivATE) professional development program that will train instructors in assessing students’ critical thinking skills and provide support to faculty as they infuse more problem solving and other skills desired by employers into their curriculum.

The Sierra STEM projects are supported by Sierra College and the Sierra College Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) www.sierracollegetraining.com.

Read the report about the recent results of the Sierra STEM grants — Sierra STEM Collaborative Overview of Results Feb 6 2013 and Sierra STEM CTE Collaborative Grant report March 2012

Sierra College participated with the University of West Virginia to integrate math into college welding classes as part of a National Science Foundation IGNITE project. Students in the welding classes with applied math lessons significantly increased their math skills. Sierra College IGNITE Final Report June 2012

In 2010, Sierra College received a National Science Foundation grant to build on the STEM collaborative’s work. The Sierra College NSF grant is developing math modules to incorporate into the Tech-Explorer project. Read the resulting report summary. Sierra College NSF Tech-Explorer Project Outcomes 1

  • Learn about the success factors in establishing these grant-funded programs.
  • Find out more about STEM Academy where STEM instructors teach each other
  • Read the SchoolWorks newsletter, news, press releases and other related STEM articles.
  • Find partners and other resource links.
  • Contact the Sierra Community Collaborative for more information.

Activities supported by these grants: