Council members selected 14 STEM programs to provide curriculum, after-school programming and other enrichment opportunities for students in preschool through high school. Robotics, wind turbines, virtual reality and career skills are all among the topics covered by the programs. Southwest Iowa public schools, preschools, libraries and other community organizations benefited from the Scale Up program awards.

• “A World in Motion” program uses real-world engineering challenges to teach STEM through inquiry for elementary and middle-school students. Those receiving it include The AHST Elementary School, Atlantic schools, Griswold Public Library, Iowa State Extension of Page County, Missouri Valley schools, Red Oak Middle School, Shenandoah Middle School, Sidney Elementary School and West Harrison schools.• Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education provides experiences about agriculture, food and natural resources for high-schoolers. Those receiving it include Boyer Valley schools and Shenandoah schools.
• Defined STEM stresses fundamentals of STEM through web-based enrichment for a school setting. Those receiving it include Fremont-Mills schools, Missouri Valley schools and Underwood schools.
• Engineering is Elementary in Iowa integrates engineering and technology with elementary science topics. Those receiving it include Iowa State Extension of Cass County, Nishna Valley YMCA, Shenandoah schools, Tabor Public Library and West Harrison schools.
• FIRST Tech Challenge goes beyond a robotics competition by stressing how to work together, share ideas and treat others with respect and dignity. Those receiving it include Iowa State Extension of Mills County and South Page schools.
• HyperStream offers hands-on technology projects, contests and other activities for fifth through 12th grade after-school clubs or curriculum. Those receiving it include AHST schools, Boys & Girls Club of Council Bluffs, Boys & Girls Club of Carter Lake, Carter Lake home-schoolers, Iowa State Extension of Harrison County, Shelby County Catholic Schools, Shenandoah Middle School and South Page schools.
• KidWind teaches renewable energy topics through lab activities. Those receiving it include Atlantic schools, Clarinda’s Garfield Elementary, Griswold High School, Iowa State Extension of Harrision County, Iowa State Extension of Shelby County, Lewis Central schools, Logan-Magnolia schools, Red Oak Middle School, Shenandoah High School, Sidney Elementary School and West Harrison schools.
• National STEM League is offered for secondary students to compete like professional innovators in engineering, software and hardware integration, enterprise, marketing and development. Those receiving it include Logan-Magnolia schools, Missouri Valley Middle School, Shenandoah schools and Tri-Center schools.
• Project Lead The Way has several related programs: the core principals of engineering (POE) curriculum, the computer science and software engineering (CSE) curriculum, a middle-school design and modeling as well as automation and robotics program (Gateway) and a new elementary-school program (Launch). Those receiving those programs include AHST (POE), Council Bluffs schools (CSE and POE), Lewis Central schools (CSE, Launch) and Logan-Magnolia schools (Launch).
• Pint Size Science from the Science Center of Iowa is geared for children age 3 to 5 to explore science concepts. Those receiving it include AHST Elementary School, Atlantic Head Start, Bloomer Head Start, Clarinda’s Garfield Elementary School, Clarinda Head Start, Council Bluffs Head Start, Essex Head Start, Griswold Head Start, Griswold Public Library, Hamburg Elementary School, Hamburg Head Start, Harlan schools, Harlan Head Start, Iowa State Extension of Fremont County, Iowa State Extension of Page County, Iowa State Extension of Shelby County, Lakin Head Start, Lewis Central schools, Lewis Central Lucky Children, Missouri Valley Elementary School, Missouri Valley Head Start, Red Oak Head Start, Riverside schools, Shenandoah Head Start, Sidney Public Library, South Page schools, Tabor Public Library, Trinity Lutheran Preschool (Council Bluffs), Walnut Community School, West Harrison schools, Woodbine schools and Woodbine Head Start.
• Spatial-Temporal Math uses a game to boost math comprehension and proficiency through graphically-rich animations and visual representation of concepts. Those receiving it include Hamburg Elementary School, Missouri Valley Elementary School, Shenandoah schools, Sidney Elementary School and South Page schools.

A total of $3.1 million from the Iowa Legislature was spread across six regional STEM areas. Results from 2013-14, according to a press release, show that more than 90 percent of students in STEM Scale-Up programs reported a higher interest in at least one STEM subject or career field.