IOWA: Iowa State STEM outreach programs join forces to expand reach across state
Pete Evans speaks with kids during a visit to a summer camp at the Waukee Innovation and Learning Center. The FLEx program expanded to include space-oriented activities thanks to a NASA grant, in addition to a recent partnership with students in Iowa State's WiSE program. Photos by Christopher Gannon. Larger image.
Seven years and 80,000 people later, Iowa State University’s FLEx program is expanding its reach even more.
Pete Evans, assistant professor of industrial design, coordinates FLEx (Forward Learning Experience), a design and STEM outreach program that launched in 2014 as a result of a graduate design studio that was tasked with creating a mobile classroom for technology outreach to Iowa’s K-12 students.
The program, which travels across the state in an ISU commercial cargo van, began with virtual and augmented reality, Oculus Rift immersive visualization, 3D printing and circuit building with Little Bits.
Thanks to a grant from the Iowa Space Grant Consortium and a new partnership with ISU Program for Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE), the FLEx program is re-focusing its offerings and bringing up-and-coming students along for the road trip.
FLEx2GO Space Artemis provides activities that explore core space concepts, celebrate the NASA Artemis program and provide insight into upcoming plans for the Moon, Mars and even Earth.
FLEx’s expanding program includes a motion base and virtual reality headset that gives users a real sense of flying, driving and even riding a roller coaster through Iowa State’s central campus, as well as a tabletop map on which small robots can be programmed to run missions and be modified by the user with compatible LEGOs for unique designs.
“This program shows youth what’s happening in space now that’s driving rapid innovation,” said Pete Evans. “We’re using the space theme to push FLEx’s underpinnings of STEM skills and design thinking.”