ILLINOIS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : b***y@i**********n.o*g
Mission Statement
The Illinois Science & Technology Institute (ISTI) is a STEM-focused nonprofit that provides programs and partnerships to connect companies with classrooms. ISTI supports schools and companies who want to impact the next generation of innovators, to build a stronger, more inclusive talent pipeline in Illinois. We are a bridge between the classroom and real world that facilitates collaboration between students and industry mentors.
About This Cause
In 2012, the Illinois Science and Technology Institute (ISTI) set out to bridge the gap between classroom content and real world context by providing structured programs that connect students with mentors in a professional capacity. Two educational programs grew from this charge. The STEM Challenge program launched with an aim at high dosage, high impact mentorship. Through our STEM Challenge program, we partner Illinois high schools with the state's most innovative companies over 4-6 months to explore, create, and build solutions to authentic industry problems. Students apply classroom learning to investigate, develop, and refine solutions that they ultimately present back to the company. Company employees support student learning as mentors - providing expertise and feedback virtually through our Mentor Matching Engine (MME). MME is a project-based, virtual collaboration platform that allows busy industry professionals to connect with students anytime, anywhere in a safe and secure environment. STEM Challenges also serve to demystify technology careers by promoting connections to authentic STEM opportunities. Through engagement with company mentors, students are exposed to problems that are being solved in the working world, to professional skills needed to tackle industry projects, and, ultimately, to new lines of sight and connections to pathways in STEM fields. The Mentor Matching Engine operates as both a virtual platform and a program for independent student research. MME focuses on skills-based volunteering and matches mentors with students based on the mentors’ professional expertise. MME allows high school students to create projects online and select from our pool of recruited and quality mentors (all background checked) to work with virtually over the course of the year, with consistent teacher oversight. Both programs provide transformative learning experiences for high school students by developing and building confidence in STEM skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, team-building, collaboration, and communication. ISTI has defined the short/medium term outcomes that these programs aim to produce based on key leading indicators for future success and defining characteristics in STEM. This includes: Build student problem solving skills Increase engagement with STEM professionals Improve student confidence in their STEM skills Build student teamwork, collaboration and communication skills Build student interest and awareness of STEM career options and pathways Improve teacher practice and use of new strategies or techniques ISTI has mapped these outcome areas to measurable and quantifiable data that will demonstrate progress. These metrics and others directly inform the data we are collecting from program participants. 72% of STEM Challenge students report that this is the first time that they have worked with a STEM mentor 80% of STEM Challenge students report that their interest in pursuing a STEM field or a STEM related area after participating in the program remained the same or increased 90% of STEM Challenge students report increased confidence or self-efficacy in STEM skills (problem solving, analysis, etc.) 97% of teachers across both programs reported that their students’ STEM skills improved 100% of mentors reported appreciating their employer more for providing skills-based volunteerism opportunities