About Idea Cooperative

Program Overview

The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM), in collaboration with St. Paul Public Schools (SPPS), received funding from the National Science Foundation (through the ITEST program) to develop a program that engages secondary school students in the process and technologies of engineering and design.

The program, IDEA Cooperative, specifically targets young women, and African-American and Latino young men in grades 8 through 12 in St. Paul's East Side neighborhood. IDEA is an acronym for "Invention, Design, Engineering and Art". The grant funding runs from Fall 2007 through Fall 2010.

The IDEA Cooperative pilots a strategic collaboration between SMM and SPPS to create engaging and challenging out-of-school, year-long learning experiences that attract participants to engineering, IT and science, by offering alternative entry points to the technology and engineering courses available in school.

Participating students acquire information technology skills related to product design, electronics, and robotics; job skills for the 21st century; an awareness of IT and engineering careers and what is needed to get there; and a strengthened self-identity as designers, problem-solvers, and contributors to their community.

This program is essential in developing a high school engineering program at the Career Pathways Academy that is representative of the diverse student population at Saint Paul's area high schools. A single example of why this is critical is Johnson High Schools current Foundation's class in the Architecture and Engineering Academy that has 2 female students out of 60 - around 3% representation!

In addition to the SMM-SPPS partnership, the project draws on partnerships with a number of local post-secondary institutions and a variety of community organizations in the East Side neighborhood, including: Saint Paul College, the East Side Family Center, the East Side Arts Council, Youth Venture, Community Computer Access Network, Girl Scouts of Saint Croix Valley, and 3M.

Program Goals and Outcomes

Through a series of activities for middle and high school youth, IDEA Cooperative will:

Create a clear pathway for youth to explore information technologies in engineering-based projects, by providing a set of experiences for girls and youth of color that begin in middle school and carry on into high school. This pathway is designed to increase the likelihood youth will make informed college and career decisions, including pursuing IT and engineering fields in post-secondary education.
Create and implement a design process and set of core activities for middle-school youth that build interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and prepare them for engineering opportunities in high school.
Create a local model for extending invention-focused high school engineering curriculum into out-of-school time, and enrich this curriculum with related information technologies.
Create awareness of engineering-related information technologies for participants and their families, and provide access to the tools for pursuing STEM education and careers.
High School students will be paid to work on invention/design projects.