As a collaborative institution, Hearthstone is continually looking to partner with like-minded entities. Our current collaborative initiatives include the following.
“To have a great idea... have a lot of them.”
“STEMIE” Education with the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Appleton Area School District
We have partnered with The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation (Dearborn, MI) to bring new curricula to the AASD. The lessons, which are available for grades K-12 through our new program called INVENT WISCONSIN, build on STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) by adding an “I” for Invention and an “E” for Entrepreneurship to create STEMIE. Students are taught the scientific method, the invention method, the engineering method, and the entrepreneurship method as pillars of innovation to get students “future-ready.” The lessons, which meet Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards, are provided entirely free-of-charge to area schools as are all supporting materials and alternative activity resources. Our pilot school is Kaleidoscope Academy Middle School. We are also working local industry to fund “Maker Spaces” where all students, regardless of economic strata, can find free materials to create their inventions.
For more information on INVENT WISCONSIN (TM) and STEMIE curricula, please see www.inventwisconsin.org (our dedicated website will be unveiled shortly) and www.stemie.org.
Invention Convention with the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation
As the state of Wisconsin affiliate of the STEMIE Coalition, our STEMIE efforts will culminate in annual Invention Conventions on local and state-wide levels that celebrate the ingenuity of our students. Local winners will receive “Edison-Rogers” prizes to recognize their success. They will go on to state-wide Invention Conventions organized by Hearthstone. Winners at the state level will participate in the national IC, which is held annually at The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation (Dearborn, MI).
Revitalized Second Grade Curriculum and Tours with Appleton Area School District
In addition to our STEMIE Initiative, we are doing a revitalization of the second grade curriculum that our volunteer educators have written. Our second grade curriculum, in various forms, has been a mainstay of AASD coursework for the past 30 years.
UW-Oshkosh Public History Course Practicum Work
UW-O students are receiving hands-on experience doing actual curation work under the guidance of our curators as well as participating in a Twitter re-enactment of the events in Appleton leading up to Armistice Day (as part of our commemoration of the end of World War I - please see #HearthstoneArmistice). We are also extending internships to a number of UW-O and other area college students who may be interested in careers in public history.