Middle school students use data science to ‘Reinvent Muscatine’

Students at Muscatine’s Susan Clark Junior High School are turning data into action, using data science to tackle real questions in their community and presenting solutions that could leave a lasting impact beyond their school walls as they “Reinvent Muscatine”.

“We’re in the process of asking several of these questions ourselves,” said Adrianne Towe, Director of Strategic Impact with the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine. “There have already been a couple of ideas today that we are going to pursue and we’re very excited about the questions these kids are asking.”

Towhead Island, an island in the Mississippi River near Muscatine, was recently donated to the Community Foundation of Muscatine. Now, Pam Joslyn, STEM educator at Susan Clark and 2026 Iowa STEM Teacher award recipient, and her students are partnering with the Foundation to see what the land could be used for.

“Our seventh and eighth graders spent six weeks conducting background research, collecting original data and developing real proposals for the future of Towhead Island in partnership with the Muscatine Community Foundation,” Joslyn said.

Joslyn started this project last fall and hopes to continue doing a similar project each semester.

“I made it more of a learning progression with data science,” Joslyn said. “They design all of their surveys, they analyze all of their data. It’s demanding work.”

Connecting classroom lessons to community impact was top of mind as Joslyn designed this project.

“Projects like this help students see that data science isn’t just a one-off lesson or concept from a textbook, but a tool they can use right now to understand and improve their community,” said Michelle Meier, computer science consultant with the Iowa Department of Education. “The data students analyzed and are presenting on today will be used to answer real-world questions, giving their contributions value and helping them see themselves as problem-solvers who can succeed in STEM fields.”

Joslyn is designing the project to give students ownership of their work. This includes not assigning topics or even providing a list of ideas, rather, brainstorming potential topics based on their interests.

After weeks of work, students presented their findings to community members at the Reinvent Muscatine: Towhead Island Civic Data Science Fair earlier this month.

Student projects covered an array of topics, including the island’s impacts on indigenous culture, microbial fuel cells, poison ivy removal, repopulating native muscles, installing trail cameras, building accessible boardwalks and establishing ecology tours, among others.

“Our problem was that not many people have gotten on Towhead Island, so we want to create boat rides to the island, and we want to be sure they are accessible to everyone,” said seventh grade student Janvier Horne. “The guide could tell you about animals there and trees and plants. We thought it would be good to get people of all types out there”

Another group looked into the feasibility of installing boardwalk trails to help visitors enjoy the island. The group gave attention to existing topography on the island, noting that large hills and slopes would increase construction costs, but to the benefit of nature.

“Elevated boardwalk trails protect the ecosystem beneath them,” said seventh grade student Connor Greenfield. “We recommend building simple boardwalk trails on Towhead Island. This solution would make the island more accessible and enjoyable for the entire Muscatine community.”

Ahead of each group of presentations, Joslyn was sure to acknowledge her student’s efforts this semester, reminded of good presentation etiquette and offered words of encouragement to work through nerves and giggles. She always sent them off with her number one rule, “Have fun!”

“I really believe these are just the initial steps,” Joslyn said. “Getting students to generate the questions and look at the data is hard, but it's getting them to realize how important it is in a way that's fun and in their own community.”