Beth Dykstra VanMeeteren, EdD
Director, Regents' Center for Early Developmental Education
Professor, Literacy Education
SEC 117A
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Beth Dykstra VanMeeteren, EdD
Director, Regents' Center for Early Developmental Education
Professor, Literacy Education
Dr. VanMeeteren is a lifelong Iowan who grew up on a family farm in Sioux County. A 24-year veteran public school teacher, she began her career teaching first grade for 18 years in the Laurens-Marathon School District, a small rural district in northwest Iowa. She later spent six years teaching first grade in an experimental constructivist school affiliated with the University of Northern Iowa in East Waterloo.
Currently, she serves as the Director of the Iowa Regents’ Center for Early Developmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa. The Center’s success is a testament to the dedication of its highly committed staff and the invaluable contributions of our Professor Emerita volunteers.
- EdD, Curriculum & Instruction, University of Northern Iowa
- MAE, Literacy Education, University of Northern Iowa
- BA, Social Sciences, Northwestern College
- Studies in Facilitating Early STEM Education
- Early Childhood Curriculum Development and Organization
- Teaching Elementary School Science
- Language Development
- Identifying contexts where children are already engaging in STEM in the years of early childhood, and how educators can support them (birth through grade 3)
- Developmental engineering from the perspective of the young learner (PK-Grade 3)
- The integrative nature of early STEM education
- The importance of developing engineering habits of mind in the years of early childhood
- Director of the Iowa Regents' Center for Early Developmental Education - a center representing all three state universities (University of Iowa, Iowa State, University of Northern Iowa)
- Author and Editor of STEM for Our Youngest Learner Series published by Teachers College Press
- Design and delivery of early STEM professional learning
- Design and delivery of eight Iowa STEM Scale Up programs across Iowa
- Advisory board member for FIRST Lego League