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Project Lead The Way uses project-based learning to prepare students for the global economy.

Seventh graders in some Illinois schools are designing playground equipment using advanced modeling software. Middlesboro, Ky., eighth graders are going to have a “robot drag race” later this year. These and many more projects across the nation are made possible by the nonprofit organization Project Lead The Way (PLTW), which provides STEM curriculum and programs to schools across the country.

PLTW uses project-based learning to prepare students for the global economy. It also offers professional development for teachers and includes a network of educators, students, universities, and professionals who work together to design the curriculum.

School districts across the country are implementing PLTW’s curriculum in an effort to introduce students to engineering concepts and give them a competitive advantage as they pursue college majors and careers.

A partnership between Chevron and PLTW is creating positive change in New Orleans area schools.

See also:

Intel, schools hoping to lure more students into science and engine... ^[2]

New high school is latest to focus on project-based learning ^[3]

At Las Vegas charter school, iPads power project-based learning ^[4]

PLTW’s partnership with Chevron began in 2011 when Chevron identified a growing need for engineers and scientists within the Louisiana region. Chevron partnered with PLTW to expand the program throughout southeastern Louisiana—funding six middle and junior high schools through a two-year grant. The grants have helped the schools in starting the Gateway To Technology middle school program, purchasing classroom equipment and sending teachers for professional development.

After the first year of the program, schools are seeing positive effects.

“We are extremely pleased with the PLTW program,” said Dana Gonzales, science and math specialist for the Orleans Parish School Board. “Orleans Parish schools have had their share of issues. To see this kind of enthusiasm has been truly wonderful. Kids and teachers are getting so excited about the program, and it seems to be re-energizing our faculty. The students are getting a lot of their deficits for math and science filled by having to apply the concepts to projects they’re working on in the engineering program.”

At Riverside High School in Durham, N.C., the school’s engineering pathway program uses PLTW curriculum.

Even for students whose plans don’t include careers in engineering—like Megan Shiflett, who plans to study sports medicine at Mars Hill College—the program has been worth it.

“I think every high school should have an engineering program,” she said. “With the critical thinking that it requires, it’s very beneficial, not just for people who know they want to do engineering, but for students like me who don’t really want to do engineering. What you take from it definitely helps you with your other classes.”

Through a collaboration with the Warren County Career Center, Franklin High School in Ohio is offering a course called Introduction to Engineering Design. It’s the first of four engineering courses the school might offer as part of the national PLTW program.

“Students leave with problem solving skills they didn’t have before,” said WCCC instructor Hugh McPhail. “Many of the students are real good at tackling a direct problem you might find in math or chemistry class, but if you give them a more real-world problem to solve, they can’t use those skills to tackle it, because they don’t know how to apply what they learned in math class out in the real world. These courses help them with that.”

The hands-on nature of the PLTW curriculum appeals to many students.

In Middlesboro, Ky., eighth graders are taking the PLTW curriculum as part of an independent study. “They are divided into groups of two and three and are researching and building robots of their choice,” said their teacher, Georgina Anderson. “They are going to be studying gear systems and then programming to get their robots to do a variety of things.”

A show of hands in the class revealed that a majority of the students didn’t like science and math before they started working with PLTW. One student said, “This science class is just awesome!”

For more school engineering resources, check out this link from the National Science Foundation:http://www.nsf.gov/news/classroom/engineering.jsp ^[5].

Material from the Herald-Sun of Durham, N.C., the Middletown Journal of Ohio, and the Middlesboro Daily News of Kentucky was used in this report. Copyright 2012; distributed by MCT Information Services.