OUTCOME
Students worked in small teams to design and print a 3-D object in their classroom, engaged their math, science, and language arts skills to build gravity propelled vehicles, and developed a conceptual understanding of how energy transfers & transforms to result in motion.
WHY?
30 Elementary and Middle school teachers from 16 school districts in WA State participated in a 6-week engineering program. Teachers as learners experienced the joy, frustration, and deep learning about the engineering design process; then translated these experiences for grade 4-8 students to use engineering challenges to learn science concepts. Blending the S and E in STEM while using the T and M!
WHY?
STEM professionals engaged educators to more deeply understand the practice of engineering. Teachers spent over 100 hours each engaging with STEM professionals in university research labs and undergraduate learning spaces.
WHY?
The Logan Center partnered with the University of Washington College of Engineering to design and implement professional learning experiences for teachers that focus on the fundamentals of engineering and the ways those fundamentals can be brought into classrooms. The work was supported by a National Science Foundation grant.