Project Lead The Way leads students into real life

By Brian Heinze

The Sandy Post, Apr 14, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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It makes sense that the more schools link coursework to real life, the more likely students are to retain and use what they’ve learned in school.

So when we speak about reforming the education students receive at the high school level, we’re really speaking about two basic principles – relevance and rigor. Here at Sandy High School, we’re proud to announce new partnerships in the formation of Project Lead The Way, which promise to embrace both of those principles.

Sandy High has partnered with Oregon Institute of Technology and Project Lead The Way to prepare an increasing and more diverse science, technology, engineering and mathematics pipeline.

Bob Tisch and Ben Bliesner, two highly qualified teachers at Sandy High School, will team up to present the new Project Lead The Way curriculum. Ivan Vegary, a retired civil engineer, will assist with the program. He’s been an integral component of our engineering programs throughout the school year.

Project Lead The Way was created to address the projected shortage of engineers and engineering technologists in New York State, but now exists in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Project Lead The Way is pre-college engineering curriculum that offers eight full-year courses, called Pathway To Engineering, at the high school level.

The mission of the project is to create dynamic partnerships with our nation’s schools to produce an increasing and more diverse group of students to be successful in science, engineering and engineering technology at the two- and four-year college level.

The curriculum provides the knowledge and skills that enable students to design, build, and evaluate integrated technical systems.

Student benefits include the following:

• Opportunity to learn math, science and technology in a hands-on, relevant way;

• Involvement with projects with real-world applications of classroom concepts, which also teach how to communicate effectively, solve problems and work as a team;

• Opportunity to explore engineering and other technology-based careers before college;

• Exposure to the latest computer software and equipment used by industry, colleges and universities; and,

• The ability to receive college credit.

The strengths of this curriculum are best detailed from the data that has been collected:

• 90 percent of seniors surveyed indicated a confident sense of college majors and jobs they tend to pursue as a result of their PLTW studies.

• 95 percent of seniors said they were prepared for jobs emphasizing engineering, technology and computer science.

• 97 percent of the seniors plan on attending post secondary education, compared with 67 percent nationwide.

• 80 percent of seniors indicated their primary area of study in college will be engineering, technology or computer science.

Project Lead The Way centers on the idea of bringing practical application to students while their opinions about careers and interests are still forming. We know this approach is doubly important with math and science, subjects that too often translate into hours of memorizing facts and crunching numbers.

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