Project Lead the Way and Engineering Retention 1

[SandCounter]

I am on the board of a local private school that is considering Project Lead the Way or similar curriculum to fill the need for STEM offerings in the school. My very limited
perception of school-age so-called STEM programs amounts to playing with toys that generate interest in what might be considered more technician activities rather than engineering where designs are built on math and scientific principles. My perception is based in various engineering conferences I've attended where, as a feature, STEM classes have set up displays and booths where they show off their Legos and robots. There never seems to be much interest from the professionals attending the conference.

My question is, do these STEM programs do more than just attract attendance by appealing to parents as the school having a STEM program, and generating student interest which is more based in these "toys?" Can anyone with experience in this area help round out my perception of school-age STEM and is anyone familiar with the fruits of these STEM programs? Are more students going into engineering and sticking with it, or are they going into engineering and then discovering it's not really what they thought and not for them?

Any input is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[jari001]

Project Lead the Way, just to stick with the example you give, doesn't seem like it's a seminar or a one and done type of exhibition. This program is looking to change the way standard science concepts are presented, or so it seems to me. If the standard curriculum is changed to include/change to PLTW material, then the school has the advantage of keeping kids enrolled through the progression of activities and the kids get the advantage of the cumulative learning of sticking with a thought out learning experience through many years. The efficacy of this new teaching method, would require a review of the literature and testimonials.

As for math at the college level - I wouldn't necessarily change the scope of what math I learned (upto partial diff eqs. I), but I would add heavier engineering context to the math ASAP. All of my math courses were taught by math professors, and I would appreciate a closer collaboration between the engineering and math depts. to make the math more relatable to what you learned in the engineering courses. Case in point, I had one math course that was about learning how to use Matlab and that was all based on solving different engineering problems from various disciplines. That course really solidified some of my calc skills when you knew you had derived something incorrectly because something had the wrong vector gradient or your heat sink has an average temperature hotter than the sun