BOCA RATON– FloridaAtlanticUniversityfaculty and students within theCollegeofEngineeringand Computer Science recently hosted aSTEM SummerTeachersAcademyand aSTEMSummerStudentAcademy, two summer Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) events in partnership with Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) Innovative Programs Office at FAU’sBoca Raton campus.
Both programs were developed as part of the STEM initiative in the Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant awarded to Broward County Schools by the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of the grant is to help increase student achievement and create interest in STEM disciplines at the post-secondary level, as well as in a variety of STEM-related careers.
“The partnership between FAU andBrowardCountyPublic Schoolsin the development of STEM education will help train our future leaders in science and research,” said Mohammad Ilyas, Ph.D., interim dean of FAU’sCollegeofEngineeringand Computer Science.
The week long STEM Summer Teachers Academy involved 125 teachers and administrative staff from six Growing STEM Magnet middle schools. The goals of the 2012 STEM Summer Teachers Academy were to provide teachers with innovative instructional strategies that integrate key STEM foundational principles and processes and promote rigor through innovative thinking in order to create meaningful project-based learning experiences for students.
Teachers attended sessions on: Innovative Thinking, Educational Sustainability, Curriculum Design Process for STEM K-12 Projects and Systems and Material Engineering. The developed curriculum will be implemented in the participating middle schools – Apollo, McNicol, Parkway,Lauderhill, Margate and Silver Lakes.
“The ‘Growing STEM’ program is an exciting new addition to magnet program options for students in BrowardCounty. The partnership with FAU’s Collegeof Engineeringand Computer Science will focus on developing high rigor STEM curriculum,” said Leona A. Miracola, innovative programs director of Broward County Public Schools. “In addition, the STEM curriculum will prepare students for post-secondary education opportunities for the 21st Century workplace.”
TheCollegeofEngineeringand Computer Science also designed a two-week STEM Summer Student Academy, with challenging STEM project-based learning experiences for 300 students from the participating schools. Five teachers from each of the BCPS were invited to participate in the program and co-teach with the FAU professors and students in order to strengthen their foundational knowledge of engineering principals.
Students worked on five different engineering projects that introduced civil, mechanical, electro-mechanical and robotic engineering concepts. They completed projects that emphasized solving real world problems and were challenged to work collaboratively, reach a consensus within time and material constraints, present their findings, and explain their decision making processes.
Projects included designing a solar boat, vehicle brakes, electric motors, robotic arm and bridges. Students completed the projects while working at the FAU Davie campus and toured FAU SeaTech inDaniaBeach, The Institute for Ocean and Systems Engineering.