LSU Engineering Hosts Engineering Awareness for High School Teachers
June 15, 2009
High school teachers can be very influential in helping students decide on a chosen major in college. Without the encouragement of teachers and opportunities to investigate science in fun, inquiry-based learning activities, students have limited information on which to base future career paths. The result is that they may not have taken the necessary preparatory classes to consider majoring in an engineering discipline in college. The LSU College of Engineering, or CoE, together with the Marathon Oil Corporation, is taking steps to promote engineering awareness among high school teachers.
The Marathon High School Teacher Engineering Awareness Program, held June 8 – 12 on the LSU campus, is designed to build an infrastructure of knowledge and understanding for high school teachers in Louisiana who will gain expertise and strategies in promoting and strengthening science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education practices with an emphasis in engineering. The expectation is that after these teachers have been exposed to engineering concepts, they will be better prepared to incorporate engineering-based applications in their math and science courses.
Sponsored by Marathon Oil Corporation and hosted by the CoE Office for Diversity Programs, the week-long educational institute consisted of a series of mini-lectures and hands-on activities on the fundamentals of different engineering disciplines. Fifteen math/science teacher pairs developed engineering lesson plans that can be incorporated in each of the math, science and physics courses at their specific school. A common lesson plan implemented across several courses will help high school students make the physical connection between math, physics and science.
The facilitators for the institute, Shelly Tornquist and John Hansen, expressed enthusiasm over their first engagement in the state of Louisiana and with LSU, “We love this campus and were so impressed with the hospitality. We are ready to come back,” sated Tornquist. Tornquist is the Texas Project Lead the Way Master teacher trainer for the Introduction of Engineering Design course, and a professor of technology at University of Texas at Tyler. Hansen is a teacher educator and a curriculum specialist for the Center for Advancing the Teaching of Technology and Science, or CATTS, which is part of the International Technology Education Association, and is a teacher at Memorial Senior High School, Spring Branch Independent School District in Houston.
“If you change a teacher, you can change the kids. This program brings the best experience to teachers,” said Tornquist. Highlighted areas of interest from the program included investigating the design process versus scientific method in engineering, a case study scenario of a Savonius Wind Turbine, learning about the environmental engineering concept of rainwater harvesting, and engineering and technology continuum of skills.
“We wanted to integrate the engineering component into math and science curriculum, because engineering provides a creative element that serves as the glue to hold math and science together,” stated Tornquist. Hansen added, “We focused on the design process in problems facing the world today. We have to develop a better capacity in students for creativity and imagination. Engineering addresses an open ended problem with multiple solutions. Teachers can use the design process and develop solutions.”
In 2007, the CoE established the Office for Diversity Programs, overseeing both the Women in Engineering and Minority Engineering Program. The Office for Diversity Programs initiatives focus on the recruitment and retention of female and minority students to thereby improve overall enrollment and graduation rates and enhance diversity both within the CoE and the workforce. The CoE’s goal in establishing the Office for Diversity Programs is “to enhance the academic environment for talented female and minority students and to increase the visibility of highly qualified women and minorities in all sectors of engineering.”
Attracting aspiring students to CoE, and fostering their educational development, underscores the importance of short and long term efforts of the Office for Diversity Program.
Article by Mimi LaValle, LSU College of Engineering, 225-578-5706, mlavall@lsu.edu.
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