The Project Lead the Way middle school teachers are producing even more creativity in their classrooms thanks to their piloting of the PLTW Computer Science class for eighth grade students.
PLTW teachers Marcella Haupt at Willowcreek Middle School and Troy Pawlak at Fegely Middle School are finishing their first year teaching the new course, which will be piloted at the high school next year.
In this introductory course, students learn basic engineering skills, such as basic wiring, coding, and conditional statements, and apply them to project-based learning assignments.
The teachers at each building challenged their students with the curriculum and assigned a variety of projects to test the students’ knowledge. The theme of each project is decided by the PLTW curriculum, but the teachers help the students make theirs’ unique.
Pawlak said his students have created some interesting projects, including one that would automatically release dog food into a bowl for pets. He said the challenge for his students is not just designing the project but building it as well.
While the Computer Science course teaches pre-engineering skills, Haupt said students also learn real-world skills that they can apply to any career path. While working on the required projects, students learn time management, critical thinking and troubleshooting skills.
“All of the Project Lead the Way classes are making kids think,” Haupt said, “and we need that.”
Pawlak said his students are also learning how to be creative.
“It’s important to keep that creativity in the future,” he said.
The Computer Science pilot classes were funded by the Arcelor/PLTW enhancement grant. Both middle school teachers will continue offering the class next school year, and the high school will pilot the computer science class for students in grades 9 through 12 beginning in the fall.