Teacher/Engineer Mentoring Workshop - January 11, 2016
On January 12th, 26 science teachers and 6 volunteer engineers got together at the College of St. Elizabeth to improve STEM education in the north Jersey area. Science teachers are asked to teach engineering even though 99% of them have never had formal engineering training. The engineers brainstormed with the teachers to create exciting and relevant lessons for our children. This workshop was the first in a series planned around the state by the NJ Science Teachers Association to bring engineers together with teachers to convey engineering problem solving and analysis skills to their students.
The lesson plans are still a work in progress but both the teachers and the volunteers thought the evening was worthwhile and were very positive in their feedback. The workshop consists of a brief video and lecture by Michael Ernst P.E., former President of the Union Chapter of the NJ Professional Engineer’s Society from whose membership lists he found many of the volunteers. After the lecture Kathy Ernst, former President of the NJ Science Teachers Association, started a brainstorming session with preliminary lesson plans the teachers brought in. The engineers arrived after work and joined small groups of teachers to further brainstorm, critique, and develop lesson plans and classroom demonstrations and experiments to bring excitement to the classroom.
One teacher was having the students design material for space suits for a mission to Mars. They had to be air tight, tough, insulating, and flexible. We worked up ways to evaluate the student designs against those criteria. Another was concerned about global warming. We put together some simple experiments / demonstrations growing algae in a rich CO2 atmosphere to show how it might be self-mitigating. But at the same time we demonstrated the temperature dependence of the equilibrium CO2 concentrating in water which counteracts the effects of the first experiment. The students are left to decide which comes first since even the brightest scientists have not completely understood this complex system.
NJSTA is planning a repeat session for their Spring Meeting at The College of New Jersey on May 11th. There is potentially a final session planned later in in the year at Rowan University. Workshop details will be posted on the website as they become available. Engineer volunteers can also sign up for these or future workshops.
The lesson plans are still a work in progress but both the teachers and the volunteers thought the evening was worthwhile and were very positive in their feedback. The workshop consists of a brief video and lecture by Michael Ernst P.E., former President of the Union Chapter of the NJ Professional Engineer’s Society from whose membership lists he found many of the volunteers. After the lecture Kathy Ernst, former President of the NJ Science Teachers Association, started a brainstorming session with preliminary lesson plans the teachers brought in. The engineers arrived after work and joined small groups of teachers to further brainstorm, critique, and develop lesson plans and classroom demonstrations and experiments to bring excitement to the classroom.
One teacher was having the students design material for space suits for a mission to Mars. They had to be air tight, tough, insulating, and flexible. We worked up ways to evaluate the student designs against those criteria. Another was concerned about global warming. We put together some simple experiments / demonstrations growing algae in a rich CO2 atmosphere to show how it might be self-mitigating. But at the same time we demonstrated the temperature dependence of the equilibrium CO2 concentrating in water which counteracts the effects of the first experiment. The students are left to decide which comes first since even the brightest scientists have not completely understood this complex system.
NJSTA is planning a repeat session for their Spring Meeting at The College of New Jersey on May 11th. There is potentially a final session planned later in in the year at Rowan University. Workshop details will be posted on the website as they become available. Engineer volunteers can also sign up for these or future workshops.