Facilities and Demographics Disclaimer

OK, maybe the title is a bit much, but I just wanted to let anyone reading this blog (which, so far has a readership of zero as far as I can tell) a little about the school I teach at, and why the things I'm spouting off about will work in just about any school.

First, about facilities. I've been to visit other schools with brand new lab facilities, or remodeled 2,000 square foot auto shops. While those types of facilities made me jealous, I had to think as to the reason I was there. I was the one telling those teachers how things should be done. They had the great facilities, but I was the one that was making engineering work in my school.

My school was built in 1926. I have a classroom and a half, and only because someone in the past knocked down the wall between my room and the office next door. I have four tables and 28 chairs, and some lab benches with about 15 computers on them. No Internet. But it works, and if it works here, it'll work almost anywhere.

A quick note about demographics: Jacksonville is a large, urban school district, the 13th largest in the country (or thereabouts.) Our students are 63% black, and the rest a mix of white, Asian, and Hispanic. 43% of our students get free lunch. And Florida, in the land of paradise, is 50th in public school spending out of our 50 states. And we make it work.

So again, I'm just trying to quash any excuses about why this or that won't work. We need to get engineering concepts integrated into our schools from the bottom up. Whatever it takes.

(shoot, I'll probably use this as the intro to the book!)

TTFN

Engineering Education Book Info

As I said in the introductory post to the blog, I am getting ready to write a book. I've already started to put things together, so I'll share a little about it:

Title: How YOU can Teach Engineering with NOTHING*

*except this book and common classroom supplies

Subtitle: A guide to teaching engineering concepts in any school, any grade, anywhere!

The key to this whole project is that the book will be applicable to any grade level. I've come up with something called "The Ladder." For each engineering concept, the activities and projects are organized by ability level and depth of knowledge. Kindergarten level activities would begin at the bottom of the ladder, with 12th grade type activities at the top. Teachers could then begin at the bottom of the ladder if they wish, or anywhere on the ladder.

I would recommend beginning one grade level below where the teacher thinks the class is, and work up the ladder. The grade below activities serve as a 'refresher' for the students, as well as bringing up to speed any students that may be a little behind. The teachers can then work up the ladder as far as they are willing to take their classes. The only limiter will be some of the advanced concepts in terms of math. I fully expect, however, for a teacher to move their class at least one grade level above them on the ladder, possibly two. So a fourth grade teacher may do a few activities on the third grade rung, complete the fourth grade rung, and do few activities on the fifth and sixth grade rungs. I wouldn't expect fourth graders to get up to doing seventh grade level work, but you never know. The advancement is built in for gifted students and those who just work a little quicker. If the book gets too big, which it might, I'll break it down into single-grade workbooks as well as multi grade editions, like K-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12 or something similar. I might also break it up vertically, so you might have a K-12 book about civil engineering for example.

The other key is implementation. In the present economic climate, budgets are tight. I also know that levels of support vary from region to region, or even school to school in a district. To combat this, and to make good on my sub-title, each activity will come in three flavors: No-tech (using just the book and common classroom supplies), Low-tech (using the supplies above plus free computer software, nonstandard materials, etc) and High-tech, which might need other software and one computer per two students. I want to strees that the concepts that will be learned are the same; I'm not creating haves and have nots. Just because you don't have computers in your classroom doesn't mean your students won't learn just as much as those who do.

I'm also going to try to correlate each standard with science and math standards, as well as social studies as applicable. That way principals can feel at ease that you are teaching the standards, and not just goofing off building cool projects. I know that each state has different standards, so I may put in general concept keywords and the teacher may have to do their own correlation. I'll try to make it as painless as possible. I will definitely be correlating them with the ITEA Technology Literacy Standards. Many states have already correlated these with math and science standards. I hope yours is one of them.

In the future I'll be posting sample projects, Ladders, and book chapters. Please let me know what you think. I appreciate the criticism, constructive or otherwise.

I hope I've taken away any excuses about why you can't teach engineering in your classroom and motivate more kids to enter into engineering careers. This country needs more of them. It's up to you.

TTFN