MADISON TWP — A representative of Project Lead The Way came to speak to the Madison School Board Wednesday.
Audrey Barry spoke with the board for about 20 minutes giving an overview of the organization, which provides curriculum for elementary school, middle school and high school students. The curriculum revolves around science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
“As you know, the world is constantly evolving,” Barry said. “The jobs our students are going to have don’t currently exist. The rate of STEM jobs are doubling that of other jobs and most jobs are requiring some STEM component in that job.”
Barry told the teachers Project Lead The Way provides support for teachers in preparing and teaching students.
“That’s why we exist. That’s why we thrive,” she said, adding the importance of starting students early on STEM. “We need to start early, providing what our students need in the education world.”
Project Lead The Way has three phases of curriculum: Launch, for elementary school, gateway for middle school and a high school curriculum.
Each phase has multiple options available as modules for high school based on what the community’s strategic plan desires.
Following her remarks, Cynthia Hursh, a STEM teacher at Mifflin Elementary addressed the board, noting how much students enjoy STEM learning and are engaging with the curriculum.
“It’s such a joy to be a STEM teacher,” she said. “The enthusiasm the kids have is overwhelming. For example, we’re in a unit where we’re learning about how forces react through simple machines.”
She explained her third-grade students students had to understand how to build the machines and learn what she called “sub-skills” in order to complete the task.
The ability to make the machines give her students a sense of pride, she said, explaining how detailed the machines are.
“They can’t wait to get in there and build,” Hursh said. “It’s always like, ‘Let’s move it along here.’ They have to pull (the previous project) apart and look at the image to figure out what they’re doing.”
Hursh added her first-grade students are learning about how things change to adapt to a particular environment.
“Right now we are going around the world,” she told the board. “We are in the Pacific Ocean in a submarine. It engages them in such a way that this unit is now interesting to them. They get to have a little more presentation to it.”
