Teachers From Across The US Head To 'U' For STEM Training
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- While students are enjoying summer break, some teachers are back in the classroom.
Teachers from across the country and Minnesota are at the University of Minnesota to learn.
Backpacks out and calculators clicking. It looks like schools back in session, but master teacher Brian Bordwell is teaching the teachers. He is teaching the "Project Lead the Way" curriculum to teachers from all over the country. They're going through a two-week training to be certified to teach science, technology, engineering and math to their students.
"It's just been growing astronomically over the years," Bordwell said.
During the college admissions process, colleges all across the country -- including at the U of M -- take notice when a student has participated in the PLTW program.
Alan Durand teaches kindergarteners at Monroe Elementary in Brooklyn Park. He sees a big benefit to teaching STEM so young.
"We're asking them to solve problems that none of them have ever faced before, and so they really feel like they can do it because they've never failed at it before," Durand said.
The biggest appeal to teaching STEM is it's very hands on. All problem solving is taught through a project that needs to be designed and created. These teachers will build all the projects themselves before they teach it to their students in the fall.
"For example, one of them is about a girl who fell off the monkey bars at school and hurt her arm, and the kids get to design a cast for her and figure out how to solve that problem," Duran said. "And so it totally makes sense with what they live as 5 year olds."
And just as they hope for the students, teachers are having fun learning STEM.
There are currently 379 "Project Lead the Way" STEM courses being taught in Minnesota schools.
