My Bonnie Put It This Way: “Dad, Don't Bother Trying to Reach Kids in Middle School. They aren't listening to people your age. They only care what their friends think.” This is not what I wanted to hear. Maybe Bonnie is right, but then again, maybe our approaches to reach the next generation are flawed.

TIME TO CHANGE MY TEACHING STYLE

I was complaining that my Sunday school kids didn't remember anything from a previous lesson. To his credit, our youth pastor, Jim Heaton, didn't commiserate with me. Instead, he posed a question that haunts me yet: “If the student doesn't learn, are you a teacher?”

The next week, in a class dealing with anger, I asked my daughter to bring in her Barbie dolls, so the class could act out healthy (and not so healthy) ways to deal with their emotions. This made for one wild class. We were making so much commotion that when the senior pastor peeked in, he almost got hit with a flying Ken doll. He raised his eyebrows and retreated with this parting comment: “Maybe I don't want to know what goes on in this class.” The following week, every student remembered that the lesson was about conflict — although no one seemed to recall who made the toss that resulted in a Barbie dismemberment. Bonnie, normally up for anything, decreed that her dolls would no longer be made available to serve as teaching aids.

In the months to come, I looked for different ways to engage the kids. I even asked the kids if they wanted to teach their peers. To my surprise, I got volunteers. Class participation and retention skyrocketed. Because the class adopted a more-collaborative learning environment, our little group took on a life of its own. We were now more than individual students suffering through a boring class with a balding teacher, we were a collection of life changers.

LET'S BE TECHNOLOGY LIFE CHANGERS

I first plugged into Project Lead the Way (PLTW) when Karen Stelling invited me to a pizza party hosted at her Burns & McDonnell office. I was enraptured as Dick Blais, the cofounder of PLTW, shared how this program, started in upstate New York 10 years ago, expanded into 2300 high schools in 49 states reaching 250,000 students. So, what is it about this program that has ignited such a dynamic response?

The program was crafted to increase the quality, number and diversity of students seeking careers in engineering and technology by offering a sequence of classes built around hands-on projects. Blais wanted to foster a more holistic approach to teaching built on the adrenaline of challenge, not the fear of failure.

When asked what makes this program unique, Blais says: “Our program is high rigor and high content. In too many schools, you are taught there is one right answer. Through our curriculum, we demonstrate that problems have many possible solutions. We want our kids to ask: ‘What if? Why not? How about?’ We want our kids to do more than passively learn equations and solve word problems. We want them to demonstrate an ability to design, evaluate and integrate.”

In middle school, students can take any of five PLTW classes that run for nine weeks. One class focuses on “The Magic of Electrons” and another tackles “Energy and Power.”

In high school, the courses are designed to apply to all students who intend to sign up for ninth-grade algebra. So, the program is definitely not elitist. Basic classes focus on architecture, engineering design, engineering principles, digital electronics and computer integrated manufacturing. Advanced classes focus on civil, aerospace and biotechnical engineering.

So, what might students expect if they sign up for a PLTW course? In one course, teams are charged with finding a way to launch a ping-pong ball into a bucket. Blais continues to be amazed with the variety of solutions the students come up with to control distance, altitude and direction. This “challenge-based” learning method enables children to enjoy the thrill of competition while learning to apply appropriate engineering concepts with the support and encouragement of their teachers.

With federal “No Child Left Behind” targets becoming difficult to hit, schools are increasingly looking for ways to keep their English and math scores up. States Blais, “We have data to show that the schools who offer the PLTW curriculum achieve higher English and math scores than those at similar schools that did not participate in PLTW.” What a powerful incentive for schools to consider rolling out this program.

In the months to come, I'll investigate how PLTW is working in the Kansas City region and give you a follow-up report. In the meantime, I challenge you to do a little homework of your own. Here is a link of PLTW contacts in your state: www.pltw.org/about/state-leaders.html.

Let's get busy and find ways to reach the next generation, so that they can pursue careers as exciting as ours have been.