KQED News Mind/Shift – Katrina Schwartz
“Engineering has been getting a lot of attention because of its real-world applications and clear job prospects, but learning to think like an engineer could be useful no matter what students decide to pursue for work. At Science Leadership Academy, a public magnet school in Philadelphia, all ninth-graders take a one-semester introduction-to-engineering course to help them learn how to tackle big projects. That’s a skill they will need in every high school class going forward at this project-based, inquiry-centered school. SLA teachers see engineering as the perfect vehicle to get students practicing the transferable skills of breaking work down into manageable pieces, working together and learning from failed attempts. By introducing students to the built world and giving some simple ways to think about problems, they’ve also empowered students to design and build improvements for the physical school environment. And that freedom to make an impact has in turn attracted a more diverse set of students to the school’s elective advanced engineering classes.”(more)