Teachers get training in engineering, biomedical science, energy and the environment

Hickman Mills middle school teachers Michelle McDaniel and Christine Derakhshanian team up to work on a heat transfer project called "Penguin Cooking."

Seventeen middle school teachers learned how to incorporate engineering and biomedical science into their curriculum through a two-day Project Lead the Way workshop at MCC-Business & Technology Campus Aug. 2-3. The training included an emphasis on energy and the environment, a new module in the Project Lead the Way curriculum.

Teachers from Blue Springs, Center, Grandview, Kansas City Missouri, Kansas City Kansas, Lee’s Summit, and Hickman Mills school districts, plus Corning, Iowa, and Tacoma, Wash., attended. The training was sponsored by MCC, the University of Central Missouri and Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), the Project Lead the Way affiliate for Missouri.

Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is a national, non-profit organization that provides engineering and science instructional programs for use in elementary, middle, junior high and high school. The hands-on program is designed to introduce students to engineering and biomedical science, and encourage them to study those subjects in college.

Established in 1998 in 12 high schools in upstate New York, PLTW has grown to a network of approximately 4,000 middle and high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia. More than 350,000 students are enrolled in PLTW courses.