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Middle school students showcase Project Lead The Way engineering projects to Rockport School Committee
Summary
Middle school students and their teacher presented Project Lead The Way lessons and hands-on projects — from ice-cream thermodynamics to electromagnets — and said the curriculum is boosting collaboration, documentation and career exposure across Rockport schools.
Ali Faaza, the middle school engineering and computer science teacher, told the Rockport School Committee that Project Lead The Way (PLTW) is being implemented at the middle-school level this year and is already improving students’ exposure to careers and their engineering documentation skills. “This program has been allowing me to do two things,” Faaza said, explaining PLTW’s focus on organized community connections and written planning.
Students who took the microphone described hands-on projects that staff said make learning visible. “Science of tech is one my favorite classes because even though we are clearly having fun it's obvious that we're learning stuff,” said Vanessa, a middle-school student, describing work such as fabric-strength testing. Sixth-grader Abby told the committee, “Science of the technology is so fun and we learn so much. I love that we get to work together and build on each other's strengths.” Other students described projects that included making ice cream by using salt to lower freezing temperature, building electromagnets and lighting bulbs with lemons, and creating prototype apps.
High school students who had taken earlier engineering courses also spoke to the committee. Becca Gino, a Rockport High junior, credited last year’s introduction to engineering design with inspiring continued study and thanked Mr. Sabo by name for his teaching. Another junior, identified in the transcript as Adam beaten, said the high-school principles-of-engineering work helped him decide to pursue engineering in college and described a class project building motor-driven cars to test pulling power.
Committee members and presenters discussed resources and program growth. Students and presenters said room space and workshop access differed year to year; one student noted that a newly located room had less workshop equipment than the prior space. In response, committee members and teachers emphasized plans to build a feeder pathway from elementary through high school, expand hands-on opportunities and increase outreach to invite community experts into the classroom.
The committee had earlier adjusted the agenda to hear the PLTW presentation and thanked the students and teachers for attending. No formal actions beyond the agenda adjustment were taken on the program during the meeting. The committee moved on to other agenda items after the presentations.
