� School Partnership Team: become a member of a school’s PLTW School Partnership Team(advisory board); each PLTW school site must have a business representative (along withother sectors) from the field of engineering in order to institute PLTW.

� Classroom Speakers: send your experts into the classroom to inspire the next generation ofengineers.

� Job Shadowing: bring students to your work site to expose them to the wide variety ofengineering career options.

� Internships: take job shadowing to the next step and provide work opportunities for youngprospective engineers.

� Mentorships: spend time with students on a regular basis by providing your expertise onengineering-related, after-school activities such as Battlebots.

� Resources: make a financial donation to a school or provide in-kind donations (equipment,materials, software or other supplies) so that schools can more easily keep up with the latesttechnologies.

� Class Projects: assist a class with realizing a project to help the school or community.

� Scholarships: funding for post-secondary educational opportunities can make a realdifference for the next generation of engineers.

merican technical industries are facing a drastic shortage

of engineers as more than half of the country’s engineers

(more than one million) prepare for retirement. To meet

this need, Project Lead The Way (PLTW), a pre-engineering

program for middle and high school students, has been making

significant inroads among students, teachers and business leaders.

As a national non-profit organization, PLTW has been

implementing quality pre-engineering curriculum in Minnesota

schools and across the nation. Its goal is simple: better prepare

students to choose engineering as a career and ease their transition

to post-secondary learning institutions.

How PLTW achieves this goal is through its rigorous curriculum

(see inside feature) and the understanding that teachers, schools

and businesses must work closely together to make the experience

successful for students. Already, leading businesses in Minnesota –

such as 3M and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MN

DOT) – have eagerly recruited PLTW high school students in their

junior and senior years.

Robert Lowe, MN DOT’s manager of program development

sees PLTW as providing a strong partnership model: “While we’re

paying for students to get on-the-job training, we don’t have to pay

for the courses and the teacher training. It’s a partnership because

the schools are investing in this program to prepare students . . . it’s

very cost effective, MN DOT and the high schools get a good return

on investment. My biggest fear is that the schools would discontinue

this program.”

For Minnesota employers in the field of engineering, Lowe’s

concern is familiar. In an era where changes in technology are

fast-paced, there’s a critical shortage of qualified engineers in the

U.S. For MN DOT and other companies, the remedy has been to

“grow our own” through recruitment programs that shepherd

students from high school through their college years, building

invaluable loyalties along the way. As Lowe points out “many

engineers will be retiring in the next few years; it’s a matter of being

competitive. The return on investment are the faces we see in the

hallways that we hired at MN DOT.” It’s a win-win situation where

students are provided with meaningful support from companies by

getting the real life experience of working with engineers. In return,

the companies hire well prepared part-time workers and build a

rapport with prospective long-term employees.

As a retired chemist from 3M, Richard Streeper now works as a

coordinator for St. Paul Public Schools’ Science Training Engineering

Program at Johnson and Harding High Schools. He emphasizes that

PLTW students will be light years ahead of other students pursuing

engineering in college. “It took me a year and half in college to

realize that I wanted to be a chemist, but by students having these

experiences early on it can speed up the decision-making process.

I am really impressed by the content and the depth of PLTW courses,

it’s good stuff.”

Companies such as 3M and MN DOT aren’t necessarily looking

for the top academic students to bring on board. Rather they’re

looking to spark the interest of students who haven’t yet discovered

their “inner engineer.” For many students, PLTW breathes new life

into their learning experience as its hands-on curriculum transforms

traditional textbook-driven lesson plans into project-based lessons

that revolve around problem solving. Gabby White, a Patrick Henry

High School sophomore who plans on becoming an architect aptly

puts it: “It’s about seeing things come to life.” �

Project Lead The Way – Making Strides to

Prepare the Next Generation of Engineers

Contact Information:Jim Mecklenburg PLTW State LeaderMinnesota Department of EducationPhone: 651-582-8682jim.mecklenburg@state.mn.us

Michael LehnPLTW Project DirectorMinnesota State Collegesand UniversitiesPhone: 320-308-5984mlehn@sctc.edu

www.pltw.org

This map plots the locations ofProject Lead The Way middleand high school programsthroughout Minnesota.

B U S I N E S S

Want to know

how you can

get involved?

“MN DOT and the high schools get a

good return on investment. The return on

investment are the faces we see in the

hallways that we hired at MN DOT.”

Robert Lowe, Manager of Program Development for the Office of Workforce Development, MinnesotaDepartment of Transportation

APatrick Henry High School sophomores from left, Breanna Watson, NhiaYang and Thid Chang, use FischerTechniks to build an elevator. Theelevator will move to different floors by programming it with Lucky Logic.

Fall 2005

1. Principles of Engineering (POE): Students

explore technology systems and engineering processes to

find out how math, science and technology help people.

PLTW Classes Currently Offered: POE

PLTW Classes to be Integrated: DE, Biotechnical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering for 2005-2006 school year

Accreditation: Certification will be obtained during 2005-2006school year; certification provides college credit status for PLTWclasses upon the successful completion of a PLTW college creditexamination.

Director: Straddling two worlds, Ginny Karbowski smoothes theway for high school students to make a seamless transition tocollege. As the director of STEP for Anoka-Hennepin SchoolDistrict and Anoka-Hennepin Technical College, Karbowskifacilitates an innovative model where high school studentsspend two years in STEP, two years at a community/technicalcollege and two years at a four-year college.

Located on the Anoka-Hennepin Technical Collegecampus, STEP is a “middle college” where studentssimultaneously take their high school required classes whiletaking college classes. Offering challenging, project-basedcurriculum such as PLTW courses attracts students who mayfalter in traditional school settings, but thrive in STEP with 80percent of students entering college – a success in itself.

2. Introduction to Engineering Design (IED):

Using computer-modeling software, students learn the

design process. They solve design problems as they

develop, create and analyze product models.

PLTW Classes Currently Offered: POE, IED

PLTW Classes to be Integrated: DE, CIM and Engineering Designand Development (capstone project) in the near future

Accreditation: Certification will be obtained during 2005-2006school year; certification provides college credit status for PLTWclasses upon the successful completion of a test.

Director: As the Director of the Office of EducationalPartnerships for St. Cloud Technical College (SCTC), SandyFabian has been part of a team of people who have instituteda virtual school known as Discovery Academy (DA). DA is aresourceful way to offer high-quality, expensive programs inareas where the density of student interest may not be enoughto support the program at individual schools.

By drawing students from multiple buildings, DA is able toprovide the program at several schools, which attracts a highlymotivated group of students. Determined students must providetheir own transportation to other high schools in order to takePLTW courses, and must pass a screening process to ensure thatthey meet minimum G.P.A. and state testing requirements.Students who successfully complete their courses earn collegecredits that are transferable to SCTC and cooperatinguniversities.

3. Digital Electronics (DE): Students use computer

simulations to learn about the logic of electronics as they

design, test and actually construct circuits and devices.

PLTW Classes Currently Offered: POE, IED, DE, CIM

PLTW Classes to be Integrated: Engineering Design andDevelopment (capstone project) for 2006-2007 school year

Accreditation: Students earn college credits when they pass thefinal test offered through the Rochester Institute of Technology,New York.

Teacher: William Ruff, a veteran teacher who has taughtphysics, chemistry and computer engineering finds PLTW’scurriculum invigorating: “The curriculum is not boring, it’s rigorousand rewarding. I love teaching this class. In 20 years ofteaching, I’ve never been involved with anything morerewarding.”

Ruff reports an enthusiastic response from his students,noting that his classes have 100 percent attendance and nodiscipline problems. He even has to turn down students whowant to skip their other classes so they can spend more time inhis DE lab to do more coursework.

4. Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM):Students learn concepts of robotics and automatedmanufacturing by creating three-dimensional designswith modeling software and producing models of theirdesigns.

PLTW Classes Currently Offered: POE, IED, CIM, Civil Engineeringand Architecture (CEA)

PLTW Classes to be Integrated: Engineering Design andDevelopment (capstone project) for 2006-2007 school year

Accreditation: Students earn college credits when they pass thefinal test offered through the Rochester Institute of Technology,New York.

Teacher: Jill Johnson, a degreed electrical engineer, has beenteaching for three years. In her 10 years as an engineer,Johnson became passionate about recruiting more women andpeople of color into the field of engineering and left the field tobecome a teacher.

Johnson stresses, however, that you don’t have to be anengineer to teach PLTW courses. PLTW predominantly recruitsmath and science teachers who must take courses to preparethem to teach the PLTW curriculum.

Johnson’s commitment to her students’ success is evident.She reports proudly that even in its infancy, 29 PLTW studentshave passed the college exam to earn college credits, sixstudents have been granted internships with MN DOT and onesenior has been awarded a prestigious engineering scholarship.

As a teacher of fifteen years, Greg Saunders’ enthusiasm captures the excitement

that students, teachers and business leaders share for PLTW’s high school curriculum.

PLTW enlivens the world of engineering for students and teachers alike by providing

challenging courses that emphasize problem-solving skills based in real-world

engineering problems.

Featured below are high schools in Minnesota that offer PLTW courses. These

schools demonstrate the resourcefulness of districts that are determined to provide

PLTW in both traditional and innovative settings.

Patrick Henry HighSchool, MinneapolisFrom left, Jill Johnson, PLTWteacher, sophomores NateUhlenkott and Gabby Whiteoperate a ComputerNumerically Controlled Mill.

Secondary Technical

Education Program

(STEP), Anoka-Hennepin

Technical CollegeFrom left, seniors JillianHansen and PhouthasineKiengsavath measure theeffect of tension on astructure.

South High School,

MinneapolisFrom left, seniors Ben Greilingand Brian Fitzpatrick operate abreadboard and electroniccircuit on a digital trainer,William Ruff, PLTW teacher.

Discovery Academy,

St. CloudFrom left, Nate Gilbertsonand Tyler Rentz from SaukRapids-Rice High Schoolwork with an optical encoderand FischerTechniks.

“While the training was intensive, I was so excited I didn’t want to quit at the

end of the day . . . we were all doing 16-hour days and saying ‘can you

imagine how the kids are going to love this.’” Greg Saunders, PLTW teacher, Johnson High

School, St. Paul, pictured at right with PLTW students senior Peng Lor and sophomore Gabe Pearson.

E d u c a t o r s L e a d i n g T h e W a y