Project Lead The Way Essay

College engineering programs are commonly known for their strenuous math and science course loads. To prepare students for these courses, many high schools have begun implementing pre-engineering programs into their curriculum (Rogers, pg. 1). For these programs to be of any value, they must provide students with the skills they need to be successful in college. The article, “The Effectiveness of Project Lead the Way Curricula in Developing Pre-engineering Competencies as Perceived by Indiana Teachers” by George Rodgers analyses the effectiveness of Project Lead The Way (PLTW) courses, which are a nationally used set of pre-engineering courses. In the article the PLTW curriculum is broken up into individual classes, those classes are then broken up into the college success skills they are meant to provide. Teachers were asked to rate their perceptions of the competency of their students in these skills. Among these skills were construct electronic circuits, design and prototype solutions. In a survey of University Wisconsin Platteville freshman engineering majors, students were asked to give their perceptions of how well they had developed certain college skills. The findings of a survey of University Wisconsin Platteville freshman engineering majors who participated in PLTW courses in high school

supports the article’s findings.

Both the article and the survey agreed that PLTW courses successfully develop circuitry skills. In the article teachers rated this skill as effectively taught through the curriculum (Rodger pg. 6). The survey of engineering freshman supported the teacher

claims. When asked if they believed they had an above average knowledge circuit systems all the students that had taken PLTW course believed they had. On the other hand, only half of the students that did not take PLTW courses believed they had had an advance understanding of circuits (Kiefer). This reinforces the idea that students that have taken PLTW courses have effectively learned circuitry skills. Through learning this skill, students that have taken a PLTW course are better prepared for their college courses.

The article’s claim that PLTW are successful in teaching designing and prototyping solutions is supported by a survey of freshman engineering majors. In the article teachers give this skill a rating of 4.50, which means they believe that PLTW is very effective at teaching this skill (Rogers, pg. 6). In the survey 100% of the respondents felt confident that they could use designing and prototyping to solve a problem (Kiefer). This supports the claim that students that take PLTW courses can effectively design and prototype solutions, but since non-PLTW students also believe they have these skills, it may just be an intuitive problem solving technique. The survey suggests that some skills that PLTW claims to teach are learned from different sources.

Since there are so many benefits to these pre-engineering programs many schools have adopted them. For example, PTLW “has grown from 11 high schools, mostly in upstate New York, in 1997 to a current total of over 1600 schools in 46 states, plus Great Britain” (Rodger, pg. 1). Many schools have realized the importance of preparing engineering students for college. This expansion of PTLW course in shown in the survey though the fact that 66.6% of the engineering freshman had taken a PLTW class (Kiefer).

A main goal of both “The Effectiveness of Project Lead the Way Curricula in Developing Pre-engineering Competencies as Perceived by Indiana Teachers” and they survey of college

freshman was to answer the question: do PLTW courses effectively provide students with the skills they need to be successful in college. In the article teachers believe that the PLTW courses do effectively provide with engineering skills (Rodger, pg. 2). This was determined by having teachers rate how effective they believed PLTW courses taught a variety of skills. These skills included applying the engineering design process, constructing electronic circuits, and prototyping solutions (Rodgers, pg. 6). The survey of college freshman had similar results; most respondents believed that they were better prepared for their engineering classes because of the PLTW course or courses that they took in high school.

The Survey of freshman at the University of Wisconsin Platteville supported the findings of “The Effectiveness of Project Lead the Way Curricula in Developing Pre-engineering Competencies as Perceived by Indiana Teachers” Many students believed that because they took a PLTW course they performed better in a class.

In many cases, this was because they had previously learned at least part of the course material from a high school PLTW course. For example one student said that they learned to use Microsoft Excel in a PLTW class. This same program was used in an engineering class (Kiefer). Even a limited knowledge on a subject seems to help students better understand a

topic.

The survey of the University of Wisconsin Platteville freshman engineering majors and “The Effectiveness of Project Lead the Way Curricula in Developing Pre-engineering Competencies as Perceived by Indiana Teachers” both revealed supporting conclusions. Indiana teachers and University Wisconsin Platteville freshman believed that PLTW courses were effective in teaching skills needed for college. The fact that only freshman were surveyed could make these findings inconclusive. In order to definitively tell if PLTW courses are effective information should be gathered more from upperclassmen. Many freshman have taken only a

few courses related to their major, so it may be hard for them to truly gauge the effectiveness of any PLTW courses. In addition to this, some of the first-year engineering programs are not meant to be particularly challenging, which could give a student a false set of confidence. If future studies were to be carried out, one should consider including upperclassmen in their research. A wider array a student may yield more accurate results.