News Release

STORY IDEA/ April 27, 2009

Story Idea

What: Idaho SySTEMic Solution at work in local schools thanks to Boise State University, PCS Edventures! and Meridian teachers
When: Participating teachers will be available for interviews by appointment

Click on images to enlarge

For Meridian Elementary School teacher Luke Franklin, a boisterous classroom can be a good thing when it means his second grade students are engaged. Throughout the 2008-2009 school year, they have been fully engaged in an experiential learning program designed to help young people think creatively and critically and gain confidence in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Franklin was one of 38 first- through fifth-grade teachers from seven Meridian schools to participate in an intensive training at Boise State University last summer as part of the Idaho SySTEMic Solution, a U.S. Department of Education-funded initiative created by Boise State’s colleges of engineering and education to support elementary teacher enhancement of student achievement in STEM. PCS Edventures!, a Boise-based international education company, is providing instructional materials, teacher training and consulting, and it is their Bricklab® systems that have helped Franklin and other teachers deliver resonant, hands-on lessons in subjects that can be intimidating.

Just this year, Franklin, his teaching assistant and parent volunteers have helped students use the Lego™-like bricks to complete tasks ranging from designing and racing sleds for a wind energy experiment to testing the strength and real-world applications of custom building designs.

“Every lesson has been integrated into the curriculum,” Franklin said, explaining that while the lessons are designed to meet specific Idaho and Meridian educational standards, the mechanisms make learning fun and empowering. “It makes subjects like math and science real for the students.”

“Our children can excel and become the next generation of innovative scientists and ingenious engineers that the U.S. has always been famous for and who have contributed so fundamentally to the economic vitality of our nation,” said Janet Callahan, associate dean of the College of Engineering and project lead on the Idaho SySTEMic Solution. She and education professor Louis Nadelson were co-principal investigators on the grant, and Nadelson currently is studying the program’s effectiveness and potential for implementation in many more classrooms — in Idaho and beyond. (Photos courtesy of Boise State University College of Engineering.)

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact Erin Ryan, communications specialist, at (208) 426-4910 or erinryan@boisestate.edu. 

Boise State University is “The New U Rising” with record student enrollment, new academic buildings, additional degree programs and a growing research agenda. Learn more at www.boisestate.edu. 
 

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Last reviewed on Monday, April 27, 2009