Project Lead the Way

PLTW Students Earn College Credit

Oregon Tech is the National Affiliate Center in Oregon for Project Lead the Way. PLTW is a not-for-profit organization that partners with public schools, organizations in the private sector and higher education institutions to increase the number and quality of engineers graduating from the nations education system.

The Project Lead The Way (PLTW) curriculum is a four-year, flexible sequence of pre-engineering courses that, when combined with college preparatory mathematics and science courses in high school, introduces students to the scope, rigor and discipline of engineering and engineering technology prior to entering college. The courses are:

• Principles of Engineering
• Introduction to Engineering Design
• Digital Electronics
• Computer Integrated Manufacturing
• Civil Engineering and Architecture
• Engineering Design and Development
• Biotechnical Engineering (in development)
• Aerospace Engineering (in development)

Approximately 1,000 schools in 42 states and the District of Columbia have adopted PLTWs curriculum. High school teachers in PLTW schools undergo an intensive two-week training program each summer. This program prepares instructors to teach the specific courses they will be offering in the fall. Ongoing professional development for both teachers and counselors is also an important component of the program.

Graduate Expectations

To prepare teachers to implement the program, PLTW partners with universities nationwide to provide training and on-going support. Oregon Techs first step as a PLTW affiliate is establishing a self-sustaining Summer Training Institute for teachers in Oregon. More than 3,000 teachers in 40 states have attended similar programs to date.

"The Summer Institute will prepare the teachers to expose their students to cutting-edge technology and the rewarding career opportunities that are available in engineering," says Brower, who directs the PLTW programs at Oregon Tech. "There will be a special emphasis on increasing the number of underrepresented minorities and women in science and technology careers." Grants were used to  purchase the technology needed to implement the Summer Institute and to promote the program and attract eligible teachers to the Oregon Summer Training Institutes.

PLTWs graduates are expected to:

• Understand technology as a tool for problem solving

• Have a broad-based understanding of the underlying methodology of science processes

• Be well prepared for the rigorous college curriculum

• Understand, apply, analyze and design technological systems

• Select an appropriate technology system for a task and apply it

• Understand the principles of mathematics

• Demonstrate effective communication of information and solutions

• Possess the skills necessary to work in teams effectively

College Credit

Once a high school in the PLTW Network of Schools is certified within two years of implementation, students are eligible to apply for the Exemplary Student Recognition Program which offers transcripted college credit or other forms of recognition at over twenty national affiliate colleges and universities.  In general, students in certified schools who earn an B average or higher in their PLTW courses and score 70 percent or higher on the PLTW college credit exam are eligible to apply for college credit or recognition, depending on the requirements of the affiliates "It is important to start early," adds Tim Brower, who chairs Oregon Techs Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology Department. "The most important aspect of offering a course such as this to middle school students is to excite them about continuing their math and science through high school. The students see first-hand the practicality that their math, science and writing classes have in everyday applications."

For more information see the PLTW web site at http://www.pltw.org/.