(135b) Project Lead the Way: Introducing High School Students to Engineering

Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is an exciting new program in which pre-engineering courses are taught in the high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools. These are experiential learning courses that give a real taste of what it is to be an engineer. These courses are reported to both challenge the high achieving student and motivate the underachieving student. Importantly, at a time of declining enrollment in engineering programs, initial studies indicate dramatic improvements in retention for students who have had PLTW courses vs. the average student entering engineering. I will introduce the program and suggest how you and your school can get involved and benefit from this program.