A MESSAGE
program continues, more and more teachers will
become comfortable introducing engineering
design,” said Ewald.
The grant supports Auburn’s RE2-FoCUS, or
Robotics and Engineering Education Fostering the
Conceptual Understanding of Science, Initiative to
offer professional development for Alabama middle
school science and mathematics teachers.
“In the ‘Save the Seabirds’ module, we also build
these little solar-powered LEGO cars. We teach all
kinds of science content associated with the activity
- energy transfer, voltage, current, friction - but all
of the science content is driven by the activity of
building a solar car. The whole point of what we
are trying to accomplish is to take these science
and engineering, activity-based learning projects to
the kids so they forget they are learning, and they
end up learning automatically because they get so
involved with the project,” said Landers.
Because implementing a statewide rollout of a
new curriculum presents such a rare opportunity,
the Auburn University team is also working to
research the impact on students and teachers of
providing the training and resources to incorporate
engineering-based activities in the classroom.
number of different outreach programs with us
and was a perfect fit. In addition to serving as the
primary investigator on the grant, he designed the
mathematics and science curriculum that ties into
robotics. We also pulled in Dr. Christine Schnittka,
who was really key to the project because her
background is engineering, she is in the science
education department, and she brings a great blend
of science, engineering, and mathematics together
with the modules she has developed over the years
– so the team works very well together.”
Schnittka designed the initial learning modules
that were implemented statewide in middle
school classrooms. The modules have a “Save the
Animals” th [YH[