Educators Look at ProE Software Opportunities
Wed Dec 19 2007
Educational outreach staff at the Center for Educational Technologies® brokered a meeting among science and technology educators in West Virginia to investigate using a popular computer-aided drawing and engineering design software in STEM curriculum.
The meeting was held Dec. 4 at the center, located at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, WV. Participants discussed how PTC ProEngineer (ProE) and other computer-aided drawing and engineering design software could be used to support grades 5-16 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education curriculum and out-of-school enrichment projects.
Dr. Laurie Ruberg, associate director of the Center for Educational Technologies who headed the Mid-Atlantic Region Space Science Broker program, said Wheeling Jesuit University is considering offering a summer workshop on the ProE software. Todd Ensign of the Educator Resource Center at the NASA Independent Verification and Validation Facility in Fairmont, WV, is helping with the workshop. He has already trained six pre-service technology education students in the software.
Ruberg said her interest in ProE and other computer-aided drawing tools stems from her experiences integrating these technologies into the NASA International Space Station Challenge™ web-based activities. She said these tools are a kid-friendly means to increase student interest in pre-engineering and STEM-related project activities.
Meeting participants agreed to a number of next steps, including making available online lesson plans developed by teachers using ProE, hosting an annual competition recognizing teacher-created lessons or implementation of ProE, recognizing pre-service teachers who receive ProE certification, providing incentives for institutions to offer ProE training and curriculum development workshops, and identifying funding sources.
