Browsing by Subject "Project Lead the Way"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Developing an understanding of the implementation and impacts of high school pre-engineering programs: Making the case for a benefit-cost analysis
    (IEEE, 2017-10) Sorge, Brandon; Hess, Justin L.
    With the ongoing demand for improved K-12 STEM education, a push for dual-credit courses, and the goal of college and career-ready high school graduates, schools have implemented numerous STEM programs including those focused on engineering. Curricular programs, such Engineering by Design, Project Lead the Way (PLTW), and EPICS High are being executed by schools across the country with varied amounts of success as measured by student-level outcomes. Exploring costs of these program implementations and their associated outcomes is vital in deciding the best means for preparing our future engineering workforce. This paper utilizes cost analysis to provide initial insights into the relative impact of one of the most common high school engineering program, PLTW. Specifically, by relying on data reported in select literature, we investigate the impacts versus the costs of implementing PLTW in high schools. Cost data includes select variables such as student section size, school size, and school type. These findings will provide a baseline for understanding cost variations of the PLTW curriculum across contexts, as well as what impact cost variations may have on student outcomes.
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    The Efficacy of Project Lead the Way: A Systematic Literature Review
    (American Society for Engineering Education, 2016-06) Hess, Justin L.; Sorge, Brandon; Feldhaus, Charles; Department of Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is a non-profit organization offering project-based STEM education curricula for K-12 students. As of 2015, PLTW was by far the largest pre-engineering program implemented throughout the United States with a presence in over 6500 schools. Since its conception in 1997, PLTW rapidly expanded and today covers all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The PLTW Engineering curriculum offers a sequence of courses that students may take over the course of high school, and many university programs allow students who complete this sequence the opportunity to earn college credit. The PLTW Gateway curriculum targets students in Grades 6-8 and the PLTW Launch curriculum targets K-5 students. See the PLTW website for current program titles. They now simply use PLTW Engineering, PLTW Gateway and PLTW Launch. This study investigates the efficacy of PLTW efforts through a systematic literature review process. Specifically, we explored the following research questions: • To what extent has PLTW been an area of scholarly investigation and what has been the nature of these investigations? • What primary strengths and weaknesses of PLTW have these investigations identified? • What gaps in PLTW literature exist and what future research is needed? After an initial data collection and literature reduction processes, we synthesized 31 articles that collected and analyzed empirical data related to PLTW. Our gathered literature included 16 journal articles, 11 dissertations, and 4 theses. Using an emergent coding process, we found that primary strengths of PLTW curricula include motivating students to pursue STEM degrees, providing teachers with professional development opportunities and support, and facilitating student interest in STEM subjects. However, weaknesses of PLTW include minimal evidence supporting PLTW in improving students’ mathematics and science abilities, scheduling and space issues, and moderate financial costs for schools to participate in PLTW. Altogether, the literature collected varied widely and, as a result, each of these strengths and weaknesses requires further investigation. This study concludes with an identification of gaps in PLTW literature that can focus future PLTW-related investigations and, if investigated, help improve future PLTW-related interventions.
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    A Multilevel Analysis of Persistence of Students Taking a Pre-Engineering Curriculum in High School
    (2020) Sorge, Brandon; Feldhaus, Charles; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    Using data from the 2010 Indiana, USA public high school graduating class (N=55612), this project employed a multi-level analysis to determine, what if any differences occurred in majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math and freshman to sophomore year persistence, between students attending a school that offers Project Lead the Way and students that don’t, while controlling for being a PLTW student. Results imply that PLTW had a statistically significant impact on the students participating in the program excluding students who were eligible for free and reduced lunch. However, this impact does not appear to carry over to the rest of the student body that does not participate in PLTW.
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    A Multilevel Analysis of Persistence of Students Taking a Pre-Engineering Curriculum in High School
    (2019-12) Sorge, Brandon; Feldhaus, Charles; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    Using data from the 2010 Indiana, USA public high school graduating class (N=55612), this project employed a multi-level analysis to determine, what if any differences occurred in majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math and freshman to sophomore year persistence, between students attending a school that offers Project Lead the Way and students that don’t, while controlling for being a PLTW student. Results imply that PLTW had a statistically significant impact on the students participating in the program excluding students who were eligible for free and reduced lunch. However, this impact does not appear to carry over to the rest of the student body that does not participate in PLTW.