March 22, 2016

College of Engineering to train high school teachers in computer science

WSU News Services

With job openings exceeding qualified applicants by a ratio of 10:1, Kansas employers have an urgent, unmet demand for employees with computer science skills.

To meet that need, Wichita State University’s College of Engineering is working to help children develop coding skills, and a critical component of that effort is increasing the quality and quantity of schools offering computer science curriculum and teachers prepared to teach it.

To that end, the College of Engineering this summer is offering grants to 20 Kansas high schools to cover the cost of training teachers in Project Lead The Way’s (PLTW) Computer Science curriculum.

“It’s a natural progression in our efforts to build the STEM pipeline,” said Karen Reynolds, assistant affiliate director of PLTW in Kansas.

Project Lead The Way is a national nonprofit organization that since 1997 has developed and promoted curriculum that introduces children to engineering, biomedical sciences and now computer science.

WSU’s College of Engineering became affiliated with PLTW in 2008, when it secured nearly $2.2 million in grant funding that it passed on to schools to help with teacher training, equipment and start-up costs.

That first year, just seven high schools offered the PLTW pre-engineering curriculum. Thanks to growth driven by the WSU College of Engineering, today the PLTW curriculum is taught it 145 Kansas schools with combined enrollments of nearly 36,000 students.

High schools interested in the PLTW computer science teacher training grants can apply at http://bit.ly/1UBTAoF. Applications are due Friday, April 15. Grants for two weeks of training are valued at $2,400 each.

To qualify, schools must:

  • Be registered as a PLTW Engineering or PLTW Computer Science Program.
  • Offer PLTW Computer Science Principles (CSP) in 2016-2017 school year.
  • Have their teachers register for and complete CSP Core Training at Wichita State University, June 20-July 1.
  • Furnish all equipment and supplies required for Core Training as outlined by PLTW.
  • Provide any travel/hotel/other expenses needed for teacher to attend Core Training at Wichita State.
  • Provide needed equipment and supplies to implement CSP in 2016-2017 school year.
  • No more than one teacher per school is eligible.

Questions about the application process may be directed to Reynolds at karen.reynolds@wichita.edu.