PennWest, Bentworth Elementary students team up on engineering design project
Elementary education majors at PennWest California got some real-world classroom experience this spring working with Bentworth Elementary School students.
As part of a unit on electromagnetism, the college students were given a few household items to design and build a fan that could move an index card.
They, in turn, taught the same lesson to fourth-graders at the elementary school.
For the 30 PennWest students, who spent four sessions at the school, it was a chance to put textbook knowledge into a real-world setting before beginning their student teaching assignments.
“It was interesting to experience the thought process of the fourth-graders,” said Samatha Stiles, a senior from Lafayette Hill in Montgomery County. “I’m proud of the way they persevered and worked hard to solve the problems.”
Dr. Peter Cormas, an education professor at PennWest, said the college students had the chance to teach the engineering design process.
“They had to learn how to build a fan themselves, then work on a lesson plan to teach it to others, then reflect on what worked and what did not in teaching this lesson,” Cormas said.
These experiences help students know for sure what they want to do for the rest of their lives.”
Scott Martin, Bentworth superintendent, said the sessions re-energized the youngsters.
“A day like this brings excitement into the classroom, for our students and our teachers,” he said. “We need to be excited about education. When teachers are excited about education, students get excited about education.”
Karen Martin, who teaches social studies, had plans to teach about “fans” as they relate to the Wright brothers and propellers.
“This was time well-spent and on task,” she said. “STEM concepts can be tied into any subject.”