PLTW Schools Have Strong Showing at FIRST Robotics World Championship
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2010
CONTACT: Lisa Cohen, 310-395-2544, lisa@lisacohen.org
PROJECT LEAD THE WAY SCHOOLS HAVE STRONG SHOWING AT NATIONAL FIRST ROBOTICS COMPETITION
PLTW Students Were Part of the World Champion Team as Students from Three PLTW Pathway to Engineering Schools Work Together in Final Competition; 500 PLTW Schools Participated in the 2010 Competition, More Than Any Other STEM Program in the Country; PLTW CEO Calls for Increase in Support for In-School STEM Programs in America
Clifton Park, NY – Project Lead The Way, the nation’s leading provider of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in-school education programs, announced today that PLTW students from all over the country participated in this year’s 2010 FIRST Robotics Championship, including members of the World Champion team that won the national competition. Of the 1,800 teams participating in the 2010 First Robotics Competition, 500 were from schools that offer PLTW’s rigorous STEM education program. Two of three “World Champion” teams included students from three schools with Project Lead The Way (PLTW) programs, including Redondo Union (CA), Mira Costa (CA), and South Windsor (CT) High Schools.
“We are so proud of the innovative spirit PLTW students and teachers displayed at the FIRST Robotics Competition,” said John Lock, CEO of Project Lead The Way. “Every day, in PLTW classrooms around the country, students are developing the critical thinking and problem-solving skills they are going to need to be college- and career-ready when they graduate. After-school programs and competitions that allow students to pursue their passion for creativity and innovation are a great complement to the rigorous in-school STEM program that PLTW students experience every day in the classroom. We congratulate all of the PLTW schools on their successful performance in this competition, especially the Champions from Redondo Union, Mira Costa and South Windsor High Schools.”
Project Lead The Way’s hands-on, project based program engages the hearts and minds of thousands of middle school and high school students through STEM education by helping them connect what they are learning in the classroom to real-life problems. PLTW students use professional design software in the classroom that allows them to imagine, create and build things like robots and cars, applying what they learn in math and science to the world’s grand challenges. Studies have shown that PLTW students are more engaged in learning than their peers and more likely to attend college and major in STEM-related fields than non-PLTW students.
Lock added, “We are really encouraged by the level of innovation and creativity from all of the teams that participated in this competition and hope that the entire country is paying attention. An innovative, rigorous and project-based STEM curriculum during the school day is exactly the kind of learning experience we need to be providing students. It is no coincidence that PLTW students performed so well in the competition – they spend every school day developing these problem-solving skills. Every student in every school should have the opportunity to participate in classes that develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. After school competitions like the FIRST competition are wonderful, but many students don’t have access to or even time to pursue after school activities. As a nation, we must also commit increased resources to STEM based programs in school so that all students can develop these skills that are so critical to their ability to succeed in the 21st century.”
About Project Lead The Way
Project Lead The Way, Inc., is a national, non-profit organization that is the leading provider of rigorous and innovative STEM education curricular programs used in K-12 schools. The PLTW comprehensive curriculum, which is collaboratively developed by PLTW teachers, university educators, engineering and biomedical professionals, and school administrators, emphasizes critical thinking, creativity, innovation and real-world problem solving. The hands-on, project-based program engages students on multiple levels, exposes them to areas of study that they typically do not pursue, and provides them with a foundation and proven path to college and career success. PLTW began in 1998 in 12 high schools in upstate New York as a program designed to address the shortage of engineering students at the college level and has grown to a network of almost 3,400 middle and high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Nearly 350,000 students are enrolled in PLTW courses. For more information, visit www.pltw.org.
