By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
On Jan. 15, the Brandon Board of Education OK’d a middle school STEM, science, technology, enginering and math program titled Project Lead the Way (PLTW).
“Project Lead the Way Gateway is a middle school STEM integrated elective that any 6th, 7th or 8th grade student can take during the course of the school day,” said Debbie Brauher, K-8 director of instruction for Brandon schools.
This program will be implemented starting in the 2018-2019 school year, with PTLW 1 offered in the first semester and PLTW 2 offered in the second.
“One of the goals of Brandon School District’s Accelerated Learning Team is to increase enrichment opportunities for students,” she said. “This year the focus was on bringing a STEM opportunity to Brandon Middle School students. The vision is to provide all 6th, 7th and 8th grade students the opportunity to engage in STEM integrated curriculum through an elective they choose in order to inspire them and help them envision STEM as a possibility for their future. Project Lead the Way Gateway provides students with engineering and computer science experiences through hands-on, collaborative problem solving of real-world challenges.”
Though there is a STEM program already in place at the high school, PLTW is not exactly the same.
“The high school STEM is an entire program as opposed to a course,” she said. “There is an application process for entry and high school STEM students take many courses as part of this program. With all that said, the middle school courses are a great way to prepare for the high school program.”
Brauher hopes that his gives students interested in STEM a proper foundation, but also give them a chance to explore STEM with just a course instead of many courses like the high school program.