Teaching Students About Microelectronics and their Applications in the Real World
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Tori Peterson
Washington Community Schools, in partnership with NAVSEA Crane, will implement a Microelectronics Curriculum K-12.
Washington Community Schools, in partnership with NAVSEA Crane, will implement a Microelectronics Curriculum K-12.
During the 2023-2024 school year, SCALE K-12 is partnering with Washington Community Schools to expose, motivate, and ultimately prepare students from diverse backgrounds with the skill set and mindset for careers in defense-related microelectronics (ME).
In June and July of 2023, WCS Teachers Rocky Alderman, Joe Furman, Sydney Brooks, Matt Riney, Jayden Barley, and Suzie Hawthorne attended one week of SCALE K-12 professional development held at Purdue University. Dr. Tamara Moore, SCALE K-12 Program Director, led the team of faculty, staff, and graduate students as they guided high school and middle school teacher Fellows in the beginning design of an ME curricular module and activity focused on ME contexts and/or concepts.
During the upcoming school year, each Fellow will also help design online professional development related to their curricular innovations.
Fellows learned more about microelectronics by touring Purdue’s Nanotechnology Center and working through an example curriculum developed at Purdue. The pre-developed curriculum also helped Fellows to better understand the structure of an engineering design-based STEM integration unit.
July Fellows were also able to attend a Microelectronics Materials Fair held by STEM
Education Works. This Fair introduced Fellows to ME materials that can be used in a classroom and offered a hands-on opportunity for deeper exploration of materials Fellows might wish to incorporate into their own curriculum.
This program is already starting to gain attention, as two new ME companies coming to the Technology Park at Crane have reached out to WCS about hiring HS interns.