Engineering for Classroom Teachers:
Civil and Environmental Engineering in Our Everyday World
An Improving Teacher Project
Summer 2008 Course Information now available - click here
Course Overview
The Engineering for Classroom Teachers: Civil and Environmental Engineering in Our Every day World is an Improving Teacher Quality Grant Project. The Improving Teacher Quality Grant Program is administered by the Board of Higher Education (BHE) and funded by the "Title II: Part A" of the "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2001. "The goal of this funding is to improve student academic achievement through initiatives grounded in scientific research that provide high quality training for teachers".
Engineering for Classroom Teachers: Civil and Environmental Engineering in Our Every day World is a three year project commencing in 2007 and ending in 2009. Each year a new cohort of 25 teachers is expected to attend a 5 day summer institute and integrate the what they learned in the summer institute into their classrooms.
The Engineering for Classroom Teachers Project aims to assist teachers to bring Civil and Environmental Engineering standards into the classroom. The Civil and Environmental Engineering standards are described in the Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework.
The summer Institute is a three credit graduate summer course that is offered with appropriate follow-up which consists of two call back days and classroom support. The summer institute is designed to enable in-service middle school science teachers to deepen their knowledge of science and engineering concepts through teachers’ participation in hands-on labs and field activities, utilization of Internet resources and software, and development and/or review of classroom resources.
It is envisioned that the participants will use the knowledge and skills they learned at the summer institute to integrate Civil and Environmental Engineering activities into their curriculum. It is anticipated that through the lessons that the teachers create and implement that their students will gain a better understanding and appreciation for Civil and Environmental Engineering and gain a better understanding of the engineering design process and relate that process to every day life.
Program Facilitators
Coordinator: Kathleen Rubin, Asst. Dean, College of Engineering, UMass, Amherst
Course Faculty
The summer institute features lectures by expert Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty. The course faculty are:
- Dr. Alan Lutenegger, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UMass Amherst
- Dr. Segio Brena, Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UMass Amherst
- Dr. Mike Knodler, Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UMass Amherst
- Dr. John Tobiason, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UMass Amherst
- Dr. Sarina Ergas, Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UMass Amherst
- Mr. Chris Emery, Adjunct Lecturer, Teacher (retired), School of Education, UMass Amherst
