STEM grants offer an array of benefits for schools and districts across the country when it comes to preparing for, and funding, a STEM program. STEM grants traditionally are awarded based on financial need, and an assumption can be made that without those funds those programs wouldn’t exist. The students that would benefit most from these STEM learning experiences wouldn't be equipped with the knowledge and skills that are necessary to thrive in today's workforce.
We know that STEM grants help train more teachers and serve more students, but we often don't hear directly from the students who benefit.
Today we are celebrating STEM grants and are opening our ears to the outcomes of the programs those funds covered, and the student experiences they created. How are we going to celebrate that today? We are going to listen to student voices, specifically young women’s voices participating in PLTW Engineering, who were empowered in their STEM program thanks to a PLTW grant supported by PLTW Transformative Partner Ardagh Group.
What is your favorite part about your PLTW Engineering courses?
“My favorite part is how hands-on it is. It allows me to not only work through paper, but we sometimes use simulators and hands-on projects.” - London
“My favorite part of the PLTW Engineering courses is getting to learn new things about circuits and engineering things. I didn't know about it at first. I like how I get to discuss problems with my peers to find the solution.” - Lizzet
“My favorite part about the [PLTW] Engineering course is getting to be with my table team, we all interact with each other, share our ideas, and build new things.” - Krystal
“My favorite part in PLTW Engineering is doing the assignments on different websites like, https://www.multisim.com/ or https://www.tinkercad.com/. I like to make the gears come to life on the website and see how each thing works. For example, I like to see all of the light bulbs glow brighter based on how many watts there are.” - Lisset
“My favorite part about the PLTW Engineering courses is learning about circuits and the fact that there is always more to learn.” - Anahi
“My favorite parts of this class is 3D modeling and the hands-on projects. I like that we're not just following a procedure, but we are actively working around constraints and coming up with ideas.” - Simara
“My favorite part about my PLTW Engineering courses was getting to learn about circuits and how most of everything we are working on is involved in our everyday lives.” - Mia
“My favorite part about my PLTW Engineering course is how hands on the class is which really keeps me engaged and continues in expanding my creativity at the same time.” - Bianca
“My favorite part about my PLTW Engineering courses is all the hands-on activities and group projects.” - Citlali
How have your PLTW courses empowered you for your career opportunities after high school?
“PLTW courses empowered me for my career opportunities after school because I either want to [work in] a pharmacy or possibly work for NASA. PLTW opened a lot of new experiences I never had or did before. I never thought about working for NASA until this year because of the PLTW courses that were available to me. It's also a new experience in life, to be honest, I never thought of doing any of these courses.” - Makalia
“I believe I've learned things that can be applied in any engineering environment. I intend on going into Architectural engineering after high school.” - Simara
“I would say this helps me by creating leadership skills and being more social.” - Natalia
“My PLTW courses have empowered me for career opportunities after high school by making me realize that engineering is something I can do in the future or major in.” - Lizzet
“It helped me realize that engineering could be a part of my life after high school.” - Mia
“PLTW courses empowered my career opportunities after school in a big way. I found it very interesting and now I am thinking about becoming an engineer in the future.” - Anahi
“It gave me an idea of what I might want to do in my future.” - Angie
“This course has empowered my career opportunities after high school by allowing me to view scenarios in a much more unique way that I would not have been exposed to without this class. It has helped me realize my interests more clearly and my strengths.” - Bianca
“My interest in engineering has definitely grown due to these PLTW courses. I am now considering studying engineering in college.” - Citlali
“PLTW has empowered my career because when I started programming, I never wanted to do anything that involved engineering. However, now that I'm getting better at it, I want to be an engineer for the military. I want to help build engines for different things like in an airplane or a motor for a ship.” - Lisset
Have your PLTW courses made an impact on your future? If yes, how so?
“I would say yes because I can have more opportunities when out of high school and am open to more things.” - Natalia
“PLTW has impacted the way I think about things. I definitely appreciate things more due to the fact that when I’m creating new things it takes a lot of thinking, tryouts, and failure. So, I know things that were created around me were planned out for a while with a lot of thinking trail and failure.” - Krystal
“Yes, I’ve learned many skills that could be useful even if I don’t go into engineering. Thanks to these courses I now have an idea about what I want to study.” - Citlali
“I don't really know yet, I think that It has allowed me to open my mind to different possibilities when picking a career.” - London
“Yes, my PLTW courses have made an impact in my future by helping me know that I can have a career based on engineering and it's something I want to do in the future.” - Lizzet
“PLTW has impacted my future because now I want to be an engineer for my career when I never wanted to at first. I find things like gears interesting.” - Lisset
“Yes, my PLTW courses made an impact on my future because I know I could have an engineering career.” - Mia
“This course has made an impact in my future because it has allowed me to expand my creativity and prepared me to be more independent in my academic responsibilities.” - Bianca
“Yes, later in the future I would like to continue to learn more about engineering and eventually become an engineer.” - Anahi
“Yes, because its teaching me things that will help in the future.” - Angie
“I definitely have a higher chance of pursuing a career in engineering now than I did before this class.” – Simara
Want to Get Started With PLTW?
Are you ready to start empowering students with the skills everyone needs to thrive in their career? PLTW Team Members are ready to help you create a customized funding plan. Worried about sustaining your program post-grant? Don’t be; the PLTW team is there to help you plan for long-term program sustainability, too.
Connect with us today!
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PLTW provides PreK-12 schools, teachers, and students with hands-on, interdisciplinary STEM-based curriculum that uniquely prepares students for life and their future careers.
PLTW rejuvenates teachers, providing world-class experiences that keep them on the forefront of how to prepare students for the demands of tomorrow. PLTW:
- Has provided professional development opportunities to more than 80,000 teachers giving them the support and resources needed to inspire students
- Offers best-in-class teacher training: PLTW Core Training with Master Teachers
- Continuously updates teacher resources that are available on demand
- Facilitates teacher networking opportunities
- Develops curriculum by a team of writers, many of whom are former teachers
Learn more about PLTW on pltw.org
