Karla Johnson is a second-year PLTW Launch Lead Teacher at Nancy Elementary School in Nancy, Kentucky.
ALL students can and will learn when given the opportunity. Being in the PLTW classroom daily has allowed me to come to the realization.
Students in a PLTW lab are able to explore and discover at their own pace, which allows all levels of learners to participate and be successful. For example, for our Robotics and Automation module, 5th grade students in my class teamed up in random groups. While in these groups, students were able to become team players and work well with each other. They had a common goal – build the robot correctly! With this shared goal in mind, everyone was an active collaborator working toward reaching the goal.
The looks on their faces when their robot was done was amazing! You could see the sense of accomplishment in their eyes. Hearing students say, "I love robotics! This is what I want to do when I grow up!" is priceless. This can also lead to a conversation on the many types of engineers they can become.
I love how PLTW's challenging curriculum pushes them beyond what they thought was possible. I love that PLTW proves that ALL students can be successful when given the chance to be.
PLTW’s blog is intended to serve as a forum for ideas and perspectives from across our network. The opinions expressed are those of each guest author.